Spain Park takes down Chelsea in region dual

Published 3:25 pm Thursday, December 8, 2022

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By DAWN HARRISON | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – The Spain Park Jaguars traveled to Chelsea for their first regional dual meet of the season against Chelsea. The Hornets came into the match with a loss against Vestavia and were looking for some confidence-building matches for their team, but it was Spain Park that won 10 of the 14 weight classes to claim a 47-22 victory.

Rayshod Burts from Spain Park and Logan Sanders from Chelsea faced off first in the 285 weight class. Burts scored first with a takedown and controlled the majority of the match only allowing Sanders one escape. 

Burts walked away with a pin to give the Jags an early lead.

Chelsea’s 106 Kian Box answered him by putting up six points in the very next match against Spain Park’s Braden Dowling. 

Box earned the first takedown and kept Dowling from scoring a single point, eventually pinning him in the second period with a fall time of 2:53 to even the score at 6-6.

That, however, was followed by a strong stretch from the Jags. 

In the 113 weight class, Nate Philman for Spain Park won a tight decision over Alex Kiser with a score of 8-4 in a back-and-forth battle. 

Josh Milazzo was the next Jaguar to earn a pin over Chelsea’s Carson Burroughs in the 120 weight class. 

Burroughs scored the first takedown and led going into the second period with a score of 4-3 over Milazzo, but those would be the only points he earned.  In the second period, Milazzo earned four points and then another two points in the third period before pinning Burroughs with a fall time of 5:20.

Kyle Fairless put another six points on the board for Spain Park with his pin over Chelsea’s Jones Malone. Fairless pinned Malone with 15 seconds left in the period with a fall time of 3:45. 

Up next in the 132 weight class, Sawyer Hardy from Spain Park battled the Hornets’ Tyler Kirkland for six minutes. 

Kirkland was the first to score with a takedown but was ultimately outscored by Hardy by a reversal and near fall giving Hardy a two-point lead of 4-2 going into the second period. 

From there, he pulled away with a dominant 11-2 victory. 

Chelsea gained some hope in the 138 weight class with Landon Keith making short work of Spain Park’s Yazan Ismail as he pinned him with the second fastest fall time of the night at 21 seconds, bringing the score to 25-12 in Spain Park’s favor. 

Freshman Bradley Williams, a two-time state placer from Spain Park answered for the Jags with a pin of his own over Chelsea’s Tyler Rayford with a fall time of 1:06. 

Spain Park’s Brad Cummings was next to rack up points over Chelsea’s Harrison Brakefield in another close match. 

In a thrilling battle that was 4-3 going to the final period, Cummings was able to win a decision with a score of 7-5. 

In the 160-weight class, Drake Gregory added another six points for the Jags in his match against Chelsea’s Jacob Wheeler. The pin not only added to the lead, but it gave Spain Park enough points to win. 

Brady Clements of Chelsea, however, added a pin for the Hornets shortly after in a dominant effort. 

The most exciting match of the night came in the 182 weight class as Spain Park’s Jackson Mitchell and Chelsea’s Sloan Deweese went head-to-head.

In the first period, neither wrestler was able to score on the other despite a very physical two minutes. Mitchell was the first to score in the second period with an escape but wouldn’t put any more points on the board and led going into the third by a score of 1-0. 

Deweese earned his point in the third period and Mitchell was unable to score as the clock ended taking them to the sudden victory. 

Neither wrestler was able to score and they went to a tiebreaker. That’s when Mitchell earned a reversal first putting two points on the board to take a 3-1 lead. 

Deweese answered with an escape but he was unable to earn a takedown before time ran out giving Mitchell a decision win of 3-2.

Will Conlon from Spain Park and Chelsea’s Ian Osbourn were matched up in the 195 that saw Conlon pull away for a 9-0 victory. 

Chelsea’s Kalob Johnstone ended the night with major decision win over Spain Park’s Kyle Oliveira in the 220 weight class that brought the match to its final score.