OXFORD>> In a dual meet with plenty of twists and turns, the mission for Oxford’s Jace McKinney was straight and to the point: pin to win.
It took the sophomore heavyweight just 97 seconds to accomplish the task, capping a four-bout run by the Hornets that erased an 18-point deficit and clinching a 34-33 win over visiting West Chester Rustin in the Ches-Mont American Division contest, Wednesday.
“The whole 215-pound match I was doing the math and I knew I needed to pin to win,” McKinney said. “It was like a whole other wave of energy and I knew it was now or never.”
Xavier Alarcon (172 pounds), Armani Carrasco (189) and Aiden Edison (215) earned wins for Oxford (2-1 division, 7-6 overall) to set up McKinney’s big moment.
“I was hoping they’d come through, but we saw some stuff fall apart earlier,” Oxford coach Tony Fabri said. “After (Rustin’s ) AJ (Corp) I thought we had a little more horsepower and just hoped we’d pick up the bonus points.”
Oxford was without three starters, Dylan Heffner (127), Jordan Schaible (133) and Blake Hostetter (152), but Rustin (2-2, 3-4) knew it would still need some clutch wins.
The Golden Knights got one at 114, when Leo Flores used a gator roll to set up a pin against Oxford’s Sam Howell, who took first at the Ches-Mont Championships in December.
“I told (Flores) to hit it,” Rustin coach Aston White said. “I told him to go for it. With him it’s a confidence thing. He just started wrestling two years ago and he’s in close matches with good kids. A win for him like that is the type he needs to believe in himself and turn the corner.”
Charlie Emmonds (127), Brody Woodbridge (133), Colin Baldesari (145) and Roman Seaman (152) won by fall to put Rustin up, 30-15, with five matches to go.
That set up a much-anticipated rematch between Corp and Oxford’s Jon Smith (160). Smith won the first match in the Ches-Mont finals and took a 3-0 lead with a last-second takedown in the second period.
After escaping quickly, Corp set up a whip over for a four-point move. Smith worked a reversal and cut Corp with under a minute remaining. Corp held him off for a 6-5 win in what likely won’t be the last time the two talented freshmen square off.
“We don’t talk wins and losses with AJ, we talk about how he competes,” White said. “The biggest thing for him is if he sets his pace, he’s really, really good.”
That was the last win for the Golden Knights, and while Oxford’s injuries hurt its cause, Rustin caught a couple tough breaks as well.
At 121, Rustin’s Oliver Emmonds suffered an arm injury and was forced to injury default against Logan McMillan. At Ches-Monts, McMillan defeated him 11-3.
Later, Carrasco held on to the leg of Rustin’s Alex Samane just long enough to prevent an escape and earn a bonus point with an 18-10 win.
“It’s not as much about wins and losses in dual meets, it’s about how the kids wrestle,” White said. “I thought we wrestled tough and lot of the matches were competitive. We got to our stuff and that’s what we’ve been preaching and coaching.”
With exactly a month between Wednesday’s showdown and the start of the District 1 postseason, Oxford has four more duals and a trip to Cedar Crest High for the Falcon Invitational to iron things out and hopefully get a little healthier.
“We’ll do our best the rest of the season and hopefully hit our stride for the postseason,” Fabri said.
Oxford 34, West Chester Rustin 33
107- Hernandez (OX) pinned Butakis, 1:36 (6-0)
114- Flores (WCR) pinned Howell, 1:22 (6-6)
121- McMillan (OX) inj. def. O. Emmonds, 1:13 (6-12)
127- C. Emmonds (WCR) pinned Deadeye, 1:28 (12-12)
133- Woodbridge (WCR) pinned Bolten, 2:28 (12-18)
139- Ja. Schaible (OX) dec. Pizzi, 5-1 (15-18)
145- Baldesari (WCR) pinned Sumner, 4:51 (15-24)
152- Seaman (WCR) pinned Kinney, 3:37 (15-30)
160- Corp (WCR) dec. Smith, 6-5 (15-33)
172- Alarcon (OX) pinned O’Rourke, 2:33 (21-33)
189- Carrasco (OX) maj. dec. Samane, 18-10 (25-33)
215- Edison (OX) dec. Thomas, 10-3 (28-33)
285- McKInney (OX) pinned Boehncke, 1:37 (34-33)
