MIDDLETOWN — Middletown High School”s Jason Hill needed a total of 68 seconds to pin his two opponents on Wednesday as the Mustangs hosted Willits and Kelseyville in a Coastal Mountain Conference tri-meet.
Hill pinned a Willits opponent in 30 seconds, then came back later in the evening to pin his Kelseyville opponent in 38 seconds.
Nolan Tkachenko, the Mustangs” standout 125-pounder, also had a big night, according to Middletown coach Troy Brierly. Tkachenko pinned Rio Nance of Willits in the first-round, then he moved up a weight class — to 130 pounds — and upset Kelseyville”s Anthony Esberg 13-12.
“I expected it to go all three rounds and be decided by points,” Brierly said of Tkachenko”s match against Nieto.
Against Esberg, Tkachenko won a seesaw battle by the slimmest of margins, according to Brierly.
“Nolan was just the tiniest bit better on the mat,” Brierly said.
The night”s quickest match — and perhaps most painful victory — saw Middletown 152-pounder Taylor Hoefer score a 23-second pin against a Willits opponent.
“He got a leg cramp right before the match,” Brierly said of Hoefer. “I don”t know how that happened.”
Against Kelseyville, Middletown won every contested match except one — Troy Davis of Kelseyville pinned Paul Rogers at 171 pounds. Tyler Hamilton at 145 pounds and Jarred Rudy at 137 pounds were among the winning Mustangs. Hamilton won by pin in the second round and Rudy also won by pin.
Brierly expected Middletown to beat both Willits and Kelseyville but said a slow start against Willits cost the Mustangs.
“We had to give up 12 points in forfeits and there was not a whole lot we could about it,” Brierly said. “We started slow and couldn”t really recover. I thought we were the better team and should have beaten them.”
Middletown travels to Lindhurst on Saturday for the Jason White Memorial Tournament.
