Last Thursday at Zumwalt East, the Warriors reversed that fortune. They closed out the night with three consecutive triumphs, bringing home a pair of team victories. Warrenton bested the home team 49-22 and defeated Westminster Christian 45-12. With action complete on all but one mat, attention shifted to the final match of the night. And Reece Berry could feel the tension mounting, as all eyes focused on his 285 pound bout. The match entered a first overtime and then a second, as both competitors traded escapes. Berry made the final escape during sudden death, taking the 3-2 win. "We got into the overtimes, which none of us got a takedown," recalled Berry. "Then I escaped. Then he escaped. Finally, I escaped once more to win it, which was really satisfying. It's a good thing we do a lot of conditioning in practice, because that helped me out a lot." The Warrenton sophomore won both of his matches on Thursday. He says his bouts are made more challenging by the fact the team relies heavily on him to alter team standings near the conclusion of the meets. "There's a lot of pressure put on me as a heavyweight, because I'm always the last match of the day," said Berry. His final opponent on Thursday has had success on the state level. "That's a big confidence booster for Reece too," said Fowler. "Even though he probably has no clue how good that kid is." Prior to the heavyweight match, William Filipek defeated Westminster's Park 9-8 in the 215-pound bout. It was his second win of the night. The pair of victories topped off a successful showing for the Warriors, who finished 17-11 as a team. "It's always good to win those matches at the end, especially the close ones," said Coach Kevin Fowler. "We rely on those guys to boost our team scores, so it's important to have those hammers at the end." Juniors Zach Schall at 112 pounds and John Meyer at 189 also each won both of their matches. "Overall, I think we wrestled well," said Fowler. "We saw some things we need to get better at over the next week, but it was a good night of wrestling." Perhaps more reassuring for Fowler was the early success experienced by his freshman newcomers. Several underclassmen were recently elevated into the varsity ranks after several injuries left spots open. "We've had some injuries and had some people leave the team, so we've asked some people to step up," said Fowler. Travis Doyle had wrestled just three varsity matches prior to Thursday. He picked up his first win at the meet, defeating Barton by fall in 3:50. Doyle had to fight his way from the bottom to claim the victory. "Any time you get a freshman up there, his first in the lineup, anything can happen," said Fowler. "He got down early and fought off his back. It's always nice for those guys to come in and pay their dues and then be rewarded." "It felt really good," said Doyle. "I definitely have a lot more confidence going into districts, but it's a district opponent I beat tonight." Caleb Meyer was also recently added to the lineup and won both of his bouts on Thursday at 171 pounds. Fowler also remarked on the effort by Anthony Dewey, another freshman called to duty a little more than a week prior to districts.