Millbrook Wrestling Wins Five Of Last Six Bouts To Beat James Wood 38-28

Posted: January 28, 2014
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Heading into his bout with James Wood’s Austin Henry, Millbrook wrestler Lee Artrip knew he had to avoid not only losing to his opponent, but also keep the Colonel from getting a win by major decision or by fall.

A win was certainly a possibility for Artrip, who is having a good season and has won crucial matches before for the Pioneers. But it would be tough going against a veteran like Henry, trying himself to close out his senior night with a win.

The Pioneers were ahead by four points and the bout between Artrip and Henry at 195 pounds would be the final one Monday night in the Northwestern District dual at Shirley Gymnasium.

Things didn’t look good early on for Artrip, who fell behind 4-0 after one period. But after Henry deferred to Artrip to begin the second period, Artrip got the break he needed and capitalized in a flash.

Artrip reversed from down, got Henry caught in a Peterson, and held with a half-nelson to get the fall in two minutes and 40 seconds to clinch a 38-28 win for Millbrook.

The Pioneers rallied by winning the last three weight classes and five of the last six. With Devon Sharp (major decision at 170) and Dylan Wisman (win by fall in 25 seconds at 182) preceding his match with crucial wins, Artrip rode the Pioneers’ momentum the best he knew how.

“Dylan and Devon hyped me up for it — they did it all,” said Artrip. “I knew I couldn’t end the momentum [with a loss]. I had to keep it going. I just went out there and did what I had to do.

“At that point [trailing 4-0], I did get a little discouraged, but I knew that is just how I wrestle. He deferred to me [to start the second period], so I took down. I’m pretty quick from down so I knew I could hit my move pretty quick from there.”

Upper-weight wrestlers are often involved in wins by fall, and Artrip could sense he was about to get the “six.”

“I looked up at the referee and I saw his hand and it just started to move, and I knew I had to push it a little bit harder,” said Artrip. “I pushed it through [for the fall] and did what I had to do to give the team a victory.”

Millbrook coach Jeff Holmes, who also got a pair of crucial wins from freshmen Corey Gloyd (pin at 126) and Gabe Neaverth (pin at 152), was pleased Artrip could come through with the pin against a solid opponent like Henry.

“It’s obviously one of those things where you hope for [a win by fall], but it could go either way,” said Holmes. “At the same time, you want him to get the six, but you’re also nervous that he could give up the six, then they win.

“It was huge. It was a good, competitive match.”

Millbrook won eight of the 13 matches that were contested, and the one match that James Wood won by forfeit was not how the Colonels had hoped to gain six points at that class.

Jimmy Woznak was slated to face Millbrook’s Matt Huff at 138, but the Pioneers elected to move Huff up a weight and give Woznak (his 100th career win) the forfeit just before they were to wrestle.

Huff ended up getting a takedown with 55 seconds left against Cody Hiles to break a 3-3 tie and held off the Colonel from there to win 5-4 and start Millbrook’s 5-1 string over the last six matches.

“Them bumping at [138] — that’s good for them because they needed a win,” said James Wood coach Greg Walker. “But seriously, I’m not into the ‘bumping’ thing. If [Huff] would have stayed at 38, it would have been a different story. Because we would have won there and got a forfeit at 45. That’s 12 points and it’s a big difference.”

After Huff’s win, Neaverth was rolling along, holding a 6-3 lead early in the second period when he took an elbow to his nose and blood-time was called. Not more than 20 seconds after his match with the Colonels’ Schyler Litten resumed, Neaverth got Litten to the mat and his half-nelson earned him a pin in 3:01 to uplift the Pioneers and tie the match at 22-22.

“I got a half-nelson in and stuck with it all the way through,” said Neaverth. “It feels pretty good. I had to get the team a win. I had to do whatever was possible.”

James Wood briefly got a good swing with Ryan Funkhouser (first-period pin at 160), but Sharp followed with a dominant performance over Adam Garfola, getting a takedown with a second left to gain an extra team point with his 10-2 win by major decision.

Wisman needed just 25 seconds to win by fall over one of the Colonels’ top season winners in Daniel Funkhouser to give Millbrook a four-point lead heading into the final bout, which Artrip held with his win.

Couple that with Gloyd beating Matt Surber in the third period after the two were tied 2-2 heading to the third, or the wins by Ryan Meushaw (major decision, 9-1, at 120) and Joe Tanner (6-0 at 285), and Millbrook came through against one of its stiffest rivals.

“All I asked the kids to do was wrestle with grit,” said Holmes, who earned his first Northwestern dual win since taking over the program before last season. “It’s just one of those things where you ask them to wrestle hard and let things play out and they’ve been doing that.”

The match started well for James Wood as Adam Vadell (5-2 win at 220), Aaron Black (win by fall in 38 seconds at 106) and Matt Artrip (11-6 win at 113) had the Colonels out to a 12-3 lead.

But from there, only William Gregory (14-0 win at 132) and Ryan Funkhouser would win on the mat for James Wood, leaving Walker somewhat disappointed with the outcome.

“We blew that one,” said Walker. “They won and congratulations to them. We just couldn’t do it. They came to wrestle and we didn’t. We were very poor with our technique [in certain classes] tonight, that’s for sure.”

Both James Wood and Millbrook will compete this weekend at Woodgrove in the Conference 21 duals. Sherando will host the conference tournament the following week.