PPT Slide
Panthers put up fight in face of tough competition
It wasn’t just a six-place jump in the standings in the span of a week that had Perry coach Brian Dolph satisfied with his team’s performance at this past weekend’s Beast of the East Tournament at the University of Delaware. It was the way the Panthers performed that had Dolph pleased as the team bused back to Ohio in the dark of Sunday night. “Everybody from (103-pounder Danny) Genetin up to (215-pounder Devyn) Hoffner responded well,” said Dolph, whose team scored 124.5 points to finish sixth in the two-day tournament which concluded Sunday. “We had guys who came back through the consolation rounds and really fought hard. They stepped up to difficult challenges.” The wrestlers also accomplished something Perry hadn’t been able to do in a long time, which is finish ahead of 20-time state champion Lakewood St. Edward in a tournament. While the Panthers were sixth in the 81-team field, the Eagles were ninth with 111.5 points, and both teams had an equal number of placers – one champion (145-pounder Dustin Schlatter for Perry, 140-pounder Sean Nemec for St. Edward) and one fourth-place finisher (140-pounder Thomas Straughn for Perry and heavyweight Ben Kuhar for St. Edward). “It was nice to beat St. Edward,” Dolph said. “I can’t remember the last time we were in front of them. It was such a nice thing to wake up (Sunday) and see that we were ahead of St. Edward.” But the biggest thing in Dolph’s mind was just the way the Panthers rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Ironman Tournament the previous weekend. In that tournament, Perry finished 12th and only had one placer in Schlatter, who won the 145-pound title. While Perry only increased its number of placers by one at the Beast of the East, it was still a different Panther team in Delaware than the one which had wrestled at the Ironman. At the Beast of the East, 10 of Perry’s 13 competing wrestlers won at least three matches, including five who won at least one match in the championship bracket. Three wrestlers - Genetin, 112-pounder Scott Rooney and 160-pounder Adam Phillips – came within a pair of wins of placing, while Phillips was one win from guaranteeing a spot on the podium. “It was like night and day between this performance and the one at the Ironman,” Dolph said. “We took some hits early, then the guys responded. We scored a lot of bonus points, through pins or technical falls. I think at one point, we had six or seven pins in a row. During the week, we really wanted them to pick it up and get a new attitude. I think they did it.” Of Perry’s 24 losses in the tournament, 14 came against seeded wrestlers, including six against top-five seeds. But on the flip side, the Panthers had eight wins over seeded wrestlers, five of which were not posted by Schlatter, who was the top-seeded wrestler at 145. The biggest strides may have been shown by Straughn, who knocked off the third-, fourth- and seventh-seeded wrestlers on his way to the fourth-place finish at 140. His only losses came to sixth-seeded Matt Cathell of Caesar Rodney (Del.) in the championship bracket and top-seeded Mitch Smith of Ripley (W.Va.) in the third-place match. “He lost an earlier match in which he was wrestling well,” Dolph said of Straughn, who was 7-2 in the tournament. “He got caught and pinned. But he responded well. He beat some really good people. He grew up tremendously in this tournament.” Which is something Dolph could say about his team as a whole. Certainly, the second-year Perry mentor feels like plenty of good can come out of the showing. “I think No. 1,” Dolph said, “beating St. Edward gives us confidence. That’s making a difference in the way they’re wrestling. Knowing they can do it should help them in the long run.”
Monday, December 20, 2004 By CHRIS EASTERLING
