For The Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
With two of his top wrestlers out because of injuries, Franklin coach Bob Hasseman decided to bump three of his heavier wrestlers up a weight class Thursday night at Columbus East.
The move paid off in the beginning. Starting at 182 pounds, the Grizzly Cubs won three of the first four matches to take a 12-3 lead.
“For this dual meet, it didn’t help us out starting where we did because that was kind of their strength,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “But that’s a random draw — nothing you can do about that.”
But after that, it was all Olympians. Tenth-ranked East won the seven lightest weight classes and nine of the final 10 overall to post a 50-16 victory.
Franklin (3-4) was without 195-pounder Nick Petrole, who sustained a concussion on Tuesday, and 220-pounder Manny Cheam, who was sick. Burk VanHorn, who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 170, moved up to 182 and scored a pin in 1 minute, 17 seconds to give the Grizzly Cubs an early 6-0 lead.
After the Olympians won by decision at 195, Franklin’s Jake Moore scored an 8-2 decision at 220 and Jacob Lamping won a 3-0 decision at 285.
“I had two bullets not in my gun, so I bumped them up,” Hasseman said.
But then East won the next seven matches, scoring 37 consecutive points, to take a 40-12 lead and clinch the victory.
The Grizzly Cubs’ Trevor Reese stopped the run with an 11-3 major decision at 152. The Olympians then won the final two matches to finish off the victory.
Kids who wrestled seven of the first nine matches for Franklin were freshmen.
“(Columbus East is) tough from 120 to 138, really to 145,” Hasseman said. “We’re just young, and that’s what I’m fighting right now.”