Patriots pull out narrow win

The Patriots didn’t have their smoothest start against the Tigers, but six pins, another victory and four forfeits lifted them to victory.

The Jay County Junior High School wrestling team stared at a 21-3 deficit against the Bluffton Tigers before rallying for a 62-57 victory on Thursday.

Mitchell Byrum opened the match with a win in the 75-pound contest as he beat Bluffton’s Boone Sprunger in a 9-6 decision.

A forfeit and three straight losses led to the early deficit. The Patriots (14-6) slowly worked themselves back into position, with six victories by fall.

Going into the final contested match, Jay County owned a 56-51 lead because of a quick pin by Freddie Lingo in the 190 contest and a forfeit in the 215.

Jayce Campbell grabbed six more points for the Tigers by pinning Charlee Burress at the 1 minute, 34 second mark of the second period in the 245 match, but Bluffton didn’t have an opponent for George Plessinger III in the 285 contest, securing the Patriots the victory.

Of the 15 contested matches, Jay County took seven, all but Byrum’s victory being by fall.

Joining Lingo by pinning their opponents were Jackson Bonifas in the 100-pound match (3:08), Walter Campofiore in the 106 (3:53), Max McClain in the 126 (12 seconds), Cooper Reynolds in the 144 (0:49) and Caleb Sibray in the 150 (0:22).

Of the eight Patriot losses, seven were by fall.

Suffering losses in the match were Karson Hines (85-pound contest), Danica Chowning (90), Corbin Lothridge (95), Logan Wendel (113), Miles Jones (120), Alex Rivers (132), Amara Crawford (175) and Burress (245).