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Bears dominate County Clash wrestling match up: coach wins 300th match

tyler auffhammer, the mountaineer, waynesville, n.c.
·4 min read

Jan. 16—Pisgah honored its seniors on Friday with two dominant victories over cross-county rival Tuscola and Mountain 7 foe West Henderson in Canton.

"The team as a whole wrestled really good, but we lost a few tough ones. You're going to lose some, that's just wrestling," said Pisgah head coach Ryan Gibson. "The guys that have been a huge staple in our lineup came through and wrestled really well. They did what they usually do. They went out there and took care of business."

The Black Bears beat West Henderson 64-12 and then dominated the Mountaineers by a score of 69-9 in the annual County Clash. The Pisgah girls beat West Henderson 36-6, too, although there were only two contested matches.

The win over West Henderson's was Gibson's 300th win as Pisgah's head coach. He was honored with a presentation.

The night also served as a send-off to the team's seven seniors: Cameron King, Xander Hill, Tytus Bridges, Jason McClellan, Scott Thompson, Clay Hatton and Aiyana Bryant.

"This is a good group. Going to definitely miss those guys. They bring big points," Gibson said.

He said replicating the success of guys like Hill and Bridges is difficult.

"You can't replace guys like Xander. You work hard to get those young guys to step up and step in when it's their time. You are going to get some bumps in the road, but hopefully, they grow like those guys have," Gibson said.

He added that it makes a huge difference to have Hills and Bridges in the practice room to help provide a measuring stick for young guys learning to wrestle.

"They have to wrestle those guys daily. They've got to get to the point where they can wrestle with them, even if they can't beat them," Gibson said.

Pisgah has two more matches this week — a tri-dual versus East Henderson (host) and North Henderson on Jan. 16 and a match against Smoky Mountain on Jan. 18 — before traveling back to Smoky for the Mountain 7 Conference Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 20.

Gibson said the goal is to continue to wrestle hard.

"I've got guys chasing conference titles, and that's going to be the goal for every single one of our kids to help build that next step to place at regionals and hopefully make the playoffs if we take care of business," he said.

Full results for the win over Tuscola:

* 113-pounder Kail Burnette over Michael Lettner (Fall 0:00)

* 120-pounder Christian Gibson over Aydan Mull (Decision 5-2)

* 126-pounder Kane Bryson over Micah Howard (Fall 0:00)

* 132-pounder Turner Robb over Wyatt Ferguson (Fall)

* 138-pounder Jonathon Chapman over Aiden Tucker (Fall)

* 144-pounder Jason McClellan over Jameron Frizzell (Fall)

* 150-pounder Lucas Burress (Tuscola) over Camden Yawn (Fall)

* 165-pounder Chase Hillis (Tuscola) over Cameron King (Decision 5-1)

* 175-pounder Levi Early over Benjamin Elery (Fall)

* 190-pounder Landon Pope over Charlie Greene (Fall)

* 285-pounder Eli Frizzell over Bryce Causby (DQ)

* 106-pounder Levi Curtis, 157-pounder Xander Hill and 215-pounder Tytus Bridges all won via forfeit.

Editor's note: Tuscola does not field a girls' team.

Full results for the win over West Henderson:

* 106-pounder Justin Reyes (West Henderson) over Levi Curtis (Fall)

* Brunette over Shepard Jordon (Fall)

* Gibson over Mitchell Proctor (???)

* Bryson over Nicholas MIkos (Fall)

* 132-pounder Jacob Cruz-Reyes over Elijah Johnson (Fall)

* Chapman over Jake McCRimmon (Fall)

* 144-pounder Tony Delgado (West Henderson) over Yawn (Decision 6-2)

* McClelland over Hayden Aardema (Fall)

* Hill over Cooper Allen (fall)

* King over Zack Blankenship (Fall)

* 175-pounder Gaige Watson (West Henderson) over Levi Early (Decision 4-3)

* Pope over Rowan Turner (Major Decision 9-0)

* Bridges over Roman Federyuk (Fall)

* Frizzell over Cameron Whitmire (Fall)

Full girls' results for the win over West Henderson:

* 107-pounder Sara Morgan (WH) over Aiyana Bryant (Fall)

* 138-pounder Emahni Hollis over Ryena Galvan (Fall)

* The following girls won by forfeit: 114-pounder Treyleigh Miller, 132-pounder Aura Sampson, 165-pounder Paloma Ramirez, 185-pounder Kelyl PFoster and 235-pounder Kenzie Mason