Bears beat Panthers, but fall to KoMets

             After beating Triton 55-21 two weeks ago, the Byron wrestling team made it back-to-back wins when they beat Pine Island 54-21 on Thursday, Jan. 16, but they couldn’t make it three in a row as they ran into a buzzsaw, the Kasson-Mantorville KoMets, and lost 23-54 in the second dual of the triangular.
            After winning by forfeit at 113 and 120 pounds against Pine Island, Maxwell Petersen and Eli Haight both won by fall to give the Bears a 24-6 lead.
            Head Coach Ryan Radke said Peterson and Haight did a good job executing their game plan.
“They were able to wrestle their style and their match and were very aggressive,” he said.
            However, after those two wins, the Panthers clawed back by winning the next three matches, which cut the Bears’ lead down to just three points, 24-21.
 “In general, we need to focus on getting better every single day in all aspects of wrestling. Focus on getting better and not winning and losing,” he said.
            After that, it was all Byron, starting with Will Wharton who won fall. Then, Pine Island forfeited the next three weights. Vicente Deleon capped off Byron’s five-match win streak by beating his opponent by fall. 
            Radke and Wharton and Deleon are effective wrestlers because, “They work hard and stay in good position.”
            Against Kasson-Mantorville, Byron once again jumped out to an early lead, this time it was due to Jake Thompson winning by fall and Petersen winning by technical fall.
“They went out and were aggressive, wrestled their style,” he said.
            However, after that, the KoMets began to impose their will and won eight of the next nine matches.
 “K-M is very, very tough with many ranked wrestlers, but we felt our kids didn't back down and went out to wrestle,” said Radke.
            However, there were a couple other Bears that had success against the KoMets, including Parker Kline and Vicente Deleon who each won by fall.
“They both scrambled well and were able to score off of scrambling,” he said.
            Overall, Radke said Byron didn’t wrestle their best against Pine Island, but
“I thought we were a little flat against PI but wrestled better against KM. Not sure why, but were pretty flat to start the night,” he said.
In order to prevent the Bears from being flat again, he noted they will have to, “Focus on getting better each day in every aspect and find ways to score points and not focus on winning and losing,” he said.
            The Bears’ next meet is a home triangular against Stewartville and Zumbrota-Mazeppa at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30.