Cache girls, boys sweep mat dual from Elgin

CACHE—Cache girls and boys wrestling teams decided their lucky number Tuesday was 54, which both put on the scoreboard to take a sweep from Elgin before a good crowd at the Cache High School Gym.

The girls took the mat first in the high school competition and the Bulldogs rolled to a 54-21 victory, allowing the Owls to win the last three matches, two by fall and one by decision. Elgin’s final points come when there was a double forfeit in the lower weights.

That was pretty much what was expected to happen in the girls match as the Bulldogs have been tough all season.

“These girls have won four of the five tournaments we’ve entered,” Cache wrestling coach Jimbo Smith said. “We have some good wrestlers among the girls and I think we have a chance to get a good group of them into the state tournament. These girls have really worked hard.”

While the OSSAA will not add a girls Dual State meet until next school year, they will have regionals and then a state meet for the girls this season.

Cache girls took advantage of three early forfeit wins to take a 30-0 lead and then they followed that with falls as the next four weights to surge to a 54-6 lead and the impressive victory.

Cache boys also win

This one became interesting after last week’s dual between Tuttle and Elgin, which the No. 1 Tigers won, handing the Owls their first loss of the season.

During that match there was an incident that spilled off the mat and numerous wrestlers were forced to sit out their next match, which was last night against the Bulldogs.

“We were without 10 of our guys tonight but the good thing is we have a room full of wrestlers and were able to put together a lineup,” Elgin coach Cody Rowell said. “We moved some guys up and they gave up some size.”

Despite the 54-24 loss to the Bulldogs, Rowell is still feeling good heading into the home stretch where the Owls will be trying to defend their Dual State title and will try to make another strong run at the traditional title. Elgin is ranked No. 2 in Class 5A behind only Coweta, while they are also No. 2 in the traditional state tournament rankings behind the same Coweta team.

“I think we’re probably going to be a better tournament team this year,” Rowell said. “I’ve always tried to schedule tough matches because that’s how you get better. I’ve had some of these kids since they were in the youth program in the fourth and fifth grade. I think we will be OK once we have our normal lineup.”

That schedule included a tough win over Marlow, which is No. 1 in Class 3A, and Tuttle, the overwhelming No. 1 in Class 4A.

Last night two of the Owls’ top wrestlers, Gabe Dittmeyer and Jack Anglley, moved up a weight and while Dittmeyer got a fall over Logan Carr at 165, Anglley lost a tight 6-4 match to Cache’s Case Hardzog that clinched the team win at 42-18.

Cache got rolling in the lower and middle weights as Ardie Armour got a fall at 126, Logan Crawford scored a fall at 132 and Eli Ozment earned a 7-4 decision at 138 to push the Bulldogs closer to a team victory.

The 150-pound match featuring Elgin’s Cooper Moore and Cache’s Luke Odom was a wild one with a host of points in the third period as the score went to 10-10 at one point before Odom got the fall just three seconds before the end of the match.

The teams were 6-6 after Cache’s Braylon Pugh got a late fall at 106, but Elgin’s Hunter Jackson earned a quick fall at 113.

Both Elgin and Cache boys will be competing in the Dual State meet on Feb. 9 and 10 at Stride Bank Center in Enid. Elgin will be in Class 5A while Cache will be competing in Class 4A. The Bulldogs enter Dual State ranked No. 10.

“I think we have a good shot to reach the semifinals,” Smith said. “I think we have a balanced group that can get past that first match.”