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Clover wrestlers fall to Braves, 50-23
CLOVERDALE -- When going up against a much larger opponent in any sport, it pays for coaches and players to keep things in perspective.
Cloverdale wrestling coach Brian Siddons was keeping this in mind after his Clovers dropped a 50-23 decision to Terre Haute South Thursday evening.
"I thought most of them did really well. We were just outsized, basically," Siddons said. "We still have a couple guys out of the lineup. That's going to hurt us until we can get those guys back."
Notably missing from the lineup was the Clovers' 135-pound ace Ben Sanders, who is undefeated on the season, but is currently out with injury.
"Sanders is out with a concussion and won't be back for a few weeks, so that's going to hurt us," the coach said.
The night certainly had its bright spots, though. Cloverdale's 23 points came from three pins and one major decision. All four came from impressive performances for Clover wrestlers.
Zach Waycott opened the match with a major decision for the Clovers, manhandling the Braves' Casey Anderson for most of three periods, before going up 18-1 and getting the decision.
However, after Waycott put Cloverdale up 5-0, the Braves went on a run of seven-straight victories, winning every class from 145 through 285. The Clovers found themselves trailing 34-5 after the 285 match.
At 103, though, the Clovers' Brittney Hughes claimed victory. Although she was injured and nearly pinned in the first period, she returned with her arm taped and quickly dispatch of Terre Haute South's Corey McIntyre with a second period pin.
"Brittney got put on her back there for a minute, but she ended up coming back strong and pinning the kid," Siddons said.
Likewise, at 119, Cloverdale's Donnie Helterbrand found himself trailing on points early, but came back to pin the Braves' Dakota Case.
The matched closed with a high point for the Clovers. Zak Osburn, down from his normal 140 pound class, was in Sanders' usual spot at 135. Osburn also found himself in an early deficit, but came back for the pin.
"Osburn is just an overall scrambler -- that's just the way he wrestles," Siddons said. "He ended up catching the kid in the end, but he got in trouble there for a while, too."
For the Clover winners, this was the common theme of the night.
"A couple of them were in pretty tight spots and ended up pulling it out," the coach said. "It was just a matter of them working hard and not giving anything up."
Overall, Siddons was pleased with his team's effort. He also knows, though, there are improvements to be made before next Thursday's Putnam County Tournament.
"They came out and wrestled really hard," Siddons said. (Terre Haute South) wrestled well, and we wrestled them pretty well, but we just couldn't capitalize. There were a few mistakes we made that ended up hurting us.
"I'd like to be a little further along than where we are tonight, but they wrestled hard, so I'm not extremely disappointed," Siddons concluded.
The Clovers host the Putnam County Tournament at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday.
At Cloverdale
Terre Haute South 50, Cloverdale 23
Individual results
103 -- Hughes (Cl) pin McIntyre (THS)
112 -- Jensen (THS) pin Chambers (Cl)
119 -- Helterbrand (Cl) pin Case (THS)
125 -- Hills (THS) dec. Couse (Cl) 10-1
130 -- Loffredo (THS) pin Green (Cl)
135 -- Osburn (Cl) pin Montgomery (THS)
140 -- Waycott (Cl) dec. C. Anderson (THS) 18-1
145 -- Loyal (THS) dec Keefer (Cl) 12-4
152 -- Bennett (THS) dec. Rightmyer (Cl) 9-2
160 -- N. Anderson (THS) dec. Secrest (Cl) 11-8
171 -- Pullen (THS) pin Thompson (Cl)
189 -- Lawson (THS) pin Kidder (Cl)
215 -- Manley (THS) pin Haltom (Cl)
285 -- Harlan (THS) pin Batchelor (Cl)
Next match -- The Clovers are back in action when they host the Putnam County Tournament at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13.