PREP WRESTLING: Goshen sets single-season wins record in victory over LaVille

Jan. 26—GOSHEN — History was almost guaranteed to happen before Goshen and LaVille even started wrestling Tuesday night.

That didn't mean the moment was any less sweet for the RedHawk wrestlers.

With five Lancer forfeits in the lineup, Goshen was gifted 30 free points. While the remaining nine contests were split 5-4 in favor of Goshen, those points via forfeit made the final score 57-21 for the RedHawks.

The victory was an historic one, as it gave Goshen 23 dual match victories on the season, the most in a single season in program history. The previous record was held by the 1998-99 team, which won 22 duals that year.

"It's surprising," admitted Goshen coach Jim Pickard afterwards about reaching the record. "We're pretty young, but we've wrestled well at times. We haven't wrestled as well at other times — I can honestly say that there's three of them that we shouldn't have lost. ... We have nine seniors, but only three returning wrestlers; so, it's a lot of younger kids in our lineup and a lot of inexperienced ones. But they're learning."

Goshen's five wins via forfeit came at 113 pounds, 120, 132, 145 and 182.

LaVille won the first contest of the night, picking up an 8-3 decision victory at 138 pounds. Goshen countered with three-straight wins, though, as junior Rayhan Romo won a 13-12 decision at 152 pounds before junior Alex Parga and sophomore Laish Detwiler picked up pin fall victories at 160 and 170 pounds, respectively.

The Lancers then had wins at 195 and 220 to make the team score 33-15 at that time. In the heavyweight bout, however, Goshen sophomore Axel Olvera-Zamora won by pin, which elicited a huge ovation from the RedHawks wrestlers and coaches looking on.

In an all-girls match at 106 pounds, LaVille's Mackena Deason was able to get a late pin fall win over RedHawk sophomore Maria Rescalvo. Goshen sophomore Camden Wiese then closed the proceedings with a first-round pin in the 126-pound match.

For the RedHawks, they reached the 23-win dual meet mark in large part to the six duals they've wrestled since Saturday. Along with Tuesday's win, Goshen went 5-0 at Super 8 Invitational held at Lake Station High School this past weekend.

With the Northern Lakes Conference invitational moving up to two weeks before sectionals now, Pickard and the RedHawks get more chances to wrestle dual meets in that break between NLC and the postseason.

"I'm not one who wants to take two weeks off before sectionals," Pickard said. "Sitting for two weeks would be awful. ... Wrestling isn't a sport where you wrestle and then go two whole weeks of sitting and practicing. It's horrible for us, and we're actually thinking of changing our schedule next year to at least keeping that Lake Station one on there. I want to keep wrestling; I don't want time off before going into the sectional."

All attention for Goshen now turns to the sectional, which is Saturday at Elkhart West (the old Memorial High School building). Along with the RedHawks, Concord, Fairfield, Elkhart, Jimtown, Northridge and NorthWood will all be competing for sectional titles. Northridge is the four-time defending sectional champion, while Goshen will be seeking its first team sectional title since the 2000-01 season.

"We could get several through (to regionals)," Pickard said. "I don't like to single out specific kids, but Laish Detwiler is 28-5; Cole Hinkel is 26 or 27-2. Those are our best records, but we have a lot of guys that are in there. We have several kids with 20-plus wins and only five losses or so. We've got to wrestle well."

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GOSHEN VS. LAVILLE WRESTLING 1/25/2022 — Results

Final score: Goshen 57, LaVille 21

106 pounds: Mackena Deason (L) pins Maria Rescalvo (G) in 5:34

113 pounds: Goshen won via forfeit

120 pounds: Goshen won via forfeit

126 pounds: Camden Wiese (G) pins Jonah Skiles (L) in 1:45

132 pounds: Goshen won via forfeit

138 pounds: Conner Deason (L) def. Bryant Faustino-Ramirez (G), 8-3

145 pounds: Goshen won via forfeit

152 pounds: Rayhan Romo (G) def. Justin Brown (L), 13-12

160 pounds: Alex Parga (G) pins David Rock (L) in 0:46

170 pounds: Laish Detwiler (G) pins Ethan Sailors (L) in 3:10

182 pounds: Goshen won via forfeit

195 pounds: Paul DeWitt (L) pins Jonathan Flores (G) in 3:11

220 pounds: Jon Ziola (L) pins Braxton Burns (G) in 1:23

285 pounds: Axel Olvera-Zamora (G) pins Zeke Jones (L) in 2:28

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.