WORTON — Idle for a month because of a lengthy winter break followed by weather-related school closings, Kent County High School’s wrestlers embraced the new year with three matches in five days last week — all at home.
On Friday, which was Legacy Day with the local junior wrestlers sitting mat-side, KCHS pinned a 51-12 loss on Elkton.
The Trojans (2-2) won five of the six contested bouts. Notable wins came from Nate Daley (126) and Ethan Clark (165), both bumping up a weight class. Daley scored an 11-5 decision and Clark stuck his opponent with 1 minute, 52 seconds elapsed.
Also for the Trojans, J.J. HInefelt (113), Landon Merritt (132) and Noah Iacona (138) won by fall.
In a closely contested coed match, Rhilynne Ashley-Pinder (120) wrestled tough before giving up a pin with only 23 seconds remaining.
Kent County defeated Bo Manor, 35-24, to open the week Monday, Jan. 13. Neither team was at full strength; 10 of the 14 weight classes were decided by forfeit.
This was KCHS’ first dual match since a 67-17 loss at Queen Anne’s on Dec. 11.
The Trojans’ wins on the mat came from Merritt and Scottie Ford (150) by pin and Iacona by technical fall.
In the middle of the week, St. Michaels, traveling with a near full roster, defeated KCHS, 45-33.
“We tried to make some adjustments and fill some extra weight classes, but they caught some key wins and shut us down,” Kent County coach Chris Yiannakis said.
On Saturday, Kent County sent out eight wrestlers to the Andy Schipul junior varsity tournament. Hinefelt was the winner of the 113-pound weight class.
Also competing for the locals were Ashley-Pinder (120, sixth), Owen Highland (120, fourth), Daley (120, seventh), James Owens (144, sixth), Aiden Butler (165, fifth) and Tony Sanchez (190, sixth).
For some of the Trojans, these were their first matches of the season.
Yiannakis told The Evening Enterprise in an email: “This week’s matches prove we can hang with the other [Class] 1A schools despite our roster depth and lack of experience. We also can see there has been some retention of skills and knowledge between the matches and the Andy Schipul JV tournament. Our next goal is to string those skills along into a chain of reactions instead of individual steps and afterthoughts.”
The Trojans are on the road for the next week and a half, including Saturday, Jan. 25 at a tournament at Easton High School.
Their next home match is Feb. 3.
