The Reeths-Puffer wrestling team’s path to a fourth straight conference championship got a bit more narrow on Wednesday night.
The Rockets suffered a disappointing 39-33 loss to Byron Center in a key O-K Green conference match. The tough part was that they might have won, before a cruel twist of fate took that chance away.
R-P led 33-31 going into the final match of the evening. Troy Swingley, the Rockets’ 285-pounder, was tied with his opponent 0-0, and a victory in the match would have sealed up the win for the team.
But Swingley took a hard head butt in the match and was forced to withdraw for medical reasons. That gave Byron Center six points for a medical forfeit, and the victory.
Devin Welch, one of four Rockets go to 2-0 on Wednesday.
The Rockets’ chances were also hurt because two key starters were missing from the lineup, according to head coach Brad Cowles.
R-P now has a big challenge ahead, because it will likely have to win the rest of its conference dual matches, and take first place in the conference tournament, to earn a share of another O-K Green title, according to Cowles.
“Overall our guys that we had predicted to score bonus points for the team underperformed, and only won by decisions or lost,” Cowles said.
The Rockets did have some success on Wednesday, beating West Ottawa 46-32 in a separate, non-conference dual match.
R-P is now 15-6 overall and 1-1 in the O-K Green standings.
The Rockets' Landon Learn, Travis Henderson, Andrew Corradin and Devin Welch all posted 2-0 records on the night.
Aiden Neal., Hunter Eek, Tanner Cowles, Cory Judd, Clay Rozyzki and Braxton VanHohhenstein all won one match.