By CHUCK MARTINEZ

martinez@crescent-news.com

After a strong showing last weekend at the Milan Edison Invitational, the Defiance High School grapplers suffered a setback in their first dual meet of the season on Tuesday at Defiance High School.

In their Western Buckeye League opener, the reigning league champion Van Wert Cougars invaded the "Dawg Pound" and went home with a 41-30 victory.

And despite what looked like a dominant win by Van Wert, head coach Jerry Ramsay left impressed with a youthful and undermanned Bulldog squad that gave up 18 points due to forfeits.

"I was very impressed tonight with Defiance," pointed out the Cougars' mentor, whose club won the regular-season portion of the WBL a year ago and finished second at the league tourney. "They've (Defiance) really come a long way. They really gave us a physical match."

And for Defiance they can take some solace in the fact that in the wrestled matches, the Bulldogs more than held their own.

"Overall we wrestled well," stated DHS mentor Josh Neilson. "Head-to-head we got them by a point, but, unfortunately, head-to-head doesn't count. We shuffled around our lineup and we gave up those three voids and giving up 18 points hurts you."

The Cougars started off hot after a forfeit and an Austin Craig pin at 112 gave them a 12-0 lead.

But a little bumping and back-to-back sticks by DHS got the Bulldogs right back in the hunt for a victory.

At 119, B.J. Miller moved up one weightclass to take on VW's Andy Smith, however, the Cougars had other plans. Van Wert bumped Smith away from Miller and up to 125, leaving the DHS state qualifier to get his hand raised thanks to a forfeit.

After an openly frustrated Miller headed back to the DHS bench, his teammates took advantage of their opportunities to roll with the Cougars.

Juniors Cory Carnahan and Jordan Gonzales recorded consecutive second-period sticks to give the Bulldogs an 18-12 edge.

"I figured they'd kinda dodge B.J.," explained Neilson. "I'd have done the same thing, B.J.'s a state qualifier and Cory isn't and that's a smart move.

"But Cory's been working hard in the off season," added Neilson. "And he came out and got the pin for us and it worked out well for us tonight."

Senior Zach Hurst, who has been a league title contender at 103 and 112-pounds in years past, has taken on a heavier challenge this season and continued to prove his worth on the mat.

After getting taken down and turned in the second period, Hurst trailed Gyer Blackmore 5-0 heading into the final two minutes of their 135-pound showdown. But a clasping call two seconds into the final period, started Blackmore's slide.

Blackmore, who was a 119-pounder for VW last season, got switched and then kicked out by Hurst at the 1:23 mark. After the escape, Hurst went on the attack. Hurst broke out the old trusty head-and-arm and took Blackmore straight to his back and with :20 left on the clock secured another DHS victory and pushed the team lead to nine, 21-12.

Van Wert rebounded, however, with wins at 140, 145 and 160 while Bulldog Terry Wagenhauser's six-pointer over Kurtis Calvelage at 152 and Desmond Yarnell's decision at 171 fended off the Cougars as Defiance headed into the final three matches with a seven-point edge, 30-23.

But with voids at 215 and 285, the Bulldogs needed nothing less than a pin at 189 to secure the win.

But at 171, the Cougars had done a little more moving of their pieces by sliding 160-pounder Brad Allmandinger up one class so that district qualifier Matt Noggle could decide the match at 189.

And Noggle didn't disappoint.

A big throw just 10 seconds into his fray with Glenn Ward sealed it as Noggle backed the DHS junior and sealed the Van Wert victory.

The Cougars return to action next week with their WBL pool tournament while Defiance heads across town to take on the Tinora Rams on Monday.

"This is something to build on," ended Neilson. "We need to get back in the (practice) room and work hard and come out on Monday against Tinora firing."

SUMMARY

103 - Dillon Foust (VW) won by forfeit; 112 - Austin Craig (VW) pinned Adam Bates, 3:27; 119 - B.J. Miller (D) won by forfeit: 125 - Cory Carnahan (D) pinned Andy Smith 3:38; 130 - Jordan Gonzales (D) pinned Brian Voisard Jr., 3:10; 135 - Zach Hurst (D) dec. Gyer Blackmore, 8-6; 140 - Chris Heath (VW) dec. Cody Manon, 3-2; Connor Massilo (V) tech. fall Clay Roehrig, 22-5; 152 - Terry Wagenhauser (D) pinned Kirtis Calvelage, 2:50; 160 - Craig Thomas (VW) dec. Pat Millen, 12-9; 171 - Desmond Yarnell (D) dec. Brad Allmandinger, 4-3; 189 - Matt Noggle (VW) pinned Glenn Ward, 1:01; 215 - Adam Custer (VW) won by forfeit; 285 - Chris Overmyer (VW) won by forfeit.