Thursday, January 4, 2024
100 Wins For Horth
[photo] Gowanda wrestler, Michael Horth, got his 100th career win on January 3 at home against Franklinville. The event was celebrated during the meet with posters, balloons and applause.
The 2024 part of the Gowanda/Pine Valley Varsity wrestling season went off in style on January 3. The team not only secured a huge, 58-18 win, but also got to celebrate a career milestone with one of their own. Michael Horth reached the 100 wins mark on the night.
The meet opened with Gowanda/Pine Valley taking a loss by pin at 285. Things evened up quickly as Zach Stark (101) got a win by forfeit to even the score at 6-6. Franklinville earned another 6 points with a quick pin in the 108 class. At 116, Nakotah Jackson answered for Gowanda/Pine Valley After building a 10-0 point advantage, Jackson secured a win by pin with 17 seconds left in the 1st period. That tied the match at 12-12. Gowanda/Pine Valley went on a run with the next five wrestlers all gaining wins by pin. They included Owen Pfaffenbach (124, 3:08) over Derek Ossont, Greg Reid (131, 5:54) over Tyrnan Farrington, Faolon Quinn (138, 1:55) over Gunner Jochen, Nathan Warrior (145, 1:17) over Dakota Miller and Maddox Hudson (152, 0:50) over Nathan Nicholas.
With Gowanda/Pine Valley now in front 42-12 it was time for the highlight match of the night as Gowanda’s Michael Horth (160) set out to win for the 100th time in his career. Things started out slow with Horth only up 2-0 after the 1st period. He managed to build up a 7-0 point advantage through the 2nd period. While Horth failed to get a pin in the match, he did secure a 9-0 Major Decision for win #100. The match was paused at that point in order to recognize the milestone accomplishment.
Once the applause and photos were over the match resumed with Franklinville gaining one final win by pin at 170. With the match out of reach 46-18 there were still two more matches to be decided. At 190, Gowanda/Pine Valley’s Matthew Grill was in a tight battle with Franklinville’s Trent Borden. A slim 5-4 1st period advantage for Grill went unchanged for most of the next period. With 30 seconds left min the 2nd period, Grill managed to lock down a win by pin. The final match turn out to be a very exciting finale. It was Gowanda/Pine Valley’s Brody Mescall against Franklinville’s Levi Jennings. After scoring an initial takedown, Jennings seemed to be completely in control of the match for most of the 1st period. From a position on top, Jennings appeared to miss on an attempted move causing him to side off. Mescall quickly took advantage of the opening to gain control of the match and change a 0-2 point deficit to a 4-2 advantage. It was all Mescall in the 2nd period. He battled into a 14-4 point advantage before gaining a pin with just under 8 seconds left in the 2nd period. Gowanda/Pine Valley had secured a 58-18 win in their 2024 opener.