Junior Antonio Hernandez, Jesuit’s heavyweight wrestler in the 285 pound weight class, prepares for his match against his opponent, a JJ Pearce wrestler. He has already pinned a Rockwall wrestler, earning Jesuit the maximum six point score. However, this match is a little more nerve-wracking. Having already lost once previously to this same wrestler, Antonio is looking for payback. After a hard fought match, Antonio manages to pin the opposing wrestler. Therefore, he scored two pins between his two duels, an admirable victory signifying his dominance and earning twelve points in total for Jesuit.
On Tuesday, November 26th, the Jesuit wrestling team had two duels against JJ Pearce and Rockwall, winning against JJ Pearce due to a technicality yet narrowly losing to Rockwall 33 to 29, a difference of one match. Head coach Ryan Menard commented that “we forfeited 18 points” across three matches because due to either absences or lack of wrestlers in that weight class.
Jesuit would have won both matches if it weren’t for these forfeits. Unfortunately, they were forced to give up 18 points because they did not have a wrestler for every weight class, meaning they were had to give up 6 points for each of the 3 forfeitures. Despite surrendering these vital 18 points, the team’s success counterbalanced the losses. If there were just a few wrestlers for those spots, and they hadn’t gotten pinned, the team still would have won the duel, even if those wrestlers had lost their matches, due to the fact that a forfeit is worth six points, while a simple loss is only three.
Notable wrestlers included heavyweight Antonio Hernandez ’15, Shane Ross ’15, Nick Barker ’16, Erik Kirkegaard ’16, Michael Ingram ’15, and Jack Vercelli ’15. Against Rockwall, Antonio was the only one to score a pin. However, against JJ Pearce, Shane Ross, Nick Barker, and Michael Ingram were able to pin their opponents.
Antonio described his match against JJ Pearce as particularly satisfying. He mentioned that the match “was actually pretty great for me because I lost to that kid previously. So, when I pinned him, it was really exciting.” Also, fairly new Varsity wrestler Michael Ingram was able to secure his sixth and seventh wins as a part of the squad, proving his competence at the Varsity level.
The team is looking forward to facing off against Richardson on Wednesday, December 4. The match is at Richardson, and it promises to be a good duel. Wish them good luck as they continue on with their season!
