As it was for college, the three-point takedown is a game-changer for scholastic wrestling. At least it was for Manheim Township on Monday night in Landisville, as the Blue Streaks defeated Hempfield 36-28 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One season opener for both squads. The Streaks (1-0 L-L, 1-0 overall) had a 7-3 advantage in […]
As it was for college, the three-point takedown is a game-changer for scholastic wrestling.
At least it was for Manheim Township on Monday night in Landisville, as the Blue Streaks defeated Hempfield 36-28 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One season opener for both squads.
The Streaks (1-0 L-L, 1-0 overall) had a 7-3 advantage in first takedowns and a 21-7 edge in total takedowns.
“We spend a lot of time drilling on our feet,” Streaks coach Aaron Moldoff said, “and I think that kind of showed. The three-point takedown really changes the match strategy.”
The takedown, or takedowns, factored in four decisive victories for Township, the first two bouts of the night — where conditioning also came into play — and the last two of the night.
With the evening kicking off at 145 pounds, the Black Knights (0-1, 1-5) bumped Zy Murray up from 139 and DeShawn Jones up to 152, looking to get an early advantage.
“Looking initially, we thought they had the advantage straight up,” Knights coach Shane Mack said. “So, we tried a couple things with the first two weights. That kind of backfired.”
Scoring the first takedown, Murray took an early 3-1 lead on Township’s Joseal Torres and led 3-2 with under a minute to go. Torres got a double-leg near the edge with 38 seconds left and picked up a stall point for a 6-3 victory.
“Joseal is tough to wrestle for six minutes,” Moldoff said. “He’ll keep coming at you and he’ll grit it out.”
Jones led Zach Landis 4-1 after two periods, but Landis, a league champion in 2023 who was sidelined by injury last year, reversed Jones early in the third, then let him out.
With 24 seconds left Landis scored on a single-leg shot, picking up a penalty point with seven seconds to go. He let Jones out one last time for a 7-6 victory and a 6-0 Township lead.
“He dug deep,” Moldoff said. “He realized, for the team, what had to be done.”
The Knights’ Kain Hayden quickly covered the deficit with a fall at 160, but the Streaks answered with falls from Leighton Underwood (172), Alexzear Soto (189) and Max Kolbrenner (215) and Kolten Kemp’s major at 285, giving Township a 28-6 lead at the turn.
The Knights knotted the proceedings at 28-28, though, winning the next four bouts: Tietjen Abel by forfeit at 107, Waylon Steele (114) and Joey Gallo (121) with falls and Brady Deck with a major at 127.
The Streaks’ Luke Phillips put on a shrug clinic, scoring with three of them and on a double-leg shot in a 16-4 major over Max Switzenberg at 133. After two seasons of getting shrugged in the practice room by one of the best practitioners in the league, Kaedyn Williams, Phillips was ready to be on the other end.
“Getting worked a lot by Kaedyn, it made me better, for sure,” he said. “In the room we emphasize wrestling on our feet, and just conditioning overall.”
Phillips’ major re-established Township’s advantage and Aiden Steffy secured the win with a 16-7 major over Declan Biddle in the final bout of the evening, at 139, scoring on a single, two shrugs and a sweet high crotch shot.
“Conditioning is a factor,” Moldoff said, “the mindset is, it’s six minutes for a reason. Everybody breaks, us included. We spend a lot of time wrestling long matches (in practice) to get these guys prepared for six minutes.”
“We had our chances,” Mack said. “We’re a young squad and some of them have to go through the fire. We have a lot of growth and development ahead of us.”
