A little over a year ago in Elyria’s first SWC dual of the 2022-23 wrestling season, the Pioneers were bested by Avon on the road in a close match.
With home-mat advantage against the Eagles on Jan. 5 at Northwood Middle School in Elyria, the Pioneers were looking to get one back for last year’s dual loss.
From Shamus Fogarty’s first-period pin at 120 pounds to Isaac Green’s (132) escape to nail down a 4-3 decision two matches later, Elyria pushed the pedal to the metal and scored a 39-32 dual victory over the Eagles. The Pioneers kept their perfect conference dual record intact.
“It’s just the little pickups we had from last year,” said Connor Holm, Elyria’s senior three-time state qualifier.
“Last year, we had these guys right off the rip in the first week and they beat us. (Tonight) you could see the little adjustments every single guy made whether they were experienced or not. We had little guys make little fixes and come out with big pins today that ended up winning us the dual.
“It was good to see — those little fixes and everyone made them.”
Last year’s dual opener against the Eagles was a rough introduction to then-first year Elyria head coach and Pioneer alum Armando Torres to SWC wrestling. Though in the matchup at Northwood, Torres acknowledged beyond staying undefeated how big a win this was for the team overall.
“This was a big win for us in general as a team because last year we started the season with Avon and we lost,” Torres said.
“We lost the dual and I think that kind of motivated the guys today to go get their jobs done and flip that script. I think that’s a testament to our coaching staff and all the hard work that we put in during the offseason to really step up some of these guys and their levels.”
One of those guys was Green. The 132-pound senior was knotted up 3-3 against Trey Daugherty in the late third period and managed to score an escape point that had the Elyria coaches and bench on their feet in approval.
132: Isaac Green vs Trey Daugherty
Green wins a tight match with a late escape, earning a 4-3 decision@WrestlingElyria 21@AvonWrestlingOH 5@MJournalSports pic.twitter.com/1rwlLQ5mVV
— Sean Fitzgerald (@fitzonsportsbsr) January 6, 2024
“It feels good that I could help the team out. I wanted to get a pin of course” Green joked with a sly grin before adding, “But I went out there to do whatever I could to help the team out. I just tried to do my part for them.”
As for Avon, coach Mark Jayne’s squad was in it for a while, with two decisions decided by four or fewer match points swinging Elyria’s way in the early going. Sometimes that’s how things go, but Jayne saw a lot of good from his guys while crediting Elyria’s fight.
“Elyria wrestled hard. They took advantage of our mistakes,” Jayne noted. “They got a lot of bonus points in their matches and so did we, but they had just seven more (team points) than us.”
Elyria will hit the road to face Avon Lake on Jan. 10 for their next SWC bout and Avon will also be on the road, taking on Berea-Midpark on Jan. 11.
THE SCORE
Elyria 39, Avon 32
