By Will Willems/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — The Southmont wrestling team strolled into Lebanon Tuesday night having defeated the Tigers three-straight times in the regular season.
The Tigers made sure the Mounties wouldn’t make it four straight, easily defeating Southmont 45-28 Tuesday night.
“I think overall we wrestled with a lot of heart and a little more intensity,” Lebanon head coach Derek Bocock said. “I would like to see even a little more intensity and our conditioning is not where it needs to be at this point in the season. But for the most part we achieved one of our goals tonight. We did the little things that added up to a victory. One of our goals coming into the season was to beat Southmont and we accomplished that. It took a team effort.”
William Mendoza got Lebanon going at the 160-pound weight class, up from his normal 152. He cruised to an 11-0 victory to stake Lebanon to a 4-0 lead. Kameryn Wright dominated Cody Haslam at 171 pounds, nearly scoring a pinfall in the third period.
He settled for an 8-0 win to match Lebanon's team score.
Nick Fruits made it 11-0 when he pulled away from Ben Fuchs at 189 pounds, defeating him 10-3. Southmont’s Christopher Smith got the Mounties on the board with a first-period pinfall of Dalton Weeks but Lebanon responded with four pins in the next five weight classes.
Jesse Boley pinned Jesse Martin with 59 seconds left in the second period to push the lead to 17-6. After a forfeit by Lebanon at the 103-pound weight class, Clayton Campbell made quick work of Dylan Rogers at 112-pounds, pinning him in 1:57.
Junior Josh Julien extended the lead further when he pinned Gibby Paxton at 119 pounds. The win moved Julien to 8-0 on the year.
“Josh is at a good point right now,” Bocock said. “He has a very tough match Thursday night (against Crawfordsville) and another one on Tuesday (at Danville). I don't think he has been challenged yet. One key to Josh is to continue to come into the room focused and practice hard. And he has been doing that. We are really pleased with his progress right now.”
