Carroll wrestling faces loss during senior night

Aliza Rivera

Shane Allison grapples with his opponent in the beginning of his match.

At the first home wrestling match of the new year, and senior night, Archbishop Carroll fought against Devon Prep, resulting in a 29-36 loss.

The match kicked off with a win granted to John Wood after a forfeit, earning Carroll an easy six points. However, for the next five matches, several losses took place. William Volk (121) lost his match after getting pinned by Drew Buzbee with 37 seconds left in the final period. Two weight classes were won through forfeit by Salvatore Albert (127 lbs.) and Christian Leckman (133 lbs.). In classes of 139 and 145, two more Devon wins were acquired through the pinnings of Aydin Johnston and Blaise Redmond, done by Angelo Markham and Trevor Heebner-Elliot. 

Carroll began to win back points for the back half of the meet. Griffin Lane (152) was the catalyst for this point shift after pinning Andrew Stauffer within the last 31 seconds of his first period. This was followed by two matches won by major decisions (matches that result in a win by a large difference in points; at least 8-14 more than the opponent), won by William Wood against Charlie Kleiner (160) and Miles Clayton against Simeon Henrie (172). 

Clayton came off the mats ecstatic about his win.

“It went good,” he said. “I won. Coach said I got pinned by him three times, but it’s whatever. I got the win, and that’s what matters. It’s great to win on my senior night, in front of my family and in front of my friends.” 

For the last matches of this meet, another two wins were earned.  Christian Sullivan (189) pinned Colby Dodson within the last 43 seconds of the first period, and Shane Allison (285) won by a regular decision (1-7 difference from opponent).

Two alumni spectators — Joseph Wood (’24) and Gabriel Vallejo (’24) — offered their perspectives. 

“I thought the team looked great — a little less on numbers than what my team had,” Wood said. “But it was great to see all the guys that I used to wrestle with. It looked like they had a lot of fun.” 

Vallejo remarked on the effect of a couple of team absences. 

“I thought Carroll put up a good fight,” he said. “There were definitely some things that could’ve been better in some matches. It was unfortunate that Noah and Jeffrey couldn’t make it due to sickness and scheduling. And although Devon had some pretty good guys, the match definitely could’ve gone to Carroll if we had those guys.” 

After the senior night was over, Coach Wood remained positive despite the loss.

“I’ve been with the Carroll wrestling team for six years now, ” the coach said. “I thought everything was great, and it was a great competitive match, which is what we like. We had most guys wrestling, and we had some JV matches afterwards. It was close. We lost but it could’ve gone either way. We were missing a couple guys, so you just never know. A couple weights could’ve made a big difference.”