Demons win crucial dual

Washington put itself on the fast track to a conference title on Thursday night.

The Demon wrestlers went into a tough dual against Fort Madison knowing it would take everything to defeat the Bloodhounds, and came home with a 40-31 dual victory, putting them at 16-1 overall and 3-0 in conference.

?It was nice to get back on the mat,? Washington head coach Brent Van Weelden said. ?We hadn?t been practicing a whole lot, but as far as how we wrestled, I didn?t think technically we wrestled very well, but they went out and wrestled as hard as they could for six minutes. We?ve got things to work on, but I was proud of how everyone went out and stepped up and did everything they could to win.?

Washington started the meet as well as possible with Kyle Anderson and Austin Hazelett kicking off the night with pin falls to give Washington a 12-0 lead.

Fort Madison took the next five matches, but the Demons held them to only three pinfalls in those matches, with Trey Van Weelden and Jacob Hall refusing to give up the six points.

?The dual started at 120 and Kyle Anderson got us off on a good note along with Austin Hazelett at 126, winning those first two matches by fall. That was very important. The next five we knew would be tough, and Trey kept his to a decision. Jacob Hall was pinned by his guy earlier in the year, and he kept his a lot closer (Major, 11-3). Tanner Murphy won a close decision and Mitchell Huisenga won a close victory.?

Washington won the next five matches, as Murphy (2-0 decision), Karlton Skubal (forfeit), Brad Skubal (Fall, 1:04), Seth Townsend (Fall, 3:56) and Huisenga (5-0 decision) picked up the victories.

A Fort Madison pin brought the Bloodhounds within five points with one match to go, but Andrew Waite picked up a major decision (9-0) to secure the victory.

Now all the Demons have to do is defeat Mt. Pleasant at home on senior night on Thursday to secure back-to-back Southeast Conference titles.

?We have to wrestle Mt. Pleasant yet, and we respect them as a club,? Van Weelden said. ?They?ve been down in years past, but they have some good wrestlers. We can?t overlook them by any stretch of the imagination and we wrestle them at home on senior night. If we wrestle to our capability we should be fine, but anyone can be beat on a given day.?

Before the big dual, the Demons will take part in a tournament at Highland on Saturday and a dual at Tipton on Tuesday.