Jackson High Presents Rock ‘n’ Roll Wrestling

Western High School wrestler Nolan Wahtola, bottom, was able to hold off being pinned by Jadion Range of Jackson during an assembly meet at JHS on Wednesday. 

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(December 11, 2022 8:28 AM)  As the music pounded and reverberated across the cement walls at Jackson High School, members of the cheer squad and Drum Line made their way into the small gymnasium.

Soon, the former basketball gymnasium was nearly filled with parents and students as the noise grew louder.

Then, a funny thing happened. A wrestling match broke out between Jackson and Western high schools.

The Vikings presented an assembly wrestling meet on Wednesday featuring 40 wrestlers from Jackson High School and nearly as many from Western High School.

Assembly wrestling meets may be becoming more popular with schools for a few reasons – recruiting and a shortage of referees.

“We are trying to get more exposure to the sport for boys and girls,” JHS Coach Charles Hoover said. “The availability of referees was bad before COVID 19.

“We have moved all of our league meets to Thursdays.”

The assembly wrestling meet featured DJ Mike Holiday, the full cheer squad, the school’s Drum Line, and two teachers who participated in a Sumo wrestling exhibition match. 

The two teams would wrestle three matches and it would stop for a few minutes with entertainment from the various groups. 

Students nearly filled the small gym with thunderous applause when Jackson wrestlers made a good move or won matches.

But those were few and far between as Western won the match 63-15. 

The two teams were tied at 9-all early in the match before Western reeled off nine consecutive pins to pull away in the matinee match beginning at 1 p.m. at Jackson High School. 

Kaden Engleter (weight class 113), Chandler Martindale (132), Collin Doederlein (138), Titan Parker (144), Owen St. Andre (150), Nolan Wahtola (157), Gabriel Hines (165), Alex Trudell (175), Josh Korts (190), and Aiden Duncan (215) all earned pins for the Panthers. 

Jackson was paced by Trevor Morehouse (120) and Kyle Bonner (285) with pins. 

The Vikings feature seven seniors on the team while Western has a number of wrestlers on the team.