HIGH SCHOOL

Riverdale grapplers lose close one to Olympic Heights

Adam Regan
AREGAN@NEWS-PRESS.COM

In an East Coast-West Coast showdown of state-ranked teams, Class 2A No. 2 Riverdale coach Kris Hayward got exactly what he expected by scheduling No. 8 Boca Raton Olympic Heights.

The Raiders received plenty of fuel to motivate it during its push for a state championship after losing four of five one-point matches, including an overtime thriller at 220 pounds, en route to a 34-29 loss Wednesday.

“This is absolutely what we want,” Hayward said. “We want to bring the best competition in that we can on a school night and try to get better. We want to see where we are now versus seeing these guys in the state tournament and realize we have a little more work to do.”

Riverdale led 8-0 after Lleyton Taylor (106 pounds) and James Monos (113) victories, but a Jalen Santiago overtime loss to Chance Scott at 120 pounds foreshadowed what was to come the rest of the way.

Olympic Heights’ Ethan Altabet escaped with a one-point victory at 126 pounds and Sam Canova scored a late reversal to edge Trendon Dunn at 160 pounds to go up 21-17.

Hunter Week’s late escape at 145 pounds was the only time the Raiders came out on the winning end of the coin-flip matches.

“In one-point matches those are six-point swings. Those are tough,” Hayward said. “You wrestle those tomorrow and they’re all going to be different.”

Riverdale’s Jesse Pryor competes with Olympic Heights’ Alex Castro during a match at Riverdale High School on Wednesday.

That could certainly be said of Riverdale’s Jesse Pryor and Olympic Heights’ Alex Castro’s instant classic at 220 pounds.

Trailing 31-23 with two matches left, the Raiders needed at least a decision and a pin to survive Olympic Heights.

Pryor appeared on his way in the third period before he was called for an illegal figure-four on the head and fell behind 4-3. Castro, however, was called for his third caution sending the match to overtime.

In the seventh period, with Pryor on top, he held on for dear life but Castro escaped for the win.

“It was just two guys out there battling,” Hayward said. “They’re hot, they’re sweaty, they’re tired, they’re exhausted, they’re not used to wrestling that hard in practice. One almost has an advantage and the other guy comes back. They’re two champions.”

What ended up crushing a visibly upset Pryor, 2A’s top-ranked 220-pounder, was teammate Cole Schneider’s pin in 40 seconds at 285 in the final match, which would have clinched the victory had his match gone the other way.

“It’s high school athletics. You’re not always going to wrestle your best,” Pryor said. “You want to have time to figure out what your weaknesses are to correct those and make those your strengths by the time the state tournament rolls around. We have six weeks left.”

Jarrett Chandler (138) and Gage Schield (182) scored pins for the Raiders, who host No. 4 Lake Gibson on Friday.