Shorthanded Blues Split Duals

Wrestling shorthanded, Parry McCluer High School’s grapplers battled to split of a pair of home dual matches at home last Wednesday in Buena Vista.

Besieged by injuries, the Fighting Blues were forced to surrender forfeits at six weight classes, suffering a 48-31 setback to Alleghany before rebounding to top Giles, 42-36.

The Blues roared out to an 18-0 lead against Giles, with freshman Tyler Shafer (138-pounds), junior Jacob Shafer (144) and senior Jackson Brockenbrough (150) all pinning their opponents.

That’s when the forfeits began to hurt PM. Giles won six of the next eight bouts, five uncontested, to take a 36-30 lead in the team tally with only two bouts remaining.

Both of them went to PM. At 126, senior Cyler Driscoll scored the first takedown in his match and secured a pin in just 45 seconds, tying the team score at 36-36. Sophomore Jordan Brockenbrough, wrestling at 132, secured the PM victory by pinning his opponent in only 27 seconds.

Also scoring victories for the Blues against Giles were PM senior Junior Convers, by forfeit at 174, and freshman Timber Thomas, by pin at 285.

For the night, six PM wrestlers posted unblemished marks. Driscoll scored a pin in 59 seconds in the bout against Alleghany, a larger Class 3 school. (Both PM and Giles are Class 1 schools.) Jacob Shafer and Jordan and Jackson Brockenbrough also had pins, while Convers won by a 7-1 decision over Jayvon Myers. Lesher won by major decision, 11-0, over Ethan Shue at 285.

Next up the Blues will travel to Lynchburg for the Battle for the Belts at Heritage High School this Friday and Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. on both days. PM’s first competition of the new year will be home duals on Thursday, Jan. 9, against Buffalo Gap, Northside and Rural Retreat, starting at 5 p.m.