Polk wrestlers have better night, but drop decision to Owen

If Friday’s meeting with Owen is any indication, things are shaping up quite well for Polk County’s wrestling team.

True, the Wolverines did not emerge the winner from the Western Highlands Conference clash with the Warhorses, Owen recording a 42-28 win. But Polk County won the majority of the night’s matches and might well have been the evening’s victor were it not for four forfeited weight classes.

“Of the 10 matches we wrestled, we won seven,” said head coach Phillip Miller. “We just gave them too many forfeits. That’s just part of the game.

“Our kids wrestled hard. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Polk won two of the first three matches of the night, with Jerry Cox recording a 5-4 decision at 195 and Chase McMurray pinning his heavyweight opponent in less than a minute. The Wolverines than lost four of the next five matches, three by forfeit, the lone won coming at 126 where standout freshman Chase Emory scored a 7-4 decision.

Polk’s Dustin Calvert dominated his match at 138, winning a 9-1 major decision. Anthony Marino then earned a hard-fought 5-2 win for the Wolverines at 145, picking up two key points early in the third period and then holding on for the win.

Franklin Sandoval kept the momentum going for Polk at 152, scoring a first-period pin. After a forfeit at 160 came perhaps the night’s best match, with Polk County’s Damion Cantrell facing Owen’s Ezekiel Johnson, who entered the night with a 17-1 record. Cantrell pulled ahead in the match in the second period, then built an 8-4 lead in the third before Johnson scored two points on a takedown just before the two fell out-of-bounds. Cantrell recovered, though, and hung on to hand Johnson the 8-6 loss.

“To win seven of 10 matches, you can’t ask much more of the kids than that,” Miller said. “You are never complacent with a loss, but that was about all we could really do.

“We want to make it to the state duals, and we have to win out to do that. But that goal is still sitting there.”