Illness, injuries hit Trenton wrestlers as Bulldogs travel to Marceline

The Trenton Bulldog wrestlers, battling what Coach Charlie Bacon referred to as “illness and injury”, had a short-handed lineup as they traveled to Marceline High School on Thursday night, for a quadrangular with the Tigers, the GRC rival Polo Panthers, and Macon.

The short-handed Trenton roster had to give up five open weights, with Coach Bacon noting it is “tough to win a dual with that many opens in the lineup”.  However Trenton, in head-to-head competition, beat Polo 45-18.  Against a typically strong Marceline squad, the Bulldogs struggled, with the Tigers earning a 69-12 triumph.  Trenton tied Macon at 33 points each, but the Tigers earned the tie-break win, with eight point scored to first match fashion, compared to only six for the Bulldogs.

Highlights for Trenton on the night included 145 pound freshman Noah Lewis picking up two wins, one by pin over Dalton Frazier of Polo and the other a 10-9 decision over Brady Moots of Macon.  Mark Trump, wrestling at 195 pounds, took a victory by pin over Nick Fotenos of Marceline and defeated Luke Cory of Polo by 7-4 decision.

Perhaps the most marquee duel of the night came between Trenton’s Mason Owen and Marceline’s D.J. Gerhart at 220 pounds, with the Tiger grappler winning a tough 3-0 decision.

Noting the disappointment of a ‘tie-break’ loss to Macon, Coach Bacon said, “We found out that it is really important to score the first takedown of the match.  It was a lesson learned the hard way, and we won’t forget from now on”.

Trenton was to wrestle on Saturday at the Plattsburg Tournament, but that event was postponed until February 4th due to the weather forecast of icy conditions.  The Plattsburg Tournament will be February 4th, with the Bulldogs already booked to the Lexington Tournament that day.  Trenton will not be able to participate in the Plattsburg event due to the schedule conflict.

Here are the individual results from Trenton’s Thursday night matches at Marceline High School.