On Saturday Rattler Boys’ Varsity grappled their way to 3rd place out of 32 teams at the grueling Russ Pederson Tournament at Johnson High School.
Sophomore Connor O’Brien earned 2nd place at 113#, scoring 18.5 points for the team. After receiving a bye, O’Brien won his first match by Major Decision 14-3 and Teched his next opponent 16-0 to find himself in the finals. After giving up a takedown in the first period, O’Brien fought hard for the next 4.5 minutes, but came up just short, with a 0-2 loss.
Junior Jimmy Benne earned 3rd place at 138#, scoring 20 points for the team. After receiving a bye, Benne pinned his next two opponents. In the semi-finals Benne gave up a take down and escape in the second period to go down 0-3. He earned an escape 20 seconds into the third period, and with Corpus Christi Carroll opponent was gassed and stalling Benne earned 2 penalty points to tie it up 3-3. Unfortunately Benne then lost in Sudden Victory Overtime. He then fought back and won his next match 1-0 and won the 3rd place match by pin.
Junior Nathan Almaguer earned 4th place at 152#, scoring 19 points for the team. Almaguer received a bye and pinned his next opponent. He lost the quarterfinals match, and pinned his way up the backside of the bracket to get to the 3rd place match (3 pins in the first period!). Unfortunately he met the UIL rule of maximun 5 matches / day and he had to forfeit, bringing home 4th place.
On the girls side, the Rattlers place 20th out of 31 teams, bringing only 5 wrestlers. A performance to note is Junior Paris Gonzalez who scored 12 of the team’s 30 points going 3-2 for the day with 3 pins.
Junior Varsity competed Friday and dominated the mats. First place winners Shawn Cervantez, Jack Connolly, Mason Hinshaw, Kaisar Jabbour, Bryson Whitethorn, and Maverick Whitethorn. Second place winner Aiden Mendez. Third place winners Jacob De La Garza and Jay Garza. Fourth Place winners Collin Busby, William Donahue, Jacob Dozier, Myles Pryor and Josh Stephan.
Next up for the Rattlers is the 25th annual Doc Hess Classic at Bryan High School this Saturday, December 18th.
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