Wawasee’s Titus Taylor reacts after scoring a pin versus East Noble under the solitary light of the Hardwood Teepee Thursday night.

It was as stunning as it will sound. The No. 6-ranked Wawasee wrestling program found itself down 30-0 at one point in Thursday’s home dual to East Noble. And yet, still found a way to win, 42-36, in a wild rally at the blacked out Hardwood Teepee.

Starting off with a concession forfeit at 285, East Noble had board control at 6-0, but typically Wawasee makes that up with a Kaleb Salazar win to counter the point giveaway at heavyweight. However, Salazar found himself pinned in about 30 seconds in a stunning result which buoyed the Knights into three more pins after beating Cam Senter, Jaxon Senter and Zeke Spore, all in succession.

At 30-0, you could hear a pin drop in the darkness aside from the hooting coming from the contingent from Kendallville.

“Bottom line is the first two weights where we got pinned, those were two great opponents who took advantage of some openings we left,” said Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner. “It wasn’t anything bad we did, they just were competing like we were. Kudos to them. It was good action.”

It was looking worse for Wawasee in the 132 contest as Titus Taylor found himself down 10-3 in the second period. But, following a huge weekend at the November Duals, Taylor dug in, got a turn and pulled out an emphatic pin to get Wawasee on the board.

“There wasn’t a panic with Titus, he just went for the next score,” offered Bumgardner. “Be ferocious, and that’s what he did. I talked to him after the match and we was very analytical. Here’s what happened, here’s where I did this. In the past, he’s admittedly struggled with that at time. To see him doing that in the moment under those circumstances, that’s a pretty big jump for him. He’s on a bit of a roll. Now, can he make some technical adjustments and set some bigger goals.”

‘OK, here we go,’ spouted announcer Cheryl Merchant quietly before hopping on the mic to announce the 138 match. And away the Warriors went.

Stuckman won by major decision, nearly getting a tech fall on his bloody counterpart in a match that saw nearly a half-dozen blood times for the Knight to tend.

Ethan Rodriguez maintained his composure at 145 and worked into a nice combo to pin to keep the line moving for Hunter Miller, who was one point away from a tech fall after putting on a master class at 152.

Wawasee’s Kenidi Nine works her East Noble opponent into a pin Thursday night.

East Noble countered with its final points of the night, pinning Carson Nine to run the score to 36-20.

That was all Wawasee would concede.

Gavin Malone took it personal in his pin at 170, running a nice series to get his bigger foe to the mat and slapped.

Cam Zimmerman got into a little trouble early in the 182 card, but quickly reversed his fortunes, quite literally, and eventually gained total control of his major decision, setting up the high drama at the finish, the Warriors with all the momentum but still trailing 36-30 on the illumination.

Donovan Blair, who had already been in the moment this year, didn’t have a repeat of Bellmont, rather, worked into a quick pin to tie the score, bringing the entire Wawasee bench and most of its fans to its collective feet. Pacing behind the bench was the bull, Eleazar Vazquez, waiting to run at 220, and run he did, getting his man to the mat quickly and not letting go, scoring a first-round pin to ice the night and a tremendous rally complete.

“That’s a really intense environment, and you get to walk on the mat and be the hero,” said Bumgardner of Vazquez, and also of Blair in the match before. “X had a good matchup in front of him, and he was aggressive and took care of business. That was exciting to see the young man perform in those circumstances.”

It was a full plate at the Teepee, as Wawasee had five girls matches against East Noble as well as a full plate of JV matches preceeding the varsity showdown. Girls winners for Wawasee included pins from Ciarra Rodriguez, Brooke Catron and Kenidi Nine.

Wawasee 42, East Noble 36

285 – Zach Leighty (EN) forfeit – 0-6
106 – Kealan Fuller (EN) pin Kaleb Salazar :30 – 0-12
113 – Blake Byerley (EN) pin Cam Senter 2:24 – 0-18
120 – Ayman Ahmed (EN) pin Jaxon Senter 2:46 – 0-24
126 – Ameer Ahmed (EN) pin Zeke Spore 2:46 – 0-30
132 – Titus Taylor (Waw) pin Conner Mosley 4:54 – 6-30
138 – Logan Stuckman (Waw) maj dec Rylee Biddle 15-2 – 10-30
145 – Ethan Rodriguez (Waw) pin Cody Biddle 5:02 – 16-30
152 – Hunter Miller (Waw) maj dec Dallas Plattner 16-2 – 20-30
160 – Alex Sprague (EN) pin Carson Nine 2:48 – 20-36
170 – Gavin Malone (Waw) pin Jacob Everson 1:00 – 26-36
182 – Cam Zimmerman (Waw) maj dec Jordan Rusmisel 14-6 – 30-36
195 – Donovan Blair (Waw) pin Connor Leins 4:50 – 36-36
220 – Eleazar Vazquez (Waw) pin Kaleb Strater 1:19 – 42-36

JV Results

106 – Awad Awad (EN) dec Luke Stuckman 5-2
113 – Dalton Yoder (Waw) pin Jaiden Venzke 5:18
132 – Joe Savage (EN) dec Zeke Ihnen 6-4
138 – Marcus Mortorff (EN) maj dec Dominic Brown 20-10
152 – Andrew Oakes (EN) pin Benji Brace 5:40
170 – Alex Dibble (Waw) pin Parker Moore 1:37
170 – Sam Strater (EN) pin Peyton Sewell 7:30
182 – Alex Brennan (EN) pin Blake Coburn 2:54
195 – Gavin Sparkman (EN) pin Alex Cabrera 1:54