The Washington wrestling team’s hot start continued on Wednesday as the Pam Pack rolled past South Central 58-18.
After the first two matches of the night Washington was tied at six with South Central, but then the Pam Pack went on to win 11 of the next 12 matches to up its record to 5-1 as the team prepares for its annual Eli Saleeby Lee Memorial wrestling tournament this Saturday.
After the match, Washington wrestling coach Daniel Riggs was said the play of his younger wrestlers was the key to victory.
“I’m pretty pleased, especially because we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores starting on our team this year,” Riggs said. “We didn’t have any seniors here tonight that are on the team. This win shows a lot. Hopefully we can keep it going. I know it’s early in the season but I want to keep seeing improvement and progression each week.”
Those younger wrestler helped Riggs achieve a milestone win of sorts over the Coastal Conference rival Falcons.
“It’s actually the first time I have beaten South Central since I have been here,” said the sixth-year coach. “I was nervous all day just thinking about the match. Most of the time we do have a shot at them, but we get all hyped up and don’t perform at the level we are capable of performing but tonight they did.”
Thomas Remick got the ball rolling for the Pam Pack as he earned the team’s first non-forfeit victory in the 145-pound weight class. After that, the Pack picked up another forfeit win, which was followed by a Devon Van Cura (160 pounds) victory via decision and then pins by Ned Batts (170) and Jack Rodman (182).
The win streak was stopped when Ian Stroud got pinned, but Washington was quick to start another as Kyle Krajewski (220), Timothy Jordan (HWT) and Cameron Davenport strung together back-to-back-to-back pins that put the Pack up 49-12.
Riggs said that stretch was pivotal in the Pam Pack’s victory.
“Kyle Krajewski is only a freshman and he weights 190 but wrestled at 220. That was one of the matches I wasn’t sure about (before the contest) but he had a good match,” Riggs said. “Tim Jordan was another one, along with Cameron Davenport. They’re all kind of new to high school wrestling and they really showed a lot of heart tonight.”
After Davenport’s victory, Washington picked up a forfeit win and a forfeit loss before David Giordano ended the match by earning a victory in the 126-pound weight class.