Dec 10, 2014 By Bobby Fox for The 2 min read

MAPLETOWN — The Mapletown and Beth-Center wrestling teams opened up Section 2-AA (2A) competition on Wednesday night at Mapletown and the Bulldogs returned home winners, 54-24.

Of the 14 bouts, eight ended in forfeits, five concluded with falls and the 106-pound weight was not contested. The first wrestler to hit the mat was B-C 113-pounder Dylan Swarrow, who picked up the first points on the night with a forfeit.

The first contested bout came at 120 pounds, where Mapletown’s Noah Hixon pinned Chris Kalaway in 44 seconds to tie the match at 6-6. Beth-Center scored 12 unanswered points by way of forfeits at 126 and 132 pounds to go up 18-6.

The Maples’ Seth Shubert cut his team’s deficit down to six points by pinning Bruce Leonard at the 5:33 mark of the 138-pound contest. The home team tied the score for the final time on the night with Brandon Smotzer receiving a forfeit at 145 pounds.

The Bulldogs (1-0) regained the lead at 152, where Robert Lancaster received a forfeit.

The most exciting moment of the match came at 160 pounds, where Mapletown’s Corey Dewitt took on returning regional qualifier Jason Stay. Stay took early control of the bout, but after attempting to lock up an early cradle, Dewitt rolled through the move and put his opponent on his back for a near-fall situation. Stay didn’t seem unnerved by the close call and picked up a second-period fall in 2:22.

Returning state qualifier Anthony Welsh (170) kept things going with a pin in 2:41 to extend the Bulldogs’ advantage to 36-18. B-C sealed the win with forfeits at 182, 195 and 220 pounds to go up 54-18 heading to the heavyweight bout. Though the team score favored the Bulldogs, Mapletown’s 285-pounder Zach Brown ended the night on a high note by recording the fastest pin of the night (23 seconds) over Corey Clark.

Despite his team’s struggles to man weights, Mapletown head coach Chris Shilk is optimistic about his team’s chances for the 2014-15 campaign.

“Right now we are without five starters. They all got banged up in the offseason,” Shilk said. “Winning three out of five matches that were contested is a big feather in our cap. The performance of our men who went out on the mat was admirable. Once we get our full squad back, we’ll hopefully be competitive. I expect to fill 11 out of 14 weights.”