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Zimmerman pin paves way in win |
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Wednesday, 06 January 2010 |
By Joseph Bell
JOHNSONBURG – Needing to win the last bout to take the match, Johnsonburg junior Max Zimmerman delivered a fall in the second period against Curwensville's Alex Holt to give the Rams a 36-30 win, thus keeping their undefeated record intact.
"Max Zimmerman's pin to win the match there at the end just continues his outstanding season," Johnsonburg head wrestling coach Tom Launer said after his team's fifth win of the season. "The kids are doing a great job for us.
"With 36 points, that's the least amount of points that we've scored in five matches. We've had over 40 points in every match and when you're only wrestling eight or nine kids, that's pretty good."
Zimmerman opened up a cautious first period with the team score knotted at 30-30 before scoring a takedown near the one-minute mark. Zimmerman later tallied two back points to take a 4-0 advantage. After an immediate escape in the second period, Zimmerman scored a takedown at the 1:30 mark before pinning Holt with 59 seconds remaining.
"We figured going in that it'd be within four points one way or the other," Launer said. "We ended up winning by six but we had some real big matches.
"Preston (Mahoney) had a big match for us. Zac Wolfe had a real big match against Brett Sutika, who I believe beat Zac (Wolfe) at districts last year so that was a big match."
The Rams continued to tally bonus points last night as they earned two wins by fall, one by technical fall and another by major decision.
In the 171-pound bout, Johnsonburg's Michael Paladino had a 9-1 lead after an early takedown in the third period. The Rams' coaching staff instructed Paladino to waste two one-point escapes in order to look for additional takedowns as time winded down.
"We were telling him to get some bonus points there but he was getting pretty tired but he got it in time to help us get the bonus points," Launer said while discussing Paladino's 13-3 major decision win over Curwensville's Chad Desmett. "We needed those points because we knew it was going to be close."
Paladino scored a takedown with 43 seconds left to take an 11-2 advantage and another with 23 seconds to go to take the bout, 13-3.
Earlier in the match, Mahoney contributed five points in a technical fall victory over Curwensville's Matt Ross.
With an early 5-0 lead, a reversal at the 1:18 mark of the second period gave Mahoney a 7-0 advantage. A takedown, three back points and reversal at the 40-second mark of the third period upped the score to 12-2 as Mahoney continued his offensive onslaught. The standout senior who started the season with 72 career victories scored a late escape and takedown with 2.2 seconds remaining to earn a 17-2 technical fall victory.
"We've very happy to be 5-0," Launer said. "We knew we had some good wrestlers on the team and they will have outstanding records but I felt giving up the five forfeits at the beginning of the year would hurt us, but we've been getting the bonus points to help win.
"Now we're picking up some more wrestlers and we're really happy to be where we're at." |
