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Big Blue battle, earn Senior Night victory over Cougars

Venable earns one of 3 HHS pins, Jones clinches dual with comeback win.

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1:41 AM Friday, January 20, 2012

By Mark Schmetzer

Contributing Writer

HAMILTON — Tyler Jones couldn’t focus simply on winning when he stepped onto the wrestling mat Thursday night at Hamilton High School’s Athletic Center.

No, with the Big Blue leading Edgewood by a mere four points going into the last match of their dual, the Hamilton senior also had to focus on not losing to Edgewood senior Josh McIntyre by a major decision — or worse.

Worse almost happened early in their 126-pound match, but Jones recovered from nearly being pinned to turn a 5-0 deficit going into the third period into an 11-8 decision, clinching a 37-30 win for Hamilton.

“There’s a lot of pressure to go out there and not do that,” Jones said. “It’s really hard. I knew I couldn’t afford to get pinned or major decisioned. I knew I had to keep it close.”

Hamilton improved to 7-7 in dual matches on Senior Night as Jones and four classmates — his brother Tim, Gage Asher, Cameron Gibson and Jake Venable — were honored.

Venable had one of the Big Blue’s three pins on the night, at 5:11 of his 220-pound match with the Cougars’ George Stine. That gave Hamilton the lead for good (22-21) after Edgewood had built a 21-10 lead on pins by Adam Moore and Kaeleb Payne.

“We knew it’d be close,” Hamilton coach Nick Hensley said. “Tonight was the full boat. The seniors came through. Everybody did their jobs.”

The Big Blue got a combined 12 points from two forfeit wins, resulting from an Edgewood lineup so depleted by stomach flu that Tyler Perry had to wrestle up two weight classes, from 138 to 152.

The Cougars won seven of the 12 matches that were wrestled, including sophomore T.J. Bean’s 8-6 overtime win over Patrick Hartman.

“It’s tough when you get down by 12 points right off the bat,” said Edgewood coach Jim Conniff, whose team fell to 6-6 in dual matches.

Focus on prep wrestling Hamilton vs. Edgewood

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