BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School defeated host Union County 39-36, with five Tornadoes recording wins by pinning their opponents in a Jan. 8 wrestling match.
The Tornadoes’ Johnathan Armstrong and Aiden Scott recorded the first two wins of the match, with Armstrong pinning Abigail Melton in 1:23 and Scott pinning Breydan Peugh in 1:04.
Union then picked up its first win, with Jamal Reynolds pinning Lemuel Cooper in 1:18.
After the Tigers forfeited the 138 class (giving a win to the Tornadoes’ Derrick McBride), Bradford wrestlers recorded three straight pins: Wyatt Acevedo in 44 seconds over Chloe Foerman, Tremeze White in 1:42 over Troy Alexander and Benjamin Bryzinski in 2:25 over Isaiah Cepeda.
The next head-to-head battle saw Bradford’s Jaland Carey defeat the Tigers’ Wyatt Elixson 12-6, giving the Tornadoes a team score of 39 to Union’s 6.
Union wrestlers then recorded four straight pins: Carsen Thomas in 44 seconds over Mason Lowe, C.J. Ivey in 19 seconds over Kendrick Baggett, Preston Griffin in 13 seconds over Joseph Shetler and Edward Durant in 2:58 over Kaison Pierce.
The Tornadoes forfeited a weight class, which gave a victory to Union’s Aidan Hancock and accounted for the 39-36 final score.
Bradford and Union each wrestled Gainesville as well, with both defeating the Purple Hurricanes. Gainesville forfeited most of the weight classes.
The Tornadoes had three head-to-head matches against Gainesville, winning two of them. Acevedo pinned his opponent in 1:16, while White pinned his in 3:01.
Union and Gainesville had four head-to-head matches, with the Tigers winning one off of Hancock’s 3:08 pin.
