AMHERST — Amherst was in control of its Southwestern Conference season-opening dual meet Thursday night with visiting Westlake with four matches to go, but the Demons still had a chance.

Trailing by 10, Westlake’s Brad Spreng was just 10 seconds away from a clutch 189-pound victory over Amherst senior Jake Cumberledge. But Cumberledge scored a two-point reversal on Spreng with two seconds remaining for a 5-4 victory, and the meet-clinching win for the Comets.

Amherst went on to defeat the Demons, 43-21.

“I thought we got some real big key wins there, especially from Jake Cumberledge and Dakota Walker,” first-year Amherst coach Brian Cesear said. “Cumberledge fought all the way to end in his match and it pulled off. We got some really big wins, and it could have been a lot closer because there were some tight matches.

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“We always stress to wrestle past the whistle and never stop working. Jake never stopped working and wrestled down to the end, and it paid off.”

Cumberledge trailed Spreng, 4-3, after two periods, and it appeared that Spreng would hold on to win by that advantage as the third period wound on.

Cumberledge was able to get out of bounds with 10 seconds remaining, setting up a restart. But, as Spreng tried to ride him out for the win, Cumberledge was able to cleanly flip him over and get him on his back just before the buzzer to end the match sounded.

“You just never stop wrestling,” said Cumberledge, now 10-1. “There’s been a lot of my matches where I’ve gotten points right at the end of a period, and that’s what helps me win.

“I just kind of rolled around there. Sometimes you get lucky. I was always kind a crazy wrestler and made up my own moves, and the coaches pull out their hair when I’m wrestling. I don’t go in to every match thinking I’m going to win, but I always try to win.”

Westlake coach Mike Antonyzyn pointed to that match as one of the many things that went wrong for his team.

“We didn’t wrestle very well,” he said. “Our guys weren’t finishing their moves. We had three kids out of the lineup, but that’s not the point. When we give up takedowns that win matches with three seconds left on the clock, how can you win?

“They didn’t do it from inside today. I had guys going over when they should have never went over on pins, giving back points away. That’s not the way we wrestle here.”

The dual started the conventional way, with the 103-pound match between a pair of freshmen — Amherst’s Walker and Westlake’s Sam Grillo. The two combatants fought to a 6-all tie midway through the third period.

But, after a stalemate with 29 seconds remaining, Walker quickly took down Grillo on the restart with a barrel roll and picked up two more back points for a 10-6 victory.

“I thought Dakota Walker’s win really set the tone for our entire dual,” Cesear said. “I thought we worked on a lot of the things we worked on in practice and doing what we’ve been trying to do. That’s what’s important to me, that we do the things that we work on in practice.”

Amherst picked up technical falls from 112-pounder Matt Matos and 119-pounder Alex Funderburg and a 2-0 win by 125-pounder Bryan DeRuchie for a 16-0 lead.

However, defending state runner-up Nick Lawrence picked up a pin in 2:25 to temporarily stop the bleeding.

Lawrence’s pin was the first of Westlake’s four wins in the next eight matches – two by pinfall by Connor Dempsey (135) and Sheldon Stuckart (145) – that helped but Amherst’s lead to 10, 31-21.

John Dever’s 9-4 win at 171 over former Amherst quarterback Alex Basinski capped that turn of events for Westlake. But, it turned out to be the last match the Demons won in the dual.

“I wasn’t pleased with our performance, from the coaching staff on down,” Antonyzyn said. “Our kids did not wrestle well today. I’m glad it’s early in the season, but we’ve got some work to do.”

The dual was somewhat of a homecoming for Westlake assistant coach Jake Percival. Percival is arguably the greatest wrestler in Amherst history and one of the best wrestlers to ever come out of Lorain County, and this is the former state champion’s first year as a varsity wrestling coach.

“It was hard,” Percival said. “It was fun, though. I was looking forward to it. I’m friends with Cesear and coach (Bill) Walker, so it’s always going to be a friendly competition. Plus, a lot of these wrestlers at Amherst I helped coach when I ran my youth camps here and I’m friendly with a lot of their parents and siblings, still.

“It was different coming back here wearing the opposing team’s colors, that’s for sure. But it’s a great opportunity for me at Westlake. It’s been a great experience for me here and I love it there.”

Amherst travels to Kenston today for a non-conference tri-meet along with Chardon. Westlake travels to the Hudson Tournament this weekend.

Contact Dan Gilles at 329-7135 or dangilles73@gmail.com.

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