MARYSVILLE Three weeks after defeating Oak Harbor at team duals in Burlington, the M-P wrestling team fell to the Wildcats 39-24 in the conference rematch at Jim Linden Fieldhouse.
Two seniors had strong performances on their Senior Night though with a pin over Oak Harbor junior Brian Howard in the heavyweight class, Michael Pfeiff continued an impressive senior campaign. At 152 pounds, Mitch Johnson ended the meet with a first-round pin as well, although the team win was, by then, out of reach.
It was very nice to have our captains last dual meets at home record wins, said M-P coach Craig Iversen after the loss.
He added that several changes to the lineup affected the Tomahawks ability to match up to the Wildcats.
M-P wrestled without respected freshman Demitri Robinson in their lightest weight, and a few close matches went in Oak Harbors favor.
After a takedown in the final seconds of the first match broke a 5-5 stalemate, Oak Harbor took the first points of the night in a 7-5 decision at 160 pounds.
The Wildcats Tyler Elliot stepped up to the 215 class and handed M-P junior Tannon Hillis only his second loss of the season before Pfeiff faced off against Howard in the heavyweight class. Pfeiff got the pin 1:24 into the first round.
Oak Harbor won the next three matches before M-P started adding to their tally again.
In what would become a pattern among the evenings individual victors, M-P junior Matt Burns got the first points in his match against Oak Harbor sophomore Colton Elliot on the way to a 10-4 decision at 125 pounds.
With a 5-0 decision in the next match, sophomore Luke Shumaker made it back-to-back wins for the Tomahawks.
The nights final three matches ended in pins, with M-P serving two of them.
At 140 pounds, sophomore Josh Brown pinned Phil Gary with 20 seconds left in the second round, while Johnson pinned Robert Hubner in 1:17.
With Hillis rare loss and a mid-match injury to sophomore Brian Donaldson, Iversen lamented the volatility of a wrestling match.
Whats tough in wrestling is a swing in more than one match, he said.
With the close of M-Ps regular season schedule, the team turns its gaze to the postseason which for almost all of the team kicks off in Marysville Feb. 7.
The top two wrestlers from each weight bracket move on to the district competition. Two members of the Tomahawk squad wont compete with their teammates though. Robinson, who wrestles for M-P as part of a co-op agreement with his school Tulalip Heritage, will travel to Concrete to compete in the Division 1B districts. And senior Robin Mueller, who joined the team midway through the season, will compete in a separate girls bracket.

At M-P HS

160 Martin (OH) dec. Mead, 7-5; 171 Reilly (OH) technical fall over Roan, 15-0; 189 Neumiller (OH) dec. Mathis, 14-7; 215 T. Elliot (OH) maj. dec. Hillis, 10-2; 285 Pfeiff (MP) pinned Howard, 1:24; 103 Martinez (OH) pinned Daurie, 2:47; 112 Zimmerman (OH) wins by injury default; 119 R. Cardwell (OH) dec. Blevins, 6-0; 125 Burns (MP) dec. C. Elliot, 10-4; 130 Shumaker (MP) dec. I. Cardwell, 5-0; 135 Page (OH) dec. McChesney, 12-8; 140 Brown (MP) pinned Gary, 3:40; 145 Tuttle (OH) pinned Madonia, 3:35; 152 Johnson (MP) pinned Hubner, 1:17.