Ranger wrestling took two wins in hard battles against Forest Hills Northern and Ottawa Hills. FHC dominated over Ottawa Hills with a score of 72-6 and had a much closer win against FHN 36-32.

Senior Adam Heneveld had a quick match against FHN. In the beginning of the first period, Adam threw his opponent to the mat attempting a two-point takedown. It was considered unnecessary roughness and his opponent gained one point. Adam then got a two-point takedown and went straight for a cradle. The cradle was successful and resulted in a pin.

“Going into my match, I was thinking in my head I needed to send it,” Adam said. “So I went out there, sent it, got a cradle and pinned him. I got the team 6 points.”

Senior Trace Schirmers had a similar match against FHN. In the first period, Trace had a two-point takedown and pinned his opponent with 28 seconds left.

“Going into the Northern match I knew our team wasn’t performing like they should have been,” Trace said. “I needed to set the tone and move people over. I saw some kids not wrestle like they should have been and I knew I needed to make up for it.”

Junior Sammy Postlewait had an intense match against Ottawa Hills. In the first period, Sammy started with a two-point takedown. His opponent closed the gap by one point for loss of control. They were then pushed out of bounds and started neutral. Sammy again got another two-point takedown. In the second period, Sammy got another two-point takedown. In that takedown, Sammy was trying for a pin but it wasn’t successful. He received two points for a near fall. Sammy went for a pin and was successful with 32 seconds left.

“I knew that I could keep going against the kid because he was resting on the bottom. I figured I’d let him back up and take him back down,” said Sammy.

In Sammy’s match against FHN, his opponent gained two points for a takedown. Sammy then turned around and pinned his opponent with 45 seconds left.

“I knew it would be a tough match for the team, and I figured I had to power through for the us and try to get the win,” said Sammy.

Coach Anderson went into the matches hoping the guys weren’t flat footed and having too much lackadaisical energy after the holiday break. He was hoping the boys would be able to get up and wrestle. Coming out of their matches he felt the winning scores indicated they won as a team, however, he was not content with the way they wrestled. He felt Adam Heneveld and Trace Schirmers came through for the team. The wrestlers have very small positions they need to improve upon.

“We are going to work on many things, but of those many things we are going to work on hand fighting,” said head coach Brad Anderson. “Our guys have to get better in the standing position that you call neutral. They need to stop the guy from attacking and they needed to step up their attacks.”

Varsity wrestling has a tournament on Saturday at Portage Central where the Rangers are the returning team champs. The team went 5-0 last year in these matches. The team wants to defend their title, go undefeated, and be dominant.