(Greenfield) The Nodaway Valley wrestlers will get back to action on Saturday when they travel to the Central Decatur Tournament.
The Wolverines have been led so far this season by their upperclassmen. “Elliot Cooney is doing the same as he has in the past. He had a tough go against an Underwood kid and we’ll hopefully learn from that and continue to get better. Ben Breheny has been doing well too. He had to be quarantined in the beginning so we had to get him back into wrestling shape, but he seems to be picking up where he left off last year when he made it to districts. Jaxon Christensen is having a decent year this year too. He’s gotten some decent pins and has gotten better on his feet
Coach Jesse McCann says Caelen DeVault has been a welcome surprise. “I was hoping he’d have a breakout year. He missed all of his sophomore year due to a football injury. He’s only had one year of wrestling and in his junior year he’s doing really well. I believe his record is 11-4 and he’s beat Jake Cox who is a good kid from Bedford/Lenox and wrestled Tanner Dierking from SE Warren/Melcher-Dallas well in the finals of the Pride of Iowa Tournament 8-4. I just hope he knows that he can beat any wrestler that he puts his mind to.”
The group has rarely had a complete roster at their disposal so far this season. “We haven’t been at full strength and have already had some injuries too. I would think if we had our full lineup we’d be a pretty good dual team, but this year it’s been a struggle.”
Coach McCann says the team has some decent freshman that are going through the typical learning curve at the high school level. One of them that’s stood out has been Zackery Gebbie.
Nodaway Valley placed 6th at the Pride of Iowa Conference Tournament right before break. Elliot Cooney was the 120 pound champion while Ben Breheny (126), Jaxon Christensen (138), and Caelen DeVault (170) all finished as a runner-up.
