Tiebreaker heartbreaker

The Comanche wrestling team came within a hair of upsetting Class 3A No. 3 Hinton at the District Tournament in Comanche last Thursday, but the Comets would win on a tiebreaker, winning by the number of pins to punch their ticket to Dual State.

Hinton took an early 4-0 lead with a win at 120 pounds with Brycen Rasnic defeating Gage Jessen, 14-6. Comanche’s Matt Hunt gave Comanche the lead at 126 pounds with a pin in the third period and then the Indians increased the lead with two straight wins, a 6-1 decision by Haden Dugan and a 15-9 win by Legend Yates for a 15-4 lead.

Kasyn Doss lost by pin at 144 pounds, but Klayton Smith came back for Comanche at 150 pounds to win by pin in the second period. Mike Lair lost by pin at 157 pounds and Comanche forfeited at 165 pounds to switch their line-up, giving Hinton a 22-21 lead.

Logan Stengle was knocked off at 175 with a second-period pin before Erik Roy and Kannon Clift got technical falls for five points each.

Justin Mann lost by first-period pin at heavyweight, giving Hinton a 34-31 lead heading into the final two matches at 106 and 113 pounds.

Aidan Frye then gave Comanche the lead back at 106 pounds with a first-period pin that pushed the Indians three points ahead.

In a tough-fought match at 113 pounds, Chris Jackson lost 2-0, giving up a second-period reversal that would be the only points of the match. The three-point win tied the score and led to a few anxious moments as the referee went to the scorebook and declared Hinton the winner on the tiebreaker.

Comanche won all their other district matchups to go 7-1, but Hinton was undefeated.

“We knew Hinton was going to be the big matchup for the trip to Dual State,” said Casy Rowell, head coach. “The score was tied 37-37 with four pins each. We gave up a forfeit, but we had to give the forfeit up because were using some strategy to try to get the overall win.”

Rowell felt the Indians had their chances to pull out the win.

“We had several matches where it was one point here, one point there whether we won or lost and we just fell short,” Rowell said. “All it took was one point, so we did what we could. They’re No. 3 in the state for a reason and I think we are something like No. 8 or No. 10. We definitely weren’t favored, but we had them. Things went our way bumping Klayton up. We made a great move with him and getting that pin was huge. Kanon and Erik both got tech falls, which kind of stinks because you were hoping for some pins, but at the same time, how do you criticize a kid who got a tech fall? You don’t criticize the ones that win, you look more at the ones that lost.”

Rowell said the Indians wrestle in the toughest district in Class 3A. 

Now, the focus shifts to the regional tournament and the state tournament, which Rowell thinks his team has a good chance of placing high in the standings.

“We’ve got some events coming up and those will just be preparing us for regionals, and then if we do our best, I still believe that we’re like a top-five team, possibly a top-three team, but we’ve got to have some individuals step up,” Rowell said. “The state tournament individual is way different than Dual State. Dual State requires a full team effort, and we’re just not there this year, obviously. It stinks, but we’re going to move forward. That’s all we can do, try to make the best of the situation and encourage the boys and girls to keep training.”

The boys’ regional will be at Kingfisher and the girls’ regional will be at Cache.

“I think our overall record as a team is 9-3, and that’s a great record, but I’m very competitive and the Hinton one was the one I knew we were going to need to win if we wanted to go to Dual State. It was the same thing last year where we beat them by the skin of our teeth,” Rowell said. “We were winning at the right time (this year), and it came down to the last match and we fell short.”