The No. 1 ranked Charles Page High School varsity wrestling team (5-0) traveled to No. 3 Broken Arrow (2-2) Thursday night and won ten out of fourteen matches to continue their undefeated start to the season. Only two other undefeated teams remain and Sand Springs won't meet either in the regular season.
Sand Springs has held the No. 1 spot in the tournament rankings since winning the Perry Tournament a month ago, and they have been tied for first in the dual rankings with Choctaw (3-0) for two weeks now. Both teams received nine first-place votes this past week and neither will get the chance to knock each other off till Dual State. No. 4 Edmond North (5-0) is also undefeated, but they will end their regular season at Choctaw in early February.
The Sandites will return to action Friday and Saturday at Sapulpa High School for the Jerry Billings Invitational against a tough field that includes No. 3 Broken Arrow, No. 6 Union, No. 8 Ponca City, 4A No. 6 Cascia Hall, 5A No. 3 Collinsville, and 3A No. 4 Plainview.
The dual started off at 106 with State Qualifier Riley Weir (16-6 season, 37-18 career) versus freshman Jackson Cockrell. It took Weir less than twenty seconds to take down his opponent and he worked him over for back points with half a minute left in the period. Weir started the second period neutral with a 5-0 lead and doubled it going into the final stretch. He start the third period on bottom and quickly reversed for nearfall points before cutting his opponent loose. He ended things with a takedown for a 16-1 tech fall in 5:20.
Senior State-placer Tanner Ward (14-7, 90-19) and Andrew Police came out fast and aggressive, and it was the Sandite who took the early 5-0 lead with nearfall points. He added two more back points soon after and started the second period on bottom with a 7-0 advantage. A quick reversal and nearfall points finished it off 15-0 in 3:44.
Senior State-placer Michael Ritchey (16-7, 45-31) met Blake Gonzalez in a well-matched bout that ended the first period 0-0. Ritchey got the first and only point after escaping to start the second period, and once again neither contender could secure a takedown. Ritchey never allowed his opponent to break free and secured the 1-0 decision for a 13-0 team lead.
Junior State-placer Blake Sargent (16-6, 68-20) came out jacked for the Sandites and phinned James Phares in 0:55 after taking an early 2-0 lead. Senior three-time State Champion Daton Fix (21-0, 139-0) worked his typical mayhem against Matt Police at 132 pounds and built an 8-3 lead before getting the pin in 1:33 to give his team a 25-0 advantage.
State Qualifier TaJuan Daniels put up a tough match against State Runner-Up Jack Karstetter (7-1, 80-16), but the Sandite was resilient despite having wrestled only one match in the last month. The match was tied 2-2 going into the third period when Karstetter took the lead with an escape. His Broken Arrow counterpart was looking desperately for an open shot, but the Sandite came out on top to end things 5-2.
State Runner-Up Beau Bratcher (18-5, 109-28) wasted no time in taking down Bryce Mattioda and pinned his foe in 1:15. State-placer Payton Scott (20-1, 41-8) wrestled a page out of the Daton Fix playbook, working up a quick 8-4 lead by taking down his opponent just to cut him loose repeatedly. He eventually pinned Aedan Cottle in 3:20 to officially secure the dual as a Sandite victory with a 40-0 lead.
Sophomore Noah Almy (9-10) was equally matched against State-qualifier Brady Mattioda throughout the first period and started the second 0-0. Almy scored first on an escape, then gave up a takedown, but escaped again to tie it up at 2-2. Mattioda started the third period down, escaped, scored, and led 5-2. Almy escaped, but Mattioda came out on top once again to end things 7-3 and officially put points on the board for Broken Arrow.
Zane Basma (6-1, 64-25) and Caleb Wise both took third in State last year and were very close for the entirety of their match. Wise struck first, but Basma didn't stay under for long. He trailed 2-1 starting the second on top, but never let his opponent loose and added nearfall points to make it 3-2. He cushioned his lead with a third period escape and stayed up through the remainder for a 4-2 decision.
Luke Bratcher (3-1) suffered an unfortunate loss after a great start to a tough match. The Sophomore took on top-ranked Gavin Potter at 182 and the two were all knotted up early on, leaving a literal blood trail in their wake. After a timeout for cleanup, Bratcher quickly put points on the board for a 2-0 lead before giving up the match on an injury default.
Gage Fain (13-7, 26-29) wrestled against Noah Cortes and suffered a literal last-second pin. The Tiger scored first, but Fain reversed almost immediately before letting Cortes out with seconds to go in the first period. Cortes started the second with another escape, gave up a point on an illegal hold, then added a takedown with twenty seconds to go. Trailing 6-3 to start the third, Fain scored an escape and picked up another caution point to cut it to a one point deficit before giving up another takedown. This time Cortes added nearfall points before Fain was saved by yet another illegal hold to make it 11-7. Cortes added another takedown, cut Fain loose, took him down again, cut him loose again, then got the pin with a single second left.
The marquee match-up of the evening was State Qualifier Delvin Jordan (20-2, 51-14) against State Champion Zach Marcheselli. Jordan is ranked first in the State in 220 after winning the Perry and Geary Championships, while Marcheselli is ranked first in 195 with Geary, Cascia Hall, and Gardner-Edgerton Championships this season. The two top-dogs of their divisions put on one of the most intense matches of the night. Jordan led 2-0 after a wild first period and added an escape to start the second. Marcheselli tied it up immediately to start the third with an escape and a takedown, but Jordan cut loose to make it 4-3, which he held till the end.
Sophomore Dominique Pipes (0-2, 0-4) wrestled his second dual of his career, and for the second time was pitted against a State-qualifier. He took on Senior Trenton Lieurance and trailed 8-1 before getting pinned in 2:28.
