Wrestling starts with a bang

The SoBoCo Eagles wrestling team started their season off with a bang on Tuesday by defeating Macon and then Missouri Military Academy.

The Eagles, looking aggressive from the start, defeated Macon 42-37 – giving up three matches by forfeit accounting for half of the visitor’s points, and then crushed MMA 51-24.

SoBoCo got pins from Charlie Smith and Connor Phillips in two of the more competitive and exciting matches of the night.

Smith jumped out to a 9-4 lead against an opponent who gave up points grudgingly, but Smith pinned his man at the buzzer for the first period.

Phillips fell behind early, but reversed his opponent to his back to take a 5-3 lead in the first period. Both wrestlers scored early in the second period, but Phillips turned his MMA man to his back with a half-nelson and got the pin with 1:17 left in the period.

SoBoCo’s Blake Schmidt displayed his talent for takedowns and technical moves in his 18-3 technical fall and Ty Varvil and Dawson Cunningham simply out-lasted their opponents in tough matches – Cunningham winning by a 15-7 score.

The Eagles will attempt to stay unbeaten on Thursday when they host Versailles at the Middle School gym at 5 p.m.