Bell County’s wrestling team traveled to Louisville Central Saturday for the Rumble at the Hive. The Bobcats finished 2-3 and placed eighth last year. This year was different.
The Bobcats finished 4-1 and placed fifth out of 16 teams. Meade County won the event with Manual placing second. Central finished third with Jeffersonville Indiana, who handed Bell its only dual loss during pool wrestling, rounding out the top four.
Bell had four wrestlers who went 5-0 on the day. Hayden Canady had four pins and one win by major decision extending his streak of bonus point victories to 12 and keeping his season record clean at 12-0. Isaiah Troutman had an outstanding day going 5-0 with 3 pins and a victory by technical fall. First year wrestler Payton Burnett showed he is starting to figure things out with a 5-0 showing. He pinned four opponents and had one victory by decision. Freshman Connor Hurst also went 5-0.
Three of Bell’s girls also went unbeaten. Keira Good earned three victories for Bell. Her biggest one came in the fifth place dual against Valley when she pinned Keyla Sosa Torres early in the first period. Hannah Fetters and Grace Helton both pinned Manual’s Zetta Toler in extra matches. McKenzie Webb went 1-1.
Alexis Holman turned in a solid performance going 3-1 wrestling with the boys. She had a big win over Eastern’s Sera Gutterman to help propel her team to victory. Matthew Howard turned in an exceptional performance. He was 4-1 on the day. His only loss was to Eastern’s Dominick Goatly. He pinned all four of his other opponents. Blake Lambert went 3-1, pinning opponents in his three victories.
The Bobcats started off the day by facing Jeffersonville High School out of Indiana. The day got off to a rough start with Jeffersonville reeling off nine straight wins, mostly by pins, until Troutman, Howard and Canady stopped the bleeding by getting wins. Hurst also picked up a victory for Bell. Burnett closed the dual with a decision over Brian Juarez.
Bell turned the tide in its next dual against Eastern. McKenzie Webb got the dual off to a positive start by picking up a win. Brayden Pace, Spencer Phipps, Good, Hurst claimed wins. Eastern’s Guarav Goswami ended Bell’s run by pinning Bell’s Matthew Dowlin. Holman, Canady and Burnett all picked up victories on the backside of the dual to help Bell secure the win.
Bell wrapped up pool wrestling by defeating a team made up of wrestlers from Manual and Central. Several Bobcats picked up wins including Tyler Hoskins, Good, Hurst , Dowlin, Holman, Troutman, Howard, Lambert, Canady, and Burnett.
In the first round of tournament wrestling, Bell defeated St. Xavier 46-36. After St. Xavier won the first three matches, Hurst and Dowlin got Bell on the board. Following another loss, Troutman, Howard, Lambert, Canady, Chase Raisley, and Burnett brought the Bobcats back in a big way, all winning by pin except for Canady’s major decision.
In the match for fifth, Bell had its best performance of the day to beat Valley 59-24. Following a loss in the heavyweight match, Bell’s Good helped push her team to victory with her big win by pin. Hurst, Dowlin and Holman were able to follow up with wins, giving Bell a big lead. Troutman and Howard extended the lead with a technical fall and a pin, respectively. Lambert, Canady and Burnett sealed the deal and put it out of reach with three consecutive pins.
Bell County is now 11-1 on the season and will host the annual Bobcat Brawl on Dec. 19 beginning at 11 a.m. Many local teams will be in attendance in the 16-team dual tournament.