Quillen, Behrend set the tempo for fellow Rosewood wrestlers
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 23, 2010 1:47 PM
Returning state placers Nick Quillen and Zach Behrend played the aggressor from the opening whistle, and turned in efficient performances against Greene Central on Wednesday.
Their Rosewood teammates followed their lead.
The Eagles emerged victorious in all eight individual matches and rolled past the Rams, 78-6, before a sparse turnout at the Eagles' Nest. Rosewood (12-1 overall) extended its win streak to eight matches.
Quillen quickly took Brett Shackleford to the mat during their 125-pound bout. Quillen (19-1 overall) recorded two first-period nearfalls and eventually pinned Shackleford 19 seconds into the second period.
Behrend raced to a 13-point advantage against Abram Walker at 130 pounds. Walker earned an escape point midway through the second period, but Behrend (14-0) answered with an easy takedown and pin just seconds later.
"(Nick and Zach) is the meat of our lineup, two state placers ... it's a good way to set the tone for the match, good way to get the crowd involved," said Eagles head coach Bill Edmundson. "What they're both working on now as we go toward the postseason, they're both trying to score more points. Zach has done that better than any wrestler we've ever had.
"That's good for the rest of the team because they're seeing those guys work for something other than a pin."
The short-handed Rams (0-5) forfeited at 135 and the Eagles' Jordan Batson followed with a quality victory at 140. A freshman, Batson encountered early trouble, but kept his poise with a third-period pin over Spencer McClung.
Tyler Dean (145 pounds), Bradley Mills (152), Josh Pipkin (160) and Taylor McGill (189) and 103-pounder Jacob Holliday each pinned their respective opponent. Holliday collected his ninth win of the season.
"Jacob and Jordan are both first-year wrestlers, and they've both picked up the sport really well," said Edmundson. "They're both intelligent on the mat and have good mat presence. When you've got a chance to work with state placers in the wrestling room, you can't help but get better."
Chris Lane, Angel Jaramillo, Jacob Guthrie and heavyweight Chris Campbell each drew a forfeit for Rosewood.
The Rams' Alex Carroll received a forfeit at 171.
"I think our kids wrestled really hard, we're just a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores," said Greene Central head coach Mark Howden. "We had a few wrestlers who made it into the third period, which is good for us ... good experience. We have a lot of work to do, but we have a lot of young wrestlers who want to get better."