Raiders, Meteors, and Warriors take to mats

Local grapplers took to the mats with success opening weekend.

Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, and Montrose each participated in the Gary Woodruff Memorial Duals held at Wyalusing High School.

Blue Ridge and Montrose each finished 3-2 on the day with the Raiders taking fourth place and the Meteors placing fifth in the 10-team event.

While Blue Ridge fell to Scranton Prep 42-37 in their final match the Raiders earned the way to the third-place match with a 44-34 win over neighboring Montrose.

The Raiders used pins by Logan Hodge, Gavin Crawford, Kaleb Shimer, and Jordan Williams to secure the victory.

Hodge pinned Montrose’s Seamus Fish in 52 seconds of their 285-pound match while Crawford needed a second more to get his win over Nick Harder.

Shimer picked up a pin of Montrose’s Ramon Carrero in 1:52 and Williams pinned Noah Smith at the 1:41 mark.

The two teams split the two closest matches of their dual.

Blue Ridge’s Zach Consla edged Derrick DeMann 6-4 at 182 pounds while Montrose’s Devon Ford nipped Blue Ridge’s Ryan Armitage 14-12 at 195 pounds.

Montrose got a pin from Dylan Geertgens when the Freshman pinned Cole Soden at the 1:44 mark. Geertgens was 5-0 on the day.

Blue Ridge also had wins over Pocono Mountain East 42-30 and Wyoming Area 48-19. The Raider fell to Wallenpaupack 42-30.

Montrose claimed fifth-place with a 44-30 win over Nanticoke. The Meteors also defeated Pocono Mountain East 43-42 and claimed a 54-18 win over Wyoming Area. Wallenpaupack pinned Montrose’s other loss with a 69-7 victory.

Besides Geertgens Montrose also had winning records from DeMann, Ford, Harder, Larissa Taylor, Brandon Soules and Jacob Craige who all went 3-2. James Bixby was 3-1 and Colby Starzec won his only match.

Elk Lake finished 1-4 when they were nipped 27-24 by Wyoming Area.

The Warriors defeated Scranton Prep 30-24 and also fell to Nanticoke 48-28 and was shut out by host Wyalusing 61-0.