Comanche wrestlers fall to Jay at Dual State

The Comanche wrestling team was in good shape halfway through their quarterfinal match with Jay at the Dual State Tournament in Enid last Friday. The No. 7 seed Indians had an 18-12 lead over the Bulldogs through the first seven matches.

Then disaster struck. Jay rattled off seven straight wins, including six by pin as they rolled to a 51-18 team win to eliminate Comanche from the competition.

The matches started at 132 pounds with Jack Newton taking a close 3-1 loss followed by another close 8-4 loss by Gunnor Yates that gave the Bulldogs an early 6-0 lead.

Noah Presgrove, though, would get the Indians on the board with a decisive 8-0 win that cut the lead to 6-4. He was followed by a big 17-0 technical fall decision by Tucker Oliver at 152 pounds to give Comanche a 9-6 advantage.

Logan Bain would add three more points with his 7-2 decision at 160 pounds.

Jay tied the match as Devon McCarty lost by pin at 170. Kasen Vanbuskirk then got Comanche’s only pin of the match in the third period at 182 pounds. That put the Indians back in the lead at 18-12.

Owen Bigford followed at 195 pounds. Bigford was down just 4-2 in the third period when with time running down, he tried a move that caused him to slip and his opponent jumped on the opportunity and pinned him.

David Tidwell lost by pin at 220 pounds to give Jay a 24-18 lead and the Bulldogs would never trail again.

Cade White lost a close 3-0 match in the heavyweight division, which was followed by five straight pins by Jay against Evan Dodd, Gage Jessen, Jaxson Billilngsley and Legend Yates to end the 39-0 run and win the match.

Jay would go on to finish as state runner-up to Marlow.

The Indians will next focus on the regional tournament as they look to qualify several wrestlers for the upcoming state tournament in Oklahoma City in a couple of weeks.