The Raider wrestling family was met with tragic news at the Van Buren Invitational when we learned that wrestler, Eli Moore, had lost his father, Bill Moore. We had lost one of our own, and the team began to deal with this tragedy.
Coach Clemens had been prepping for the state duals that would follow on Wednesday, January 24th at Ayersville high school. Thoughts and planning of handling Edgerton in the first round and a potential upset against number one seeded Tinora were placed on hold as the team rallied around Eli.
“There are things much more important than wrestling, but sometimes, wrestling allows us an avenue to escape or make sense of those things,” stated Coach Clemens. Strategy would need to change with the absence of Eli until the young man informed the coaching staff that he planned to wrestle in the dual meet. That he wanted to wrestle in the memory of his father and for his teammates.
Moore’s decision to wrestle inspired the team to bring their very best for not only Eli, but also the Moore family. Wayne Trace squared off against the fifth seeded Edgerton Bulldogs in the first round. The two teams traded forfeits until Austin Smith saw the first head-to-head action of the dual. Smith and Bevis won with bonus points by pinning their opponents. Stabler dropped his match to Edgerton losing by a decision.
160 pound, freshman, Eli Moore stepped onto the mat to square off against Edgerton’s junior Tylor Hartman. With all eyes on Eli, with the support of his teammates and fans, he did not disappoint. Eli put on a show on the mat garnering a major decision win for the red, white, and blue. The Raider faithful erupted after his match witnessing inspiration first hand. Hunter Showalter followed that up with a pin of Jordan Warner and the fate of the dual was sealed. Wayne Trace bested Edgerton 58-21.
Tinora outlasted Ayersville winning 45-24 and the stage was set for a potential upset of the number one seeded Rams. Gabe Sutton put the first six points on the board with a forfeit win at 106 pounds allowing Seth Meggison to square off against Drew Helmke in his first varsity match of the year. Meggison upset Helmke at 113 pounds in by garnering a takedown in sudden victory overtime.
“Inspiration can do amazing things and the team was wrestling for Eli and the Moore family in attendance,” commented Coach Clemens later. With the score 9-0, WT would forfeit the 120 pound class, and then Tyler Bauer would win via pin and Caleb Baughman would capture a major decision over Owen Tong both capturing bonus points and pushing the team score to 19-6.
Austin Smith wrestled a hard fought match and fall short and Tinora closed the margin to 19-12. However, Wayne Trace did not let up and 145 pound Kameran Bevis and 152 pound Wyatt Stabler both captured major decisions with bonus points in highly contested matches pushing the score to 27-12 in Wayne Trace’s favor.
In the next few seconds, Coach Clemens’s strategy played out and the dual was placed into the hands of a young man wrestling for all the right reasons and most importantly, for his dad. WT forfeited the 160 pound class to Meyer of Tinora, electing to bump Moore up to 170 pounds and wrestle the pivotal match of the evening against the Ram’s Aaron Wagner with the team score 27-18. “We had the points we needed and I just knew Moore wouldn’t disappoint. He just couldn’t get pinned,” stated Coach Clemens.
Moore stepped onto the mat again and simply dominated the match. He controlled Wagner the entire match and won via pin at the 4:30 mark to capture bonus points and allowed Hunter Showalter to capture another win by way of forfeit at 182 pounds to push the lead to 39-18.
Nate Showalter continued the upsets on the night at the 195-pound weight class pinning Tinora’s Draven Bartley at the 1:33 mark to round out the scoring for the red, white, and blue at 45 team points. WT then forfeited the final two weight classes upsetting the number one seeded Rams by a final of 45-26.
Wayne Trace only dropped one head-to-head match against Tinora and won seven matches head to head. The fans in attendance would witness upset after upset, but more importantly, the fans were able to witness the dedication and fortitude of a young man dealing with tragedy to step on the mat, with the support of his wrestling brothers and family, and wrestle for all the correct reasons.
“For Eli to be willing to come in here with all he has and is dealing with and wrestle as dominant as he did is nothing short of amazing and inspirational. The team desperately wanted to support him, fed off that, and wrestled solid all night. What an incredible dual meet and an incredible win for this team,” finished Clemens.
The Raider wrestling family would like to send out our sincere condolences and prayers to Eli and the entire Moore family at this time. This week and following will be difficult, but may the support of family and friends ease your burdens as you cope with your loss.
