(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny Centennial wrestlers saw their team’s season come to an end a year ago at the hands of Waukee Northwest after winning the previous matchup.
Now, the Jaguars hope to flip the script in the 2025-26 season.
Centennial traveled to Northwest on Thursday and won just four of the 14 matches with three falls in a 53-21 loss to the Wolves in a season-opening dual.
“I liked the way we fought,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “We were pretty aggressive. We’re very, very young right now, and Waukee Northwest has a very good team. They gave us a chance to see where we’re at, if there’s any complacency in practice or any thoughts of grandeur that may be overrated on our part. Some of our guys had a wake-up call.”
It’s a contrast to how the Jaguars started last season when they outlasted then-No. 5 Northwest in a 40-39 victory behind a big fall from Ryan Smith at 175 pounds.
The team’s season later came to an end when the higher-seeded Wolves won a rematch against Centennial, 42-31, in the finals of a Class 3A regional duals.
With Thursday’s loss, the Jaguars are hoping they can turn the tables if they find themselves matched back up with Northwest near the end of the season.
“We beat them in the beginning (of last season), and they beat us at the end,” Groth said. “Let’s flip that around.”
Going into Northwest was already bound to be a tough road dual to get the year started, but the young Jaguars’ lineup did so a little short-handed with some of their main firepower missing from it.
Returning 120-pound state runner-up and Iowa State commit Cale Vandermark, returning 138-pound state placewinner Ethan Sodergren and senior 215-pounder Brandon Bogseth were among those missing from the lineup while overcoming some early season injuries.
Vandermark and Sodergren were especially two big losses as both posted bonus-point victories over the Wolves in both matchups a year ago.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks at practice,” Groth said. “We got a lot of guys banged up. Bogseth at 215, Cale, Ethan. When you got some of your hammers that aren’t able to compete right now, it’s hard on the team morale. But the guys that did wrestle, wrestled hard.”
Still, the Jaguars came away with a couple of positives moving forward.
Defending state champion Max Dhabolt remains as one of the best in the state and an invaluable leader for the Jaguars.
The junior 175-pounder got two first-period takedowns against Northwest’s Gabe Rubino and eventually locked in a cradle for a pin in 1 minute 40 seconds.
“Max is extremely valuable,” Groth said. “He’s a great wrestler and kids on the Centennial wrestling team can say, ‘He’s one of the top kids in the country and he wrestles for the Jaguars so I can continue to work, get better and inspire to be at that level.’”
One of the young bright spots that’s emerging for Centennial is freshman Drew Gledhill at 106.
Gledhill opened up the dual against Northwest’s Jackson Draheim and earned a first-period takedown for a 3-0 lead that he held until the third period.
Then, Gledhill recorded another takedown and was able to turn Draheim for a victory by fall at 5:33.
“Wrestling’s hard and you have to do things like manage your weight, weigh in and perform right afterwards,” Groth said. “Drew made that sacrifice. We asked him to try to get down to 106, he did it and wrestled a great match.”
Sophomore Will Sloan recorded Centennial’s other bonus-point victory of the night at 138. He gave up an early takedown to Northwest’s Gage Phillips and ultimately got a reversal before nearly ending the match with a cradle on the edge of the mat for a four-point near fall.
Sloan would end up getting his fall during the second period when he gave up another takedown and reversed it into a pin.
“I liked the way Will kept fighting,” Groth said. “He got into a couple of bad positions, and he didn’t bail. He’s funky, so he’s comfortable there. Might not be as comfortable from a coaching standpoint to see some of those positions, but he came out in a good place and wrestled well.”
Ben Rotert recorded Centennial’s other win at 165. The junior was mere inches away from collecting another pin for the team.
Rotert started off his match with a takedown and nearly had Austin Van Horn’s shoulders stuck, but only came away with a four-point near fall. Van Horn got back into the match with a second-period takedown, but a couple of escapes in the second and third periods aided Rotert on his way to a 9-5 decision.
Centennial will head to Cedar Falls on Saturday to compete in the Keith Young Invitational.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Waukee Northwest 53, Ankeny Centennial 21
106: Gledhill (AC) pinned Draheim, 5:33; 113: Christensen pinned Harless, 2:45; 120: Barr beat Moeckly, 10-2; 126: Cahill won by forfeit; 132: Manning pinned Escalana, 1:00; 138: Sloan (AC) pinned Phillips, 3:21; 144: Hutt pinned Babcock, :46; 150: Gallagher pinned James, 3:07; 157: Smith-Fitzgerald beat Landis, 9-3; 165: Rotert (AC) beat Van Horn, 9-5; 175: Dhabolt (AC) pinned Rubino, 1:40; 190: Merk won by technical fall over Cole 20-3; 215: Hemmer pinned Schroder, :42; 285: Mohr won by technical fall over Winkel, 24-2.