Perhaps the best thing to happen Tuesday for Polk County’s wrestling squad occurred before its match with Landrum even began.

A full row of chairs were needed on the Wolverines’ side of the mat, Polk County not only fielding a competitor in every weight class, but having a few others available as well.

“That may not have happened since (assistant coach Tyler Philpott) wrestled here,” said Polk County head coach Phillip Miller.

Landrum took a 54-30 victory in the match, Polk County’s home opener, a quick affair in which every weight class was determined by either pin or forfeit. Of the Wolverines’ 14 starters in the match, six were freshmen and four others were newcomers who hadn’t wrestled since at least the 2014-2015 season.

Given that youth and inexperience, Miller felt much better about the result than might have been expected.

“I’m not that disappointed,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of freshmen. They’ve got to learn to work harder to not get pinned. We’ve also got some guys like Devin (Panchyshyn) who had one day of practice.

“I’m never happy with a loss, but good times are coming. We’re going to get through these growing pains and we’ll be all right.”

Polk County junior Dillon Knighton scored the team’s first win on the mat, aggressive throughout the opening minutes of his 152-pound match before recording a fall with 39.8 seconds left in the first period.

Billy Mosseller notched the other on-mat victory, bouncing back from a 4-2 deficit at the end of the first period of his 182-pound match to also record a fall with 56 seconds left in the second.

Winning by forfeit were Darryl Ceasar at 106 pounds, Triston Watkins at 113 and Brennan Worthington at 120.

In one of the more competitive classes of the match, Carlos Sedano trailed 2-0 early in his 160-pound clash before recording an escape, combined with a Landrum foul, to even the match at 2-2. Sedano battled throughout the second period before losing by fall with 30 seconds left in the second.

The Wolverines will compete Friday and Saturday in the Falcon Frenzy at West Henderson before hosting a tri-match on Tuesday with East Henderson and Rosman.

– article submitted by PolkSports.com