Newton Citizen

COVINGTON - It was a hard-fought match, but the Eastside wrestling team managed to find a way to beat host Alcovy and sweep a tri-match with Winder-Barrow on Tuesday night.

Eastside (18-1 overall) won the match beating Winder-Barrow 60-18 and Alcovy 39-31.

Alcovy (17-1) finished second with a 70-12 win over Winder-Barrow.

"That's a big testament to Alcovy; they've come a long way," Eastside coach Brandon Blakeman said. "We knew they'd be good because they were seeded 11th and finished sixth at team duals last year."

In the Eastside-Alcovy match, John Pollard got things started for the Tigers in the 145-pound match by pinning Jake Malcom to give Alcovy a 6-0 lead.

David Bender (152) closed the gap with a 15-0 win over Steven Williams to make it 6-5 before Malachi Outlaw (160) outscored Dalton Temple 7-0 to give Alcovy a 9-5 team lead.

At 171, Alcovy's Trey Twiford held a 1-0 lead for most of the match until Jonathan Palmer pulled off a reversal to take a 2-1 lead. Palmer was able to hold off Twiford's attack to give Eastside the win and make it a 9-8 match.

Ardest Carter (189) gave Eastside the lead with a pin over Jacob Roberson, but the Tigers did not stay down long.

T.C. Jackson (215) and David Jones (285) had wins over Eastside's Lincoln Temple and Tim Smith to regain the lead at 19-14.

However, the Eagles proved to have too much talent in the lighter weights with pins at 103, 112, 119 and 125 to take a 35-19 lead.

Winning for Eastside were Cody Durden, Danny Gatt, Joel Stafford and Michael Green.

"I'm extremely pleased with our team," Alcovy coach Mike Mostek said. "We just wrestled the No. 2 team in the state. We won six matches and gave them a hard-fought contest. We're a second-year program, I can't be more proud of my guys.

"Our kids fought, but we can't give up the pins. We win that 171 and stop two pins, we win the match with one pin. We're close. We need to get back in the practice room and keep working hard and see what happens at the end of the year."

Down by 16 points, the Tigers still had a chance to come away with the win, needing three pins in the their last three matches.

They got six points with a forfeit win at 130 but could not manage two others.

At 135, Eastside's Trevor Bailey beat Travis Knight 9-1 to secure the victory.

"Trevor Bailey's an outstanding wrestler. He could be the best 135-pounder in the state," Mostek said. "I'm just glad that Travis battled with him and gave him a hard match."

Alcovy's Corey Reid pinned Dalton Bragg at 140, but it was not enough for the Tigers.

Both teams easily got their first match out of the way, shutting down Winder-Barrow.

In Alcovy's match against Winder-Barrow, the Tigers had eight pins and three wins by forfeit. Winning by pin were Zach Burton (125), Adam Pollard (130), Knight (135), Reid (140), John Pollard (145), Williams (152), Twiford (171) and Jones (285).

Eastside also had eight pins in its win over Winder-Barrow - Gatt (112), Green (125), Bailey (135), Bragg (140), Malcom (145), Bender (152), Temple (160) and Palmer (171).

Manny Fils can be reached at manny.fils@newtoncitizen.com.