A Williamsburg pin party

WILLIAMSBURG — It was a Williamsburg pin party indeed in the “Warehouse on Walnut” Tuesday night.

With a spot in the State Dual boys’ wrestling meet on the line, the Class 2A No. 3 Raiders won big over West Liberty 54-24, winning all nine of their matches by fall.

West Liberty ground out a 35-31 dual win over Anamosa before facing the Raiders right after.

The energetic Raiders wasted little time jumping out to a big lead and putting this one out of reach.

“It’s very important in a good dual meet like that to get off to a good start.” Williamsburg coach Grant Eckenrod said. “Our guys did a good job of that.”

The dual started at 215 pounds with Carson Grier, who pinned West Liberty’s Jamison Rudd in less than a minute.

Two more first-period falls came from Raiders Trenton Davies at heavyweight and Riker DeWitt at 106.

Just like that, the score was 18-0 and the crowd roared with joy.

West Liberty’s Ryan Cassady got a pin of his own at 113, but the Raiders put together another run of three.

Hayden Albaugh (120), Lincoln Schropp (126) and Nolan Kent (132) all won by fall before the end of the second periods in their matches.

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The lead was then 36-6, and even with the Comets winning four of the next five, the gap was to big to overcome.

Ethan Prior, at 175 pounds, and Cael Moore at 190 slammed an exclamation mark on the dual by getting two more first-period pins for the Raiders to close out the night.

Moore had the quickest pin of the night, needing only one move on West Liberty’s Austin Pace-Wurr for a 25-second fall.

Twelve of 14 matches resulted in falls.

“All of our guys, even the ones that lost, battled and that’s all we ask of them,” said Eckenrod. “That’s what it takes to have a good dual team.”

The name of the game all season for the Raiders has been balance and contributions from all 14 wrestlers in the lineup, wrestling for each other and buying into the team culture.

“Even more than that, it takes more than 14,” Eckenrod said. “We’ve had guys rotate in and out, filling in and moving weight classes. They’re doing that for the betterment of the team.”

One of those Raiders who went down a weight is freshman Riker DeWitt, who has put together a phenomenal season for the Raiders. DeWitt made the move to 106 earlier in the season and was 42-3 after Tuesday.

“I knew to be on this team I had to bring everything I had,” DeWitt said. “Every practice I just got to work as hard as I can, and I’m just trying to be as selfless as I can and do it for my team.”

That selfless attitude is a huge reason the Raiders are heading to their fifth State Dual meet and second in the last three years.

“I’m just happy for our kids,” said Eckenrod. “It’s kind of icing on the cake before the individual stuff after.”

The State Dual meet will be this Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville; the goal all season for the Raiders is now in front of them.

“This is what we’ve been working for all year, but it’s not over yet,” Dewitt said. “We still got that State title we’re chasing, and hopefully we can go get it.”

State Dual brackets will be released later today.

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Williamsburg 54, West Liberty 24

215 pounds — Carson Grier (WBURG) pinned Jamison Rud (WL),: 54

285 — Trenton Davies (WBURG) pinned Perry Lehman (WL), 1:44

106 — Riker DeWitt (WBURG) pinned Marcus Cardona (WL), 1:15

113 — Ryan Cassady (WL) pinned Charlie Foster (WBURG), 2:57

120 — Hayden Albaugh (WBURG) pinned Isaac Aragon (WL), 2:42

126 — Lincoln Schropp (WBURG) pinned Noah Garcia (WL),: 53

132 — Nolan Kent (WBURG) pinned Tully Griffith (WL), 3:45

138 — Mason Alke (WL) dec. Tyler McMullin (WBURG), 12-9

144 — Landon Wainwright (WL) dec. Sawyer Kirby (WBURG), 5-4

150 — Nile Sinn (WBURG) pinned Briggs Collins (WL), 1:29

157 — Kaden Wiele (WL) pinned Brady Grier (WBURG), 3:39

165 — Ryker Dengler (WL) pinned Caleb Lacina (WBURG), 2:45

175 — Ethan Prior (WBURG) pinned Tytan Griffith (WL), 1:25

190 — Cael Moore (WBURG) pinned Austin Pace-Wurr (WL),: 25