Tiger wrestlers score dual wins over Weiser and Capital

The Mountain Home Tigers picked up dual match wins over Weiser and Capital last Wednesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Tigers 50

Weiser 27

Mountain Home picked up nine wins against the Wolverines, six by pins, as they won, 50-27.

Mountain Home went up, 22-6, early, but Weiser battled back within one, 22-21. The Tigers then won five of the last six matches to pull away for the win.

Picking up pins for the Tigers against Weiser was Kori Andrews (160 pounds), Chris Knudson (171), Matt Ward (189), Kaeo Doronio (119), Nico Pinque (135) and Cal Vivier (140).

Ty Kleffner (130) picked up a win and six points when his opponent was disqualified for misconduct by head butting.

Kamron Spaulding (145) won by a major decision (11-1), as did T.J. Billinger (18-9) at 112 pounds.

Tyson Sessions (215) dropped a 10-4 decision, and Tanner Carpenter (152), Blake Pharis (285) and Tommy Miller 125) lost by pins.

Tigers 40

Capital 24

The Tigers built up a 16-0 lead early, but found themselves down 24-22 heading into the final four matches.

Nico Pinque (135) won a tough 9-8 decision to give the Tigers the lead back at 25-24. Cal Vivier (140) won by forfeit, to make it 31-24, and Kamron Spaulding (145) won by pin to clinch the win. Tanner Carpenter (152) won a 12-6 decision to make it a 40-24 final.

Matt Ward (189) and Zach Pomerantz (103) both won by pins.

Tyson Sessions (215) won an 18-8 major decision, Kori Andrews (160) won a 9-6 decision and Chris Knudson (171) won a 7-6 decision.

Kaeo Doronio (119) lost a tough 11-10 decision and Ty Kleffner (130) lost a tough 10-9 triple overtime decision.

Blake Pharis (285), T.J. Billinger (112), and Tommy Miller (125) lost by pins.

Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased to get the wins, which improved the Tigers to 16-1 overall in dual match competition.

"It was a lot closer than what we wanted, but overall, it was a great effort by the kids, and in each and every match they seem to be getting better, and that's really great. There's good things happening to the Mountain Home wrestling program."

The Tigers are off now until retur

ning to action on Jan. 4 in a home conference dual against Bishop Kelly. Coach Knudson indicated they were giving the kids a few days off before they hit it hard again.

"We'll come back on the 28th (of December), and the 29th we have our second 'Black Friday', which is a really tough workout to get these guys ready to start wrestling again."