Patch fends off Royals in star-studded showdown
Published: January 23, 2012
Wrestlers in Europe don’t participate in dual meets, but Saturday’s four-team tournament at Vilseck was almost the same thing. With several placers from the 2011 European tournament squaring off, Patch edged Ramstein 264.5-243.5. Since Vilseck and Hohenfels were a distant third and fourth, with 72 and 10 points, respectively, and never figured in the final outcome, the quadrangular meet evolved into the equivalent of a Patch-Ramstein dual.
The 2011 103-pound champion, Ross Wilson, got the Panthers started by pinning 2011 103-pound runner-up Ryan Goins of Ramstein in 1:27 on Saturday to win the 113-pound class. Wilson decked Goins in 3:31 last February in the 103-pound European final.
That was just the beginning, however, of the Patch-Ramstein head-to-head duels in Saturday’s finales. At 120, last year’s 112-pound runner-up, Isaac McIlvene of Patch, pinned Ramstein’s Michael Shaffer to win that weight class, and at 126, Jacob Andrus of Patch, fifth in Europe at 125 in 2011, pinned 2011 119-pound champ Adam Franz in a final-buzzer-beating 5:59.
Adding to the run of Patch champions who downed Ramstein foes on Saturday were 2011 130-pound bronze medalist Jaden Fields, who pinned Ramstein’s T.J. Moore in 5:33 in Saturday’s 132-pound final; Thomas Trevino, the 2011 runner-up at 140, who defeated Ramstein’s Brandon Furtado, 6-2 at 145; 152-pound winner Mekyle Fernandes, who finished ahead of runner-up Dylan Sharpy of Ramstein; Robert Mannier, who outdueled Ramstein’s Joe Ankrom at 182, and junior Andrew Mineni, who pinned Ramstein’s Nick Florio at 220.
Ramstein senior Bryan Caldwell avenged one of those head-to-head losses when he pinned Patch’s DeSean Horton at 3:55 of their finale at 138, but victories by undefeated European champion Calen Fields at 170 and Albert Suarez at 195 carried the day for the Panthers.
Given this kind of competition, it looks as though next month's Europeans at Wiesbaden will be well worth the trip for participants and spectators alike. See you there.
