Razorbacks score two wins in Byron

Westfield wrestling took a trip down Highway 14 for the Dave Scharberg Memorial Wrestling Dual Tournament in Byron last week and came home with two wins over Byron and Rochester Mayo.

The Razorbacks looked sharp from top to bottom against some big school competition, with the team’s only loss coming to a stacked Plainview-Elgin-Millville (PEM) team.

“It was another good day of wrestling for our guys, and I was proud of our effort overall. We started off the day with a win against Byron in a tightly contested dual. Chase Kiser was able to seal the victory for us with a pin at 189 pounds. In the second dual of the day, we faced a tough PEM team, and were only able to secure two wins. Our best dual effort of the day came in our final dual against Rochester Mayo. We were able to start with eight straight wins, and six of those were by fall,” said Westfield Co-Head Coach David Lassahn.

The team’s opening-round matchup against Byron saw Westfield come out on top 41-36.

The dual was a dogfight from start to finish despite the Razorbacks taking an early 29-0 lead.

Westfield 107-pounder Easton Busho started the day with a fall by beating his opponent in 1:25.

Byron forfeited at 114 and 121 pounds to set Westfield up with a strong 18-0 lead.

The lead only increased when wrestling resumed as Peyton Lembke and Derek Miner both secured bonus points.

The former was spotless in a 17-0 technical fall at 127 pounds while Miner wasted no time winning by fall in the first period.

Both sides traded falls at 139 and 145 pounds before Byron began to make a comeback.

Westfield’s initial 35-6 lead shrunk significantly when the Bears won three consecutive matches by fall to cut the lead down to 35-24 heading into 189 pounds.

With an 11-point lead, Westfield just needed a win to secure the dual and Chase Kiser delivered with style by sticking his man for a second-period fall.

Byron went on to sweep the final two matches by fall, but the match had already been decided at 41-36.

In the team’s next dual, Westfield took a 12-55 beating from PEM.

The Razorbacks’ Bentley Miller (121 pounds – 10-3 decision), Miner (133 – 16-6 decision) and Braxton Lee (285 pounds – 2:48 fall) were the only three Westfield wrestlers to win.

Westfield rebounded extremely well from the loss to finish its day with a 45-27 win over Rochester Mayo.

The Spartans had no answer for the Razorbacks’ lighter weights and found themselves in a similar position to Byron, falling behind 45-0 right out of the gate.

Westfield received a forfeit at 107 before taking the fight straight to the Spartans with seven consecutive match wins.

Earning bonus points for the Razorbacks were Devan Subbert (114 – 0:58 fall), Miller (121 – 1:03 fall), Miner (133 – 0:46 fall), Grayden Gunderson (139 – 3:46 fall), Isaac Fort (145 – 5:25 fall) and Cayden Maly (152 – 2:58 fall.)

Rochester Mayo won the final five matches and earned four falls, but it was not nearly enough to earn the win a 45-27 blowout for the Razorbacks.

Earlier in the week, Westfield traveled to NRHEG for a dual against the Panthers and came out on top 39-24.

The Razorbacks’ win was highlighted again by the team’s lighter weights.

After NRHEG took 3-0 lead at 107 pounds, Westfield turned up the heat to win four straight matches and go up 18-3.

Again it was Subbert, Miller, Lembke and Miner that got the job done with two falls and two decision wins.

NRHEG’s only chance at winning the dual disappeared at 172 pounds when Westfield’s Jens Tidemann won his match against Noah Weller by fall to push the score to 33-12.

The Panthers could only afford a decision loss at 172 and after securing a bonus-point win, the dual was out of reach at 21 points with three matches remaining.

Westfield’s next meet will be far from home when the team travels to Northwood-Kensett High School in Northwood, Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 20.

Official start times for the duals were not available at the time of press.