Trojans wrestlers compete at Ellis

By RYAN RICHTER

Staff writer

The Hillsboro High School wrestling team made a long trek northwest Friday to compete at the Railer Round Robin Tournament at Ellis.

With a handful of competitors in action, a pair of third-place finishes from Jordan Bachman and Andre Patton paced the Trojans.

Bachman boosted his record to 4-1 on the year, going 3-1 in the 126-pound class for 14 points.

Patton squared his record at .500 on the year, going 3-1 in the 138-pound category.

“With only five wrestlers available to compete on Friday, once again, the team scoring was of no concern,” Trojans wrestling coach Scott O’Hare said. “Overall, I was pleased with how they competed individually.

“They all showed some bright spots and did some things pretty well. We certainly have plenty of things to get back in the room and work on, but they went out, competed tough, tried some things and showed improvement.”

The 113-pound Charlie Major was also on the medal stand, going 2-2 on the day for fourth place and 8 points, amidst running his record to 2-4 overall.

“It was good to see three of the five on the medal stand at the end of the day,” said O’Hare. “This was the first time for each of them to medal in a high school varsity tournament.

“With all three of them being underclassmen, we’re hoping it’s the first of many.”

Major opened the day with a pin on Teresa Schafer in his first match in 1:45 before dropping a 14-5 decision to Hoisington’s Nicolas Rubio.

After getting a bye in the third match, Major was pinned in 2:37 by Ellis’ Sam Pyle.

Major’s day ended in the consolation title on a 1:08 pin by Council Grove’s Andrew Irwin.

The freshman Bachman exploded out of the gate, making short work of Goodland’s Jayden Vallejo in 22 seconds before setting up a showdown with Council Grove’s Billy Sales via second-round bye.

Sales thwarted Bachman’s bids at wrestling for first with a 9-4 decision.

Bachman bounced back in the consolation title match, prevailing on a technical fall on Sublette’s Tanner Randles.

Patton’s day got off to a rough start with an 18-second fall against Hoisington’s Tanner Cassity.

But Patton rebounded to prevail with 6-3 and 16-3 decisions over Stockton’s Deyton Bedore and Trego’s Sydney Boyle, respectively.

Patton completed his tournament scoring a fall on Council Grove’s Chase Bacon in 2:52 for third.

Also competing were Taryn Norstrom, who finished eighth, and Dylan Horton, who secured fifth.

Despite being pinned in 20 seconds, Horton was able to gain experience against the state’s top-ranked wrestler and defending champ, Christopher Ball of Hoisington.

The Trojans wrap up the year Friday hosting the Hillsboro Invitational with action set to begin at 3 p.m.