Jan 25, 2013 By Adam Brewer, For The Greene County Messenger 3 min read

JEFFERSON — For the third consecutive year, the Jefferson-Morgan wrestling squad is the top team in Section 2-AA after a 43-22 victory over subsection rival Bentworth Wednesday night in the championship match.

The Rockets (9-4) narrowly defeated the Bearcats earlier in the year, 31-30, and the win gave them first place in the subsection and the opportunity to host the Section 2-AA semifinal and final rounds.

“We knew it was going to be another close one against Bentworth,” J-M coach Scott Rhodes said. “Every match was key for us and every one of our kids fought their hearts off to either get points or not get pin. We are really proud of this accomplishment.”

Brendan Howard started things off right for J-M at 106 with a 15-5 major decision.

“It was huge for Brendan to get a major decision,” Rhodes said. “We talked to him before the match about finishing. The last time these two wrestle, Brennan lost the major decision fall with 10 seconds left in the match. Bonus points were huge in every match.”

Bentworth rattled off a pin and two decisions to take a 12-4 lead, but John Demaske pinned his opponent 45 seconds into his bout at 132 to trim the deficit to 12-10.

After another decision by the Bearcats, the Rockets collected two consecutive pins by Jason Miller (145) and Ryan Zalar (152) to take its first lead of the night at 22-15.

Jason Perkins lost a close 3-1 overtime decision to Bentworth’s Ben Carlisle at 160, but J-M rallied with back-to-back pins from Billy Bowlen (170) and Dustin Conti (182).

Bowlen’s recorded his pin with 28 seconds left in the third period and the pin gave J-M critical points.

“Billy had a big pin for us at 170,” Rhodes said. “He wrestles Dustin every day in practice, and when you face the caliber of kid that Dustin is, you can either get better or get beat up. Billy battled tonight and he is just a hard worker for a freshman.”

The Bearcats took a major decision at 195, but the Rockets garnered points in the last two bouts with a forfeit win by Nate Wolfe (220) and a 2-1 triple overtime decision by Ian Wolfe (285).

J-M will battle in this weekend’s Bedford Tournament, and then will start the Class AA postseason bracket next Wednesday.

The Rockets scored a 41-30 victory over Mount Pleasant in the semifinal round to start the evening.

Howard (113), Demaske (132) and Miller (138) scored pins in the bout, while Ian Wolfe (285), Bowlen (170), and Conti (182) recorded decisions. Tedrow (106) drew a forfeit and Kniha (126) was credited with an injury default win to round out the scoring for J-M.

Mount Pleasant rebounded in the consolation game with a 35-27 win over Yough.