PARSONS — Hosting the fourth-ever Battle of 59 rivalry dual, the Parsons Vikings claimed their first win in the series over the Erie Red Devils on Tuesday, 52-24.
The dual had eight open weights, with Parsons winning seven of them.
“We matched up in five spots and won two of them, so we’d like to see the matchups go a different route,” Parsons head coach Kaito Barr-Miller said. “But I was happy they wrestled as hard as they could. Some of our guys were excited with the crowd and exerted more energy than they needed to. We were capable of winning some of those matches.”
Erie won three of the five boys bouts that took place.
“Coming in, we knew we’d be outmatched numbers wise,” Erie head coach Will Weber said. “We only wrestled five kids but went toe-to-toe with them. That’s not bad with them.”
Parsons’ two bout wins came at 120 pounds and 132 pounds.
Mario Zacarias won a 12-0 major decision over Erie’s Trystin Agee at 120 pounds for the Vikings.
“We’ve got a ton of guys and girls in the room that push themselves,” Barr-Miller said. “Mario can sustain a good tempo throughout the match. I thought he wrestled well. He controlled it.”
At 132 pounds, Kane Leon pinned Erie’s Mark Tenebro.
For Erie’s three wins, Owen Coover pinned Isaiah Cook at 126 pounds, Justus Graff pinned Brayden Gwartney at 165 pounds and Anthony Pasquarelli pinned Grayson Bolt at 175 pounds.
“All three of them have had a backand- forth season and got some good wins against a rival crowd,” Weber said.
Erie had won the three previous iterations of the Battle of 59.
“It’s a sign of progress,” Barr-Miller said. “We’ve been close the last few years. We’ve been right there on the verge. The program has been growing. We had more of a team and it came down to open weights. That’s a good sign that the program is growing. Now the kids can see that first Battle of 59 championship and it can light a fire.”
Both coaches said that they intend to incorporate fewer open weights and more girls matches into future iterations of the rivalry renewal.
“In the future, we’re going to try and make it an even playing field and get the girls involved so we don’t have to worry about who has more kids,” Weber said.
Up next League and regionals are fast approaching for both programs.
“We’re trying to stay healthy and battle in the practice room,” Weber said. “We want to be ready for regionals.”
“We’ve got to focus on our technique and knowing good positions and bad positions,” Barr-Miller said. “We want to keep working on our conditioning and awareness on the mat.”
