The boys varsity wrestling team never fails to bring its all on the mat no matter the opponent at hand; the Rangers’ confidence and hard work always are evident.

Over the weekend, the team faced off twice, both on Friday and Saturday. The boys brawled against Northview and Forest Hills Northern on Friday, January 21, and Allegan, Grandville, and Caledonia on Saturday, January 22. At the end of the two days, Central sat at 3-2, only losing to FHN and Grandville. 

On Friday, the team went up against the Forest Hills Northern Huskies and fell 56-28. FHC had many strong attempts to pull forward, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to break down the Huskies’ solid senior team.  

“It went about as expected. We knew Forest Hills Northern would be a tough battle; they have the best team they have had in a long time, and they have a strong senior class,” head coach Brad Anderson said. “Their coaching crew has done a good job putting together a solid team this year, and it has been a long time since we have been upended by Northern, and hopefully it will be a while again, but again much respect to them.”

Following the FHN loss, the Rangers bounced back with a respectable 61-15 win over Northview.

“For Northview, we took care of business and bounced back; we got the pins and wins that we needed, and our guys looked great and finished strong finishing up the night,” coach Anderson said. 

From Friday night, a few stand-out boys were sophomore Josh Elzinga, freshman Landon Pokora, and powerhouse junior Landon Cooke.

“Landon Cooke is on a roll. Last I checked, he was 20-3 at 160 pounds,” coach Anderson said. “Josh Elzinga looks strong and has bounced back from his previous week and went 2-0 last night. Landon Pokora got a varsity win and looked great doing so as well.”

With only a good night’s sleep between the team’s first and second meets of the weekend, the boys went to bed Friday night, dreaming about all the ways they would attempt to take down Saturday’s opponents. 

First, FHC went head to head with Allegan in an almost clean defeat on Saturday morning. The team won 69-12 and even had senior Evan Elzinga holding his head in disbelief after leaving a nice dent on his opponent. 

“I’m feeling pretty good, my heads hurting a little bit, though,” Evan said after budding heads with his opponent that ended with both of them being a little bruised up. “The first thing I heard after the match is ‘You have a hard head,’ so that’s always a great follow up to a strong win. Grandville is huge, and anyone we beat is going to be a big well-deserved win.”

Returning sophomore Isaac Spratke had a flawless takedown in the first 30 seconds of his matchup that gave him a well-deserved win along with extra confidence about his matches ahead. 

“I’m feeling pretty good, and I’m pretty hopeful about my next match. I feel Grandville is going to be a tough fight, and it’s going to be down to getting small points; if we get those, we could win it,” Isaac said. 

After FHC’s decisive win against Allegan, they fell in a heart-wrenching face against Grandville. The Rangers lost 64-9 against the Eagles in their second round of the day. Although the boys’ spirits died a little, they kept their heads up as their biggest rival yet would decide the result of their day. 

In round three of the close competition, the boys poured all their energy and strength into outdoing their biggest rival, Caledonia. Again, the unit fought with all its might and came out victorious with a strong 42-31 win to finish the day with a 2-1 record. 

“That was a big win for Ranger Country. Caledonia is kinda our wrestling rival, and to come back last night after going down to Northern, and coming back knowing we would have to wrestle Caledonia today, we knew we had to last, and we knew it would be coming down to the wire, which it did,” coach Anderson said.

The whole team wrestled hard to lead up to the last face-off of the day, leaving the Rangers ahead with a 36-31 lead; the next pin would secure the round to whichever team came out above. 6 points would be enough for Central to either stay in the lead or for Caledonia to win by 1. Freshman Landon Pokora kept the Rangers in a winning position, so it was down to the wire up until the last second. 

It was all down to freshman Nathan Rushmore who stalled all first period to go into the second with the victory pin for not only him but the whole Ranger wrestling team. 

“Everybody got their money worth, and really it hinged on the heart of our two freshmen; everybody else did their job, but the two freshmen showed a lot of heart today,” coach Anderson said. “Landon Pokora is a first-year wrestler, and he came out like a duck in water; he’s finding his way, and he is going to get a lot of wins for Ranger Country. Nathan Rushman had a back and forth match and ended up getting a pin.” 

Nathan Rushman was more than happy about his performance that helped his team more than he was expected to.

“I feel great but very tired. I am so happy I could win for the team,” Nathan said. “I feel much more confident and enthusiastic about wrestling after that win, and it makes up for all the seniors who have stuffed me.”

On Wednesday, January 26, the team competes at home against multiple opponents again.

“With all the good wrestling today, Nathan is the hero of the day; I mean, we practically carried him off the mat, and it was a beautiful win. These big moments are going to make memories that last a lifetime.”