Dec 5, 2006 By Kevin Harrison For The 3 min read

Uniontown’s wrestling team opened its season Monday night by hosting Jefferson-Morgan. Youth and inexperience were costly for Uniontown, as the Rockets beat the Raiders, 60-23, in a non-section contest.

The Rockets recorded eight pins, with freshman heavyweight Zach Doman getting the fastest win of the night in 26-seconds.

Craig Johnson (135), Anthony Farrar (140), Nick Miller (145), Ethan Virgili (215), Brian Critchfield (103), Brad Phillips (119) and Nathan Elkins (125) recorded the other pins.

Jefferson-Morgan evened its season record at 1-1, bouncing back from a loss to West Greene.

” I felt we were more aggressive tonight than we were against West Greene. That’s something we’ve been working on in the practice room,” Rockets coach Todd Siberg said. “I was really pleased with the way some our guys fought to get off their backs, which was something that didn’t happen last Friday. I think we’re starting to head in the right direction.”

The Red Raiders got the good performances they were looking for from their more experienced wrestlers.

Tyler Holt (152) and Bobby Holt (160) recorded pins, while Jason King earned a technical fall at 189.

“We saw some positive things tonight,” Red Raiders coach Mike Simon said. ” One thing we wanted to make sure that did tonight was to try to be physical and not give up, and I think they did that.

“Some of our younger kids got beat on experience, and found out high school wrestling is a little bit different than junior high.”

The match started at 135 pounds, as the Rockets Johnson picked up a quick takedown and near-fall before stopping Jerry Wilson at the 1:24 mark. Farrar battled Uniontown’s Andy Stepanik into the third period, before getting the fall at 4:59. The Rockets ran their lead to 18-0, with Nick Miller moving up a weight class to stop Joshua Antoine at 1:40.

Uniontown charged back to take the lead with four straight wins. Tyler Holt got things started for the Raiders at 152, using four takedowns and an escape to open up a 9-1 lead before stopping Greg Murray at the 5:02 mark.

Bobby Holt followed suit, using a takedown and two near-falls to open up a 6-0 lead over Mike Adamson after one period. In the second, Holt scored a quick reversal and powered Murray down for the pin at 2:24.

Clinton Payton received a forfeit at 171 to help Uniontown tie the score. Jason King gave Uniontown the lead with a technical fall over Sean Matayisak. King opened up a 6-2 lead in the first with three takedowns.

King increased the lead to 18-4 in the second with three more takedowns and two three-point near-falls. King ended the match in the third with another takedown with the time of the technical fall coming at 4:36, giving the Red Raiders a 23-18 lead.

From that point the Rockets closed out the match with a flourish.