The Thunderbirds beat the Knights 50-24.

“We’ve seen Eisenhower for years at Falconer and they are always tough,” Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer head coach Ken Rowe said. “They wrestled us hard and it was great competition for us.”

The match was almost all pins by both teams.

The Thunderbirds set the tone early, opening up an 11-0 lead on pins by Jordan Joslyn at 127 pounds and Martin Ohlsson at 133 pounds.

Thunderbirds’ Jayden Malecki works Knights’ Mikael Beaver toward a pin at 172 pounds. P-J photo by Steve Younger

The Knights’ Derek Childs got a second-period pin at 139 pounds.

The two teams traded points when the Thunderbirds’ Jack Bourgeois got a third-period pin over Cole Kellogg at 145 pounds to put Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer up 17-6. A forfeit at 152 pounds opened up the lead for Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer.

Then, it was Eisenhower’s Tucker Lindell at 160 pounds earning a third-period pin to make it 23-12.

Jayden Malecki pinned the Knights’ Mikael Beaver at 172 pounds in the second period to make it 29-12.

The Knights’ Benji Bauer got a first-period pin over Mason Maring at 189 pounds to close the gap to 29-18.

After Bauer’s win it was all Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer as Ison Shirley (215 pounds), Gavin Segovia (285 pounds) and Gavin Burchanowski (107 pounds) all earned pins.

The match of the night took place at 114 pounds as Eisenhower’s Griffin Williams faced off against Thandon Bensink. The match was tight the whole way with both wrestlers being aggressive and forcing the other to counter. The match was tied 2-2 going into the third period before Bensink got an escape and a quick takedown in the closing seconds to earn a 5-2 decision.

Eisenhower won a forfeit at 121 pounds to make the final score 50-24.

“We just don’t have the depth to hang with them,” Eisenhower head coach Jared Lindell said. “They are a tough team and it was great preparation for us heading into the postseason wrestling a well-coached, quality opponent in Chautauqua Lake.”

“I thought we wrestled well as a team against a tough opponent. We knew they would wrestle us hard. I haven’t been down to Pennsylvania for a dual meet since 1992. I’m glad we were able to fill this week with a match against a good team,” Rowe said. ” … I’d like to continue wrestling Eisenhower. They are a tough team with quality wrestlers, and they are not far away. Hopefully we can make that happen in the future.”

CHAUTAUQUA LAKE/WESTFIELD/PANAMA/CLYMER 50, EISENHOWER 24

127: Jordan Joslyn (CL/W/P/C) tf. Kamden Farrand, 16-1

133: Martin Ohlsson (CL/W/P/C) p. Tanner Lookenhouse, :31

139: Derek Childs (E) p. Colton Hamilton, 2:22

145: Jack Bourgeois (CL/W/P/C) p. Cole Kellogg, 4:18

152: John Watson (CL/W/P/C) won via forfeit

160: Tucker Lindell (E) p. Evan Riedesel, 3:50

172: Jayden Malecki (CL/W/P/C) p. Mikael Beaver, 3:21

189: Benji Bauer (E) p. Mason Maring, :47

215: Ison Shirley (CL/W/P/C) p. Brok English, N/A

285: Gavin Segovia (CL/W/P/C) p. Michael Vanatta, :52

107: Gavin Burchanowski (CL/W/P/C) p. Shawn Miller, 3:05

114: Thandon Bensink (CL/W/P/C) d. Griffin Williams, 5-2

121: Ryan Chambers (E) won via forfeit