The McClain Tigers wrestling team hit the mats at home Thursday night, taking on two Clinton County teams in SCOL action, according to McClain wrestling coach Shane Paul.
McClain hosted the Clinton-Massie Falcons and the Wilmington High School Hurricane.
In round one, Clinton-Massie and McClain faced each other to kick off night. The Falcons won four of the seven contested matches and easily defeated the Tigers at 54-20.
In round two, Clinton-Massie and Wilmington faced off in a very aggressive and brutal matchup.
“It was apparent by the large Clinton County crowd, and by the hard-fought matches, that these two teams were bitter rivals,” Paul said.
The match was close all the way through, and the Falcons squeezed out a 32-30 victory over the Hurricane to keep their SCOL championship drive intact.
The third and final round would determine who split even on the night and who would go 0-2. Wilmington won 3 of the 5 matches contested, and when their forfeits were tallied up, they won easily with a 54-28 final.
Dawson Immel (120), Keegan Rawlins (145), Phil Waters (152) and Ethan Taylor (182) led the Tigers with 2-0 records on the night. Samantha Immel got her first ever varsity win and split even at 1-1. She is currently 1-8 on the season. Quinton Smith (113), Matthew Milnes (126) and Kai Borrelli (220) all stepped onto the mats, but came up short of victory in two tries.
The Tigers now drop to 2-4 in the SCOL and 8-10 overall. This is the first time they have been below the .500 mark since the first match of the year, when they lost a 39-39 criteria tie breaker match against Canal Winchester.
Up next for the Tigers is the Big Dawg Invitational at Dresden Tri-Valley High School on Saturday, Jan. 14. Matches start at 9:30 a.m.
