Behind massive pin-fall by MacDonell, Wolverines defeat powerhouse Canisteo-Greenwood in very last match of the night

Bolivar-Richburg’s Hudson Evingham takes down his opponent during his bout at 195 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Trey Buchholz, right, tangles with his opponent during his bout at 99 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Tyler Smith, right, provides a hold onto his opponent during his bout at 285 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Dakota Mattern looks to break the hold put on by his opponent during his bout at 145 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Kadin Tompkins, top, looks to roll over his opponent for the pin during his bout at 138 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Dawsen Yates, top, rolls his opponent over for the pin-fall victory during his bout at 126 pounds in Tuesday’s home finale against Canisteo-Greenwood. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

BOLIVAR — Inside the school at Bolivar-Richburg, sits two gymnasiums — one on the upper floor, and the other down a pair of staircases to the bottom floor. A gymnasium that the Wolverines wrestling squad has called home for quite some time now.

But for one night only, they decided to pull out the mat and move it upstairs to the main stage. In time for their biggest clash of the season on Tuesday, as they renewed their rivalry with Canisteo-Greenwood in front of a packed crowd for their final home match of the regular season.

As expected, the Redskins and Wolverines battled back through most of a match that ultimately found its way down to the wire. In fact, with Canisteo-Greenwood closing the Bolivar-Richburg advantage down to three points, it would come down to the final match of the night at 106 pounds.

It took five grueling minutes, but it was time well spent for Tavyn MacDonell, as he found an opening with under a minute left in the third period to provide a cradle to roll up his opponent, pinning his shoulders square down on the mat to come away with the biggest victory of the evening via pinfall to help the Wolverines finish their homestand on the strongest of notes with a 46-37 win over the Redskins.

“It was a great atmosphere up here, and the kids wrestled hard,” Wolverines coach Todd Taylor said. “To come out with a win off these guys, it just goes to show how far the guys have come along since the beginning of the season. It’s amazing how much they have improved over that time, and I don’t really have any words for it. I’m speechless. They all competed hard, and you can’t ask for much more than that. Canisteo wrestled hard as well, but we had just a couple of battles go our way.”

There was no lead bigger than eight, and no lead smaller than two between the two wrestling giants, as the back-and-forth battle settled in fairly quickly with each team picking up a win in the first two matches. Raycee Carr got Bolivar-Richburg’s (30-4) opening decision with a thunderous pin of his opponent at 120 pounds to take the lead for the majority of the night after Dominic Stone fell to a 13-2 major decision at 113 pounds.

Both the Wolverines and Redskins each two more victories on each side, all by pin-fall with Dawsen Yates and Kadin Tompkins all fighting their way to victory at 126 and 138 pounds respectively for an 18-16 lead. Wayne Karnuth would then tally the quickest pin for the hosts in his bout at 152 pounds, wrapping up his opponent in just 46 seconds to gain the eight-point lead.

After a Ryder Slayton victory for Canisteo-Greenwood, the Redskins followed with a forfeit victory at 170 pounds to take their first lead of the match. But long enough for the Wolverines to follow with a forfeit win of their own at 182 pounds from Trent Sibble to regain the 30-28 lead heading into the last five matches of the night.

Of them, Bolivar-Richburg tallied three of those victories, with Hudson Evingham starting it off with another pin-fall win at 195 pounds in just over a minute. With a win on each side to round off the heavyweight matches, the Redskins would find a way to climb closer to the Wolverines in the 99 pound match, where Trey Buchholz gave the hosts a battle down to the wire, garnering multiple near falls but a 12-8 decision resulted in four points for Canisteo-Greenwood, closing the deficit to three points entering the final match.

At 113 pounds, it was all on Tavyn MacDonell to come through with the team’s biggest win. Along the way, he would ward off multiple near falls from his opposition. MacDonell initially had Canisteo-Greenwood’s Lucas Mason wrapped up for a pin, but the buzzer had sounded to end the second period. In the third, he kept his composure to deliver a cradle, rolling Mason onto his back to keep his shoulders flat onto the mat to earn the pin, sending the Bolivar-Richburg cheering section and bench into a frenzy to finish the night with a home-finale victory.

“Tavyn is a go-getter. He’s a bit stubborn on the mat, but that’s because he’s still young. He and Trey (Buchholz) are together in the same weight class, and they’re great partners,” said Taylor. “They’ve wrestled each other twice already this season, and they’re on each other. They push one other to do their best.”

Now with the victory against the Redskins in their back pocket, the Wolverines will head out for one last regular season match at Arkport/Canaseraga on Thursday before wrapping up the regular season in Avoca for their annual Duals Tournament on Saturday.

After that, the second season will get underway next Friday right back in their backyard, as the Wolverines will look to go for their third straight Section V, Class B championship when the two day tournament begins.

The goal for his team? Taylor says is to get everyone to the qualifier.

“Our goal is to win another Sectional title. I want to take this entire team to the State Qualifiers,” he said. “I believe they can all place. The way things are lining up, we could have up to six champions. These guys just have to keep working hard, and if they do that, they’ll be rewarded in Sectionals. In the Class championships, we have a great chance at winning that again. We’re going to give it heck. We’re going for it.”

Results: Canisteo-Greenwood 37, Bolivar-Richburg 46

99 – Gavin Bob (C-G) def. Trey Buchholz (B-R) by dec, 12-8.

106 – Tavyn MacDonell (B-R) def. Lucas Mason (C-G) by pin, 5:02.

*113 – Braiden Woodward (C-G) def. Dominic Stone by major dec, 13-2.

120 – Raycee Carr (B-R) def. Beau Zeh (C-G) by pin, 1:19.

126 – Dawsen Yates (B-R) def. Colten Havens (C-G) by pin, 5:10.

132 – Luke Kilmer (C-G) def. Dom Baldwin (B-R) by pin, :37.

138 – Kadin Tompkins (B-R) def. Nolan Gardner (C-G) by pin, 2:52.

145 – Ean Magill (C-G) def. Dakota Mattern (B-R) by pin, 1:40.

152 – Wayne Karnuth (B-R) def. Caleb Kitka (C-G) by pin, :46.

160 – Ryder Slayton (C-G) def. Brayden Day (B-R) by pin, 1:53.

170 – Jared Davis (C-G) by for.

182 – Trent Sibble (B-R) by for.

195 – Hudson Evingham (B-R) def. Jacob Evingham (C-G) by pin, 1:16.

220 – Nate Button (C-G) def. Sam Thorton (B-R) by pin, 5:18.

285 – Tyler Smith (B-R) def. Jacob Mullen (C-G) by dec, 9-1.