Cyclones outwrestle Pioneers, Knights

By Matt Hill
STAR STAFF
mhill@starhq.com

   The Elizabethton Cyclones didn't have to get on pins and needles in waiting for the outcome of their two wrestling matches Tuesday night.
   They took care of that by recording a lot of pins.
   The Cyclones had a combined 10 pins in wins over the David Crockett Pioneers and Chuckey-Doak Black Knights Tuesday at Treadway Gym.
   Elizabethton defeated the Pioneers 55-24, and knocked off Chuckey-Doak 52-18.
   Eight of those pins came in the David Crockett match. It was a win that impressed EHS head coach Bill Potter.
   "I think we had a good win," Potter said. "David Crockett has a pretty solid team this year. I know they've beaten Morristown West and Jefferson County. I was really surprised. They won two matches against us and we had two forfeits. I think we wrestled real solid against them, and I think we had a pretty good night."
   Against Chuckey-Doak, the Cyclones might of had more pins if not for the Black Knights having eight forfeits.
   Tyler Ross and David Hardy each recorded two pins on the evening. Hardy was very happy with the team's effort on Tuesday.
   "It was a good match," Hardy said. "We had good competition. We did pretty good tonight."
   Hardy, who was competing at the 215 pound weight-class, pinned Crockett's Matt Barnett in 59 seconds and Chuckey-Doak's Josh Blazer in 45 seconds.
   Ross pinned Crockett's J. Penny in 3:01 and Chuckey-Doak's Eric Lewis at the 3:02 mark.
   Ross' brothers, Andy and John, also enjoyed pins against Crockett. John had the quickest pin of the night, as he defeated Mike Harvey in 16 seconds.
   As for Tyler, the freshman thought getting two pins gives him a good confidence boost going into the rest of the season.
   "I got good practice," Tyler Ross said, who is the lightest competitor on the Cyclone team at 112 pounds. "I need to build up for the harder people in the weight class, and work towards region."
   Tyler Ross believes his brothers and the rest of the team just keep getting better, and will continue to improve.
   "I think we're doing real well," he said. "Everybody is working hard in practice. We're more in shape than a lot of the other teams, and we can outlast them and beat them in the third period.
   David Sayers, Patrick Jenkins and Mitch Cornett all had pins for EHS on the night.
   One negative on the evening happened to be the amount of forfeits, meaning a lot of the wrestlers didn't get to participate in both matches.
   "It always ends up that way," Potter said. "We've been there before, we've given up forfeits. This year we've only had to forfeit a few weight classes, last year we had to forfeit five. It happens to everybody."
   Potter thinks the performance by his wrestlers on Tuesday night will give the team a big boost in gearing up for a tournament in Christiansburg, Va. this weekend.
   "We pinned a lot of people tonight, which is good," Potter said. "This will get us started for the weekend. We've got a tough weekend. They'll be 27 teams there. It's a big tournament. Most of the top 10 teams in the state of Virginia will be there. We're going to have to wrestle our best to come out with any placers at all."