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Cloverdale wrestling senior night spoiled by Southmont
CLOVERDALE -- Senior night at Cloverdale High School honored six Clover wrestlers Tuesday night. It did not, however, prevent the Clovers from taking one on the chin.
Southmont presented the Clovers with their toughest test of the season and did not disappoint with a commanding 57-13 win.
The meet got off to a flying start with a highly competitive match at 112 pounds between Cloverdale senior Shawn Shipp and Chandler Moore of Southmont. Shipp took an early 4-1 one lead before finding himself down 4-6 entering the final period.
Escaping to start the third, Shipp got Moore to the mat to take a 7-6 lead before giving up the escape to nod the scores at 7-7 and forcing overtime.
Both looked for a winner before Chandler won a late scramble and nearly got a pin. Although Shipp held off the attempt he still lost the match.
Fellow senior Jeremy Boldman got the Clovers on the board in the next match by recording a technical fall over Gibby Paxton.
Southmont would then win three of the next four matches by pin before senior and 145-pound No. 14 ranked Donnie Helterbrand scored a pin of his own over Southmont's Chance Brown in dominating fashion.
Senior Matt Hall would record the final win for the Clovers with a late 3-1 win over Austin Long. Hall scored a takedown in the final five seconds of the match to secure the win.
Otherwise, it was a strong showing from the visiting Mounties, who scored seven pins on the evening. The level of fight in those matches was the main concern of Clover head coach Steven Livingston afterwards.
"We knew coming in that Southmont would be the toughest dual meet we'd wrestle all season," Livingston said. "By far the best team on our schedule, they got it together this year so I knew it was going to be a tough battle for us. I didn't think we were going to give up 57 points.
"We kind of met together after the meet and I had a talk with the guys about heart and about pride and not getting pinned. We have a bad habit of when the going gets tough, when we get put on our backs, we have a lot of guys that give up the fall and, you know, sometimes you're going to run in to a guy that's better than you."
Livingston also took a couple of minutes to speak about his seniors, Shawn Shipp, Jeremy Boldman, Donnie Helterbrand, Tyde Frederick and Matt Hall. Kurt Davis, also a senior, was lost early for the rest of the year with a shoulder injury.
"It's been great to have Shipp for four years. He's a captain and does captain stuff. He wins matches he should win, he's a good leader for the team. He lost his third match, but he fought until the end and that's what we're trying to get through to our younger guys," Livingston said.
"Boldman is having a stellar year for us. Last year he wrestled 135; did what he needed to do in the off-season and came back at 119. He's having a great senior season. We look for big things out of him as well as Shipp," Livingston added.
He continued to pour his praises on the rest of his senior wrestlers.
"Helterbrand is undefeated and ranked No. 14 in the state right now. He went out there and did what he does. He's pretty good on his feet with very fluid motion. He got us a fall tonight.
"Frederick at 152, you kind of forget about him because he's a first year wrestler, so sometimes when I think of seniors I think of guys that have been around for a while. He's a big, strong kid who's catching on quickly to the sport," Livingston noted.
Livingston noted Frederick got 20 wins in his first year wrestling. He said he would have liked to coach him for four years.
"Hall is at 160 now, which, a year ago, he was wrestling at 189. He's taken a positive step to take care of himself and he looks fit and wrestled a great match."
The final varsity meet of the season means the Clovers have a week and a half before the sectionals take place at Avon. Livingston laid out the groundwork for the time between now and then.
"We've got to get our guys to pick out their best stuff and fine tune that. We've got to get our conditioning where it needs to be, because if we go against a kid who technically better than us then we've got to have the ability to outwork him," Livingston said.
"We're going to take what we've got to the sectional. We're not going to there and be a team that we're not by showing a bunch of new techniques here in the last week and a half," Livingston added.
"We're going to take what we already do, we're going to polish it and get the kids focused and be conditioned enough to know we can wrestle with anybody."
At Cloverdale
Southmont 57, Cloverdale 13
103 -- Jenkins fall Schwomeyer 1:14
112 -- Moore dec. Shipp 11-7 (OT)
119 -- Boldman tech. fall Paxton 19-4 5:29
125 -- Rogers fall Manion 2:35
130 -- Barrett dec. Hesselgrave 2-0
135 -- McCaslin fall Routh :17
140 -- Davis fall Grever :52
145 -- Helterbrand fall Brown 2:37
152 -- Poynter dec. Frederick 16-10
160 -- Hall dec. Long 3-1
171 -- Dove fall Gramer 1:53
189 -- Brown fall Stout :37
215 -- Wills FF
285 -- Burkhart fall Sinclair 2:41