BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School’s Taylor Touchton and Union County’s Matthew Rogers battled into the second period before Touchton won by a pin in 3:05, which gave the host Tornadoes a 24-23 win over the Tigers in a Jan. 6 wrestling match.
The matchup between Touchton and Rogers was the final one of the night. Wins by Hunter Cruz and Wyatt Elixson, along with Bradford forfeiting a weight class, had Union in the lead before Touchton’s win.
Two Bradford wrestlers (Aiden Scott and Jonathon Armstrong) were awarded wins due to Union having no wrestlers in the 120- and 126-pound classes. The first head-to-head matchup then took place, with the Tornadoes’ Jayden Prevatt facing off against the Tigers’ Gavin Sparkman in the 138 class. Sparkman pinned Prevatt in 1:18 for Union’s first win of the night.
The 144 class saw Bradford’s Wyatt Acevedo pin Union’s Jarred Bennett in 43 seconds. The Tigers’ Cruz then earned a win for Union when he pinned Bradford’s Miguel Rivera in 3:36 in the 150 class.
Union’s Akireon Boykin was awarded a win due to the Tornadoes not having a wrestler in the 157 class.
Both teams had wrestlers in the 175 class, with the Tigers’ Elixson and the Tornadoes’ Tremeze White battling each other into the third period. Elixson led 7-1 after the first period and 10-1 after the second before finally pinning White in 4:18.
That set up the pivotal match between Touchton and Rogers in the 215 class. Rogers led 6-3 after the first period. The wrestlers battled for approximately one minute in the second period before Touchton got the pin.
