Late Norwell rally breaks South Adams hearts
Matthew Klingenberger
Sports Reporter Decatur Daily Democrat
After leading the Norwell Knights for most of the evening on Wednesday in Berne, a last-match fall handed the South Adams Starfires a difficult defeat, 34-33.
With four matches remaining, South Adams led 33-17. But after a trio of major decisions for his team, Ethan Michael of Norwell pinned Bryan Roll to give the Knights the one-point win.
South Adams got off to a brilliant start, earning the first 15 points of the dual.
The night started at 285 pounds with Phoenix Boxell of South Adams racking up a 6-1 decision against Carson Powell of Norwell to give the Starfires a 3-0 lead.
Titus Loshe tripled the lead for the hosts when he recorded a fall against Eli Thomas at 106 pounds.
That pin was followed by a victory by forfeit for
Daniel Rupp that handed the Starfires six more points.
Norwell ( 7- 13, 1- 4 Northeast 8) got on the board at 120 courtesy of a 13-2 major decision in favor of Hunter Douglas against Dakota Sprunger.
The Knights pulled back within five after back-toback decisions for Jason Prough and Connor Fojtik against Will Patterson and Braxton Kirchner, respectively.
South Adams (14-7, 4-2 Allen County) got back on track when Wyatt Mann rallied before pinning Chase Behning in overtime at 138 pounds.
That was followed by a fall at 144 by Colten Bollenbacher over Jake Gruss to put the Starfires up 27-10.
A moment of confusionor controversy- that had a big impact on the meet came at 157 pounds. At the end of the second period, the referee took a look at the forearm of Norwell grappler Luke Dreiband. The official then determined that Dreiband had been bitten by Mark McKinley of South Adams, meaning that McKinley had to be disqualified.
There was a sense of surprise all around the arena. McKinley adamantly denied biting his opponent.
Nevertheless, six points were added to the Norwell score.
The Starfires got those six points back almost immediately when Isaiah Meyer pinned Aden McJury at 157.
At that point it seemed as though the Starfires were on their way to a win. That all changed beginning with the next match.
A 12-3 score gave Cody Cox a major decision against Wes Summersett and Norwell four points at 165 pounds.
Luke Behning trimmed the margin to nine with a major decision against Luke Bauman at 175.
The momentum was starting to flip at the point, and it was apparent that the visitors believed they could pull off a massive comeback.
Those hopes became more realistic when Zach Wilson racked up a major decision versus AJ Thompson to pull the Knights within five.
Going into the final match at 215 pounds, the Knights knew that even another major decision would not be enough.
Needing to go for it, Michael sent the traveling supporters into euphoria with a pin against Roll to clinch the victory.
A panoramic of the entire gym would have told the story in its entirety. On one side of the predominantly black mat were the Starfires. Most of them expressed disbelief, some frustration.
The Knights were positioned on the other side. Their reactions were far more celebratory and told a story of positive surprise.
The Starfires will try to rebound when they compete in the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament at Bluffton on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.