TROY, Ill. • At the midway point, the Alton-Triad wrestling dual Wednesday night was up for grabs.
Then the visiting Redbirds seized it.
Breaking a 20-20 deadlock, Alton won the next five matches, by pin or by forfeit, and coasted to a 50-26 victory.
“For us to win tonight, we needed to wrestle a perfect dual, and that obviously didn't happen,'' Triad coach Russ Witzig said. “They finished ahead of us at Mascoutah, at Granite City, at Quincy last weekend and again tonight. I think it's safe to say that Alton is a little better than us this season.''
Witzig said the dual took a turn in the Redbirds' favor early on.
“Our 126 didn't make weight for the third time this season, and then Alton won the flip, meaning that we had to be the first to step to the table,'' the Triad coach said. “With both teams trying to shuffle their lineup for any possible advantage, that definitely hurt us.''
On its senior night, Triad had hoped to use senior Chris Kenney against Alton's Zach Boren at 152 to open the dual. Instead, Boren posted a major decision over Logan Andrews and Kenney picked up a forfeit win at 160.
The Knights' Jake Tindle, a fourth-place finisher at state last year, dominated in picking up a second-period pin at 170 before Alton's Taylor McGiffen, who placed third at state in 2011, was awarded a forfeit at 182.
A little gamesmanship, perhaps?
“We had a freshman who could've gone, but there was no way I was going to do that,'' Witzig said.
Added Alton coach Eric Roberson: “That (the forfeit) definitely caught me by surprise. We put somebody out against Tindle....''
Alton received a major decision from Johny Mack at 195 and a first-period pin from Joe Shimchick at 220 before Triad rallied.
The Knights' Dan Calvin won by major decision at 285, and teammate Cole Wysocki did everything but pin his opponent at 106, coming away with a 13-0 major decision that evened the dual at 20-20.
“Wysocki's tough, and he'd beaten our guy earlier in the season,'' Roberson said. “But (Matt McDowell) hung in and kept him from getting the pin or the tech fall. Sometimes, in a tough situation like that, you have to settle for small victories.
“And in this sport, momentum can make a huge difference. One guy gets a big win and the next thing you know, you're rolling.''
Alton took the lead with a forfeit win at 113 and took control from there. After Lucas Taylor (120) and T.J. Gallion (132) sandwiched second-period pins around another Redbird forfeit at 126, Alton's C.J. Moore added another second-period pin at 138 to make it 50-20.
Triad's Kyle Graumenz, a state medalist in 2010, finished off the dual with a second-period pin at 145 for the 50-26 final.
“We were outwrestled,'' Witzig said.
Roberson added: “It was a good dual -- our duals with Triad are always competitive -- and we got the better of them this time around.''
