Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Few moments in sports test an athlete like extra time in a wrestling match.

That one-minute sudden victory overtime period becomes even more daunting when it is coming off a two-week stretch without competition.

West High juniors Grant O’Dell and Brett Pelfrey each found themselves in that unenviable position on Thursday in the Trojans return to the mat against Dubuque Hempstead.

Both O’Dell and Pelfrey proved to be up to their overtime tests.

O’Dell and Pelfrey each won overtime matches as Class 3A sixth-ranked West High returned to action for the first time since January 7 with a 42-38 loss to Dubuque Hempstead in a Mississippi Valley Conference dual meet in Iowa City.

“It’s always tough to get back out on the mat after having a long layoff, match wrestling is different than practice wrestling,” O’Dell said. “I just went into that match thinking I was going to win.”

Only two matches went the distance on Thursday as the teams split the 14 matches in a near deadlock dual that came down to the final match.

Coming off a two-week stretch sidelined by COVID protocol it was O’Dell and Pelfrey that stepped up to win matches late.

Pelfrey won a wild match over Adam Ward at 220 pounds with a pin 32 seconds into overtime.

Ninth-ranked O’Dell outlasted fourth-ranked Adler Kramer 3-1 in overtime at 126 pounds.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride already,” Pelfrey said. “It’s been hard to stay in shape, getting workouts in on your own has been big but it’s been good for our team, we’ve gotten closer without having coaches telling us what to do we’ve had to do it on our own.”

O’Dell (3-0) and Kramer went to overtime even at 1-1 with each scoring only escapes in the opening six minutes.

It was O’Dell that was in deep on shots in each period but Kramer continued scrambled out of precarious positions.

“He’s just really scrambly and I should have finished my shots,” O’Dell said. “I was leaving my ankles behind and I need to clean that up but props to him for really scrambling.”
O’Dell finally finished a shot, locking up the win with the only takedown of the match with two seconds left in the overtime period.

“I was just trying to get the takedown, I didn’t know where the time was at,” O’Dell said. “I didn’t want to give up my ankle again, I was just trying my hardest and it worked out.”

220

Bretty Pelfrey and Ward were the exact opposite at 220 pounds as the wrestlers exchanged multi-point moves early.

Ward put Pelfrey on his back for an early 5-0 lead less than 20 seconds into the match before Pelfrey fought back.

“Being on your back the first 30 seconds isn’t very fun,” Pelfrey said. “I was just try to push the pace at the end of the match and get him tired and I was able to finish it off.”

Ward was hit for stalling in the final 10 seconds sending the match to overtime tied at 9.

Pelfrey threw Ward to the mat 25 seconds into overtime for a takedown and finished with a pin.

“I got my ties right and got it tight and he pushed in hard and I just went with it,” Pelfrey said. “I just had to finish it off and get the team points. It felt great.”

West High got first-period pins from eighth-ranked Kael Scraton at 132, top-ranked Hunter Garvin at 138 and No. 3 Ashton Barker at 170.

Third-ranked Graham Gambrall earned a 22-6 tech fall over Jackson Vanderheyden at 152.

Dubuque Hempstead had five pins and picked up a pair of wins via forfeit at 182 and 195 on its way to the win.

“You just have to go into every match with that same mentality that you are going to win and you are going to win big,” O’Dell said. “All you can do is wrestle hard you can’t control anything outside of that.”

Dubuque Hempstead 42, West High 38

106 – Braden Doyle (ICW) won by forfeit

113 – Dawson Fish (DH) pinned Mason Goodale :52

120 – Chad Bellis (DH) pinned Thomas Pierce :39

126 – Grant O’Dell (ICW) dec. Adler Kramer 3-1 SV

132 – Kael Scranton (ICW) pinned Landon Reisen :56

138 – Hunter Garvin (ICW) pinned Gable Brooks 1:28

145 – Josiah Schaetzle (DH) pinned Abram Collaguazo 1:14

152 – Graham Gambrall (ICW) tech. fall Jackson Vanderheyden 22-6

160 – Jack Smith (DH) pinned TJ Donovan 1:29

170 – Ashton Barker (ICW) pinned Landon Dupont 1:12

182 – Jack Hanson (DH) won by forfeit

195 – Joseph Lewis (DH) won by forfeit

220 – Brett Pelfrey (ICW) pinned Adam Ward 6:32

285 – Cayden Lovett (DH) pinned Errol Alden 4:33

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