Ferreira, Watson advance to Friday wrestling

DES MOINES – Early afternoon wrestling looked bleak for the trio of Bloodhound wrestlers who made the trip to Casey’s Center in Des Moines for the ISHAA State Wrestling Tournament.
Returning state qualifier James Fuller, who’s just in his sophomore year, got on the mat first and quickly rolled up a 9-2 lead on Atlantic’s Keaton Schroeder at 120 lbs. Fuller came into the tourney as the highest seeded Bloodhound at 15 after taking a runner-up spot at last week’s state qualifier.
Fuller recorded three takedowns and was on his way to a tech fall giving up a couple escapes to Schroeder working on takedowns and points. He got another takedown with about 45 seconds left in the second period for a 12-2 lead. But Schroeder chose the top spot to start period three and was able get Fuller off balance on a spin pulling him back to the mat on the restart and was able to clamp a chest-to-chest pin 25 seconds into the third period for the upset.
Fuller would then suffer another pin from a cradle in the second period against 16th-seeded Stratton Luke of Union-LaPorte City. Luke had a 3-point lead after a late 1st period takedown and then scored another to start the second that he rolled into a cradle at the edge of the circle for the win eliminating Fuller from the tournament.
“Some days here are like that. Just a bad day. To be up 12-2 and have that happen...it’s hard not to have that stick with you all day and it kind of showed up in that second match. That’d be hard for anybody. He’s a tough kid. He’ll be back,” Head Coach Nic Chiri said.
Sophomore Ren Watson got his first win at state in the first round against Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s Maddon Evans at 215 lbs. Watson came in as the 19th seed of 24 in the bracket and battled Evans to a 0-0 tie at the end of the first period. Evans and his team hadn’t done their homework because they deferred after winning the flip to start the 2nd period.  Watson quickly took the top and went to work shoring up his tight cradle just 13 seconds into the period to move into the quarterfinals.
There he ran up against the state’s 3rd best wrestler in 2A at 215 lbs in Osage’s Gavin Muller. An aggressive start for both wrestlers ended up with Muller getting Watson to the mat for a 3-point takedown. Muller than quickly rolled Watson over with his arms pinned behind him and his neck craned against the mat when referees stopped the match for a check of Watson. Muller was awarded a 5-point nearfall. He pulled Watson back in again on the restart after the medical timeout and was able to record a pin about 20 seconds later.
In the consolation second round, Watson matched up with Central DeWitt’s Kazmir Senneff. The two hooked up in some collars and arm holds but separated several times before Watson was able to slide off a tumble by both to the mat and gain control for 3 points. Fifteen seconds later he had his cradle again but didn’t have solid position with it scoring just a two-point near fall before Senneff was able to kick out. Watson would take the 5-0 lead into the second period and Senneff scored an escape with 30 seconds left in the period. Watson then went on the defensive fighting off a multitude of leg shots from Seneff to hold on for the 5-2 decision.
The sophomore said wrestling at state has a different form of adrenaline.
“I like the adrenaline that comes with it. I feel like I wrestle a lot better with that adrenaline.”
I knew if I didn’t win that match, I would have to go home. So, everything was on the line. I had to do my best to keep going.”

Ferreira wrestled just two matches on the day, but the one win was the one win he needed to go onto Friday.
Heavyweight matches are a lot of pushing and shoving until one wrestler gets a hip toss or a drop that goes their way. In Ferreira’s first match, Creston’s Gunner Martwick got the advantage early gaining the advantage in tug to the mat for a 3-point takedown that was converted to a chest-to-chest pin just 11 seconds later sending the Bloodhound to the consolation bracket.
There me ran up against Knoxville’s Regan Roberts and again there was a lot of shoving around the circle until Roberts got the best of Ferreira in the clinch and sent him to the mat with 15 seconds left in the first period, but the move left Roberts in pain stopping the match for a medical time out. Roberts told trainers that he heard something pop in his leg, but was able to continue the match.
Ferreira went to work pushing Roberts backward making him use the leg. On the second period restart, the Bloodhound again went to the offensive and Ferreira was able to hip toss Roberts to the ground and land on him. He worked the ride for about a minute before Roberts was called for stalling not being able to do much under Ferreira with a bum leg.
The two started neutral again in the third period and Ferriera again scored a takedown with a headlock in the center of the mat that he converted to a chest-to-chest pinfall almost immediately.
 “I just knew if I kept pushing him around, he’d have to fight back and he’d be tired so I just kept giving him pressure. He tried to pull me down and I would get away and reset. I wanted him to use his energy and eventually he ran out and gave up,” Ferreira said.
“I never been to state, but it’s kinda crazy in all the bright lights with all the people.”
He said the butterflies went away in the first match and in the second round win he felt better. He said Friday will involve more work.
“I need to keep my head on straight and just work, work, work,” he said.
Chiri said Watson and Ferreira now get to sleep and regroup and do it again Friday.
“Getting to day two is pretty awesome for those guys,” he said. “Everything from here on is a bonus for them. We’ll go back and watch tape but we wanna come back and win a couple more. It’s go time,” he said.