In the last conference dual meet of the season, the 3rd-ranked ASIJ wrestling team put on a show at Yokosuka Wednesday evening. The Mustangs beat the No. 2-ranked Kinnick Red Devils, 34-22, highlighted by big wins from Kaisei, Michiru, and Nathanial. At 129 pounds, Michiru, coming off a varsity/exhibition double-header sweep at CAJ last week, defeated his opponent 10-0. The tech fall, carefully earned over the course of five and a half minutes, came takedown by takedown, with one exposure sandwiched in between, to provide 4 points for the Mustangs and build on an early lead. This match was a question mark, and we needed to win some of the "question" weights or get some upsets to have any chance of winning a tight contest. No. 3 Kaisei wrestled tough at 101. He lost a rough one for 3rd at the Beast on Saturday and had been pinned by this foe earlier but bounced back in a big way last night. Kaisei took him down, finagled him into an advantageous position, and head-and-arm-ed him for the pin in just a minute. This was another question mark match, and its place at the beginning of the dual meet set the tone for the matches that followed. First year wrestler Nathanial, ASIJ's first heavyweight in several years, recorded his first competed victory by uprooting the No. 3 wrestler in the weight class. He started with a shot that toppled the other big for 4 points, then did it again, then did it again. It was like watching Paul Bunyan chopping down 4-pt trees in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Kinnick wrestler didn't sit there like a bump on a log, though. He made Nathanial work for every point, not giving up the pin, scoring his own takedown, and reversing 2 of the 3 big moves by the good guy. After all the blood, sweat, and toil, Nathanial felled the foe via 15-5 tech fall. The upset carved the final 4 points into the team score, allowing everyone to go for flapjacks (or burritos or fried chicken) in a jolly mood. Bryce's 2nd period 12-2 tech included multiple 2-pt takedowns and exposures with a big ol' 4-pointer smack dab in the middle at 108. Leon got into a couple close-but-no-cigar situations but was still very much in it before he was caught in a pin move at 115. Ira put on his (team) captain hat and put things right in the world at 122 with a pin of an overmatched opponent in just over a minute (most of Ira's opponents are overmatched...), leaving the score at 14-5 to set the stage for Michiru. Wrestling up a weight against the top non-ASIJ wrestler in the league at 135, Take made a statement by getting the hard-earned 10-0 tech fall over his bigger, stronger opponent. Ricky's wrestler at 141 must have something between his ears as it was announced during recognition of the seniors that he was going into the Air Force after high school, despite being raised in a Navy family! (that's a little inter-service rivalry joke; don't try them unless you're in the service...). He used his powers of discernment to find the right opening to negate Ricky's early lead with a 4-pt-to-pin combo. Looking to leverage his unsullied league record, Luke traded score for score with the Red Devil at 148, coming up just short in a 13-12 nail biter. The team score was 24-13, still a nice but nervous lead going into the upper weights. The 158 weight class pitted team captain Rin against the Kinnick team captain who will wrestle at college after graduation. Let's just say the other guy hopes they don't keep seeing each other at the next level as Rin made it look too easy with a 10-0 win in just over a minute. Shawn staked out a 4-3 lead over the No. 1 wrestler at 168, but the upset did not materialize, ending with a 2nd period pin. Clearly not functioning at 100%, Liam was upset by a strong wrestler at 180 to leave the team clinging to a 26-22 lead with 2 matches left (the possibility of 2 more losses in the remaining matches would leave us on the wrong end of a score somewhere between 28-26 and 32-26). Riding to the rescue, Dani kicked off his 215 match with a 4-pt takedown, rode him down again, roped him into another takedown, and turned him over for a 10-0 victory that allowed the many fans, parents, teammates, and coaches to exhale and prepare for the final contest featuring Nathanial. In exhibition matches, Take K fell behind 4-0, came back to tie it up at 4, but ended up losing an 8-4 decision. Connor couldn't quite finish his shots, giving up the defensive takedown (x5) and finally falling 12-1. Alex got in a good takedown, but then gave one up that led to a pin. Yo fought tough against a very chippy scrapper, trading push-outs at one point, but eventually allowing a throw-to-pin in the 2nd period. Matthew kept his perfect JV record intact with a dominating performance from start to finish ending in a 12-0 tech fall win. Coach Adam Carlson said, "Coming off a frustrating Beast, the team stayed focused and pulled off a win when they needed to." The 34-22 win over Kinnick (for the 2nd year in a row!) left the Mustangs in possession of a 4-1 league record and in the awkward position of rooting for the 1-loss Red Devils to defeat St. Mary's, creating a 3-way tie for the regular season championship. In a scheduling quirk, that dual meet won't happen until after the end-of-season Kanto Finals tournament on Saturday. All eyes are now trained on Kanto as the last chance for JV to wrestle other teams and the first chance for varsity to win a conference title in over a decade.
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