STANARDSVILLE — For a weight conscious sport like wrestling, a match just six days removed from a holiday that throws calorie counting to the wind can make things interesting. But although some wrestlers were taking the mat one class above their usual weight, the Black Knights showed that they’ll be a significant part of the equation in the Jefferson District after beating Monticello 48-24 before taking down host William Monroe 54-24.
“I was real pleased,” said Charlottesville coach Chuck Wood. “We’ve got a lot of young kids wrestling in their first matches and I feel good about that, but we’re really excited that we’ve been able to fill out all the weight classes now, that’s something new for us. Although, a week after Thanksgiving, this match might have been a little too soon. Some of our kids didn’t use their heads over the break.”
Chris Grant at 215 pounds, Jimmy Cara at 189, Ayden Cousins at 171, Shafick Ntenda at 140 and Shirunna Ntenda at 135 all won both of their matches to fuel the Black Knights’ first two wins of the of the year.
“I’m ready for us to try and take the district by storm,” said Grant, a Jefferson District runnerup last year. “We just have to keep working hard. The whole Orange County beating us all the time, I’d really like to end that cycle this year.”
Charlottesville found themselves down by 12 points in against both Monroe and Monticello in the early going. However, against the Greene Dragons the Black Knights won 10 of the last 12 matches they played, and against the Mustangs they won 7 of their last 10.
The meeting between Monticello and Monroe went down to the wire with heavyweight Tyree Kirby earning a pin with his team trailing by one point to push the Mustangs over the top.
“Tyree Kirby did a great job tonight,” said Monticello coach Tom Sutliff. “He’s on his way down to 215 and I told him before (that last match), ‘Get it done quickly, don’t play around.’ And he did, he was aggressive. He missed a headlock but then got the move he needed from the back. It was a match he should win and he definitely got it done.”
Starting at 135 pounds, Monticello won four straight matches only to have Monroe win their next four matches to storm back and take a one-point lead.
“We felt like we were actually going to be able to compete this year,” said Dragon coach Mike Sizemore who started the wrestling program at Monroe in 2007. “But (against Monticello) we looked at the scoreboard late and thought, ‘Wow, we can actually win this thing.’ And we were giving up 18 points because of forfeits.”
Jacob Marshall at 119, Christian Whitehead at 125, Alex Via at 145 and Garret Brown at 152 won multiple matches for Monticello. For Monroe, Perrin Mills, Calvin Biesecker, Adam Weisenborn, and Doug Sizemore at 103, 112, 130, 171 respectively picked up wins. Jessica Roman earned the largest cheer from the crowd by taking her match with Charlottesville’s Casey Devine at 119 to three periods but she ultimately fell short in a decision.
Charlottesville (2-0, 2-0) will travel to Waynesboro on Saturday for a weekend tournament as will William Monroe (0-2, 0-2) who heads to Rappahanock. Monticello (1-1, 1-1) will face Madison County and Fork Union on Wednesday at Madison at 6 p.m.
