The Hoisington Cardinals opened up the dual part of their schedule with a 72 to 6 win over the Ellsworth Bearcats at the Hoisington Activity Center. The Bearcats forfeited eight of the 14 weights to the Cardinals, but the matches that they did wrestle against the Cardinals were wrestled with some very solid kids. The highlight of the evening was Freshmen Christopher Ball defeating the Class 1-3A State Ranked at No. 4  Ellsworth Bearcat Zach Martin who Ball defeated 3-2. Christopher got an early takedown in the match and rode out Martin. In the second period, Ball escaped for one to run the lead out to 3-0. In the third period Martin was able to get a reversal with seven seconds left to make the final score 3-2 in favor of Ball. Sophomore Dylan Carrier, 106; Freshman Tanner Cassity, 113; Senior Landon Harmon, 120; Freshman Dustin Edmonson, 126; Sophomore Jonathan Ball, 145; Sophomore Hunter Hanzlick, 170,; Junior Austin McHenry, 182; and Senior Chance Boor, 220 all received forfeits. Junior Cody Lang wrestling up a weight class at 132 and beat a very good David Koralek III 4-2 to start the Cardinals off on a good note. Three time State Champion senior Brandon Ball 138, pinned a very good Zach Schneider of the Bearcats, that was followed with Christopher Ball’s 3-2 win at 152 lbs. Senior Tyler Walker, 160, from Hoisington was pinned by Tevin Rice of Ellsworth to get the Bearcats on the scoreboard. The momentum was quickly gained back by the Cards as both Senior, KC Stephens, 195, and Landen Urban, 285, pinned their Ellsworth opponents to make the final score of 72-6.
In Junior Varsity action the Cards lost four out of five to the Bearcats. The lone win for Hoisington was on a fall by Sophomore, Trevar Younger at 285.
Coach’s comments:
“Our kids wrestled really well in the dual,” said Coach Daniel Schmidt. “We are without some very talented members who should be able to get back into the lineup sometime in January. We are right on schedule to accomplish the goals that our kids and coaches have set. We will work to get better each time out, and will not loose focus of why we work so hard.”.
Next action for the varsity wrestlers will be Friday when the Cardinals host a ten team tournament starting at 3 p.m. in the afternoon.
The tournament will be wrestled in a round robin pool play style. The tournament looks to be bringing in some outstanding competition as teams from Cimarron, Concordia, Dodge City, Great Bend, Holcomb, Lakin, Larned, Marysville, and Wichita North will join a very good Hoisington Squad to see who can win the Cardinal Corner Classic Wrestling Tournament at the Hoisington Activity Center.