Garcia's Pin Lifts Cleveland Wrestlers Past Bradley

CLEVELAND – Bradley and Cleveland have had some classic battles on the wrestling mat in years past, but none have been any better or more exciting than the two so far this season.

The Blue Raiders shocked the Bears and the rest of the state on December 10 when they beat the defending state dual and traditional champs in the championship match of the Cleveland Duals by a 34-33, Cleveland winning with pins at the end from Dylan Jones and Jack Hicks.

The regular-season rematch took place Thursday night in the same location – Cleveland’s brand new Raider Arena -- and the results were almost the same.

The final score was different and some of the shining stars for both teams were different, but the overall result was the same as Cleveland once again prevailed by a single point on a pin in the final match.

Seth Garcia was Thursday’s hero as his first-period pin at 220 provided the margin of victory as the ever-proud Blue Raiders remained unbeaten after matches with the emotionally-charged 30-29 win.

Bradley, now 15-2 with both losses coming to Cleveland, actually won eight of the 14 matches, but as has been the case so many times in a close meet, the Blue Raiders won with more bonus points.

“That was another exciting match, but I’m glad our seniors could go out on such a positive note,” said Cleveland coach Josh Bosken after it ended.

“Every point really mattered in this match, but we stuck to our game plan and knew we couldn’t afford to give up any bonus points.  We knew that 170 was a toss-up, but we didn’t give up any extra points there,” he said in reference to Jones’ 5-3 loss to Henley Headrick in just one of three matches where the results were a bit different the second time.

“We’ll celebrate for a little while tonight, but we still have lots of work to do as there are still a bunch of good teams we have to beat to win a state title.  Seth Garcia is a pinning machine and I had no doubt he’d get a pin in that last match,” the first-year head coach concluded with a smile.

Cleveland won three of the first four matches and had a 15-4 lead following a pin from Bryce Pond at 120.

Ethan Anderson and Ryan McElhaney then won with decisions – McElhaney getting a little revenge with a 10-4 win over Colton Landers – to get Bradley within 15-10 before Cody Mathews made it 18-10 with a 5-1 decision at 138.

The Bears then reeled off four straight wins, including a pin from Knox Fuller, identical 5-3 decisions from Austin Mathews and Headrick and an 8-0 major decision from Caleb Adkins for a 26-18 lead with three matches remaining.

Jack Hicks got six points the easy way with a forfeit to get Cleveland within 26-24 before Ed Elkins posted a 5-2 decision at 195 for a 29-24 Bradley lead.

That left the responsibility on Garcia’s shoulders and he came through with a first-period pin to clinch the win for his team.

“I knew when I was warming up that I had to win it for the team and I wasn’t worried.  When Logan Strickland dropped his decision at 195, we were behind by five and I knew we’d win.  I was just hoping it would come down to my match,” the 18-year-old senior said after improving to 15-2 overall.

Ben Smith may be one of the most competitive people involved in the sport and the stocky Bradley coaches probably hates to lose more than anyone.  To lose twice to Cleveland in the same season was almost more than he could handle.

“We knew that we just had to wrestle our match and the results would take care of themselves,  but we wrestled their match the entire evening.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t upset and disappointed,” he said to a host of sports writers covering the event.

“Ryan McElhaney wrestled a great match and brought us back, but we never got any bonus points.  You have to win the close ones and get those bonus points to win a match like this.  We had our chances, but we just didn’t close the deal.

“Cleveland has an outstanding team and they’re hard to beat, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and keep working because the season is a long way from over.  This was really a great environment for  match like this tonight, but I just wish the outcome had been different,” he concluded.

While Garcia had the biggest win of the evening for Cleveland, Titus Swafford also had a first-period pin in the first match.  Bryce Pond added another pin at 120.

Perhaps the most important win for the Blue Raiders came at 113 when Garrett Bowers recorded a 3-1 overtime win over two-time defending state champ T.J. Hicks.

Cody Mathews had a decision at 138 while Hicks got the forfeit at 182.

Fuller had the only pin for the Bears while Wesley Devaney and Adkjns both had major decisions.

Anderson, McElhaney, Mathews, Headrick and Ed Elkins had regular decisions for the Bears.

These same two teams will probably have another shot at each other in two weeks when the Region Duals are held at Rhea County.  And don’t be surprised if they meet for the third time in Franklin on Saturday, Feb. 4 in the finals of the State Duals.

CLEVELAND 30, BRADLEY 29

(Match began at 285 Pounds)

106 – Wesley Devaney (Brad) major dec. Burns Meagher, 16-4;

113 – Garrett Bowers (Clev) dec. T.J. Hicks, 3-1 in overtime;

120 – Bryce Pond (Clev) pinned Gaven Hughes, 2:39;

126 – Ethan Anderson (Brad) dec. Jayce Mullin, 2-1;

132 – Ryan McElhaney (Brad) dec. Colton Landers, 10-4;

138 – Cody Mathews (Clev) dec. Andy Robinson, 5-1;

145 – Knox Fuller (Brad) pinned Caleb Eachus, 4:40;

152 – Austin Mathews (Brad) dec. Austin Sweeney, 5-3;

160 – Caleb Adkins (Brad) major dec. Zach Brezna, 8-0;

170 – Henley Headrick (Brad) dec. Dylan Jones, 5-3;

182 – Jack Hicks (Clev) won by forfeit;

195 – Ed Elkins (Brad) dec. Logan Strickland, 5-2;

220 – Seth Garcia (Clev) pinned Kevin Gentry, 1:24;

285 – Titus Swafford (Clev) pinned D.J. Gibson, 1:45.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)