Colin Bishop trailed Goshen’s Bryant Vass for most of their 215-bout.
The Valley Central Vikings were already leading the Goshen Gladiators by 16 points. The dual meet was already won. The result wouldn’t have affected the outcome.

But Bishop, wrestling in his first varsity dual meet, would not be denied.
Trailing by two points, Bishop scored a takedown and then pinned Vass, helping lift the Vikings to a 46-30 win on Wednesday at Goshen High School.

“It was a very exciting match,” Bishop said. “I got a lot of time to breathe with all the blood time, and I was not doing very good at the beginning. But like Coach (Robert Satriano) said, ‘it’s all about the cardio.’ Cardio keeps you to the third period, and that’s exactly how I won. I wouldn’t have been able to win any other way without cardio.”

Vass had scored his takedown within the match’s first 40 seconds, but Bishop didn’t score until time ran out of the second period when he scored an escape.

Then with 59 seconds left, after Vass chose neutral, Bishop scored a takedown to take the lead. He quickly gained two near-fall points. Vass was pinned shortly after.

“I thought I was about to throw up,” Bishop said. “It was just exciting knowing that it was either a win or a loss after three periods. It was very important being a win for me in my first varsity match.”

It also was the Vikings’ last win of the night, as Tucker Pearson-Leary was pinned at 285 pounds to finish the night.

“I think they wrestled great,” Satriano said. “Going into the season, I gave them two goals. Our first goal is to wrestle all three periods. Our second goal is to just not get pinned. I don’t care if they win the match, or lose the match, I just want them to do the best they can.”

The Vikings did well last year, finishing eighth in the state, and have lost only Richard Deegan and Ryan Calfe.

They also returned several-time state champion Luke Satriano, E.J. Vass and Maximus Smith. Ian Gentals, Evan Gomez and Andrew Uzenski are new to this year’s team.

Satriano said the Vikings’ goal is to go .500 during dual meets this year and have more wrestlers on the podium at this year’s Section 9 tournament.

“The coaches and I are very excited about this year,” Satriano said. “We are very young. Out of 40 kids, 25 of them are in 10th grade or lower. We are a young, and optimistic, team looking to change our program around for the better this year.”

Valley Central 46, Goshen 30
101: Evan Gomez (VC) won by forfeit.
108: Ian Gentles (VC) pinned Felix Vidal, 1:12.
116: Greg Schaefer (G) won by forfeit.
124: Kevin Mikhaylov (G) pinned Jake Messing, 3:24.

131: Even Walker (VC) def. Austin Kovacs, 13-3.
138: Luke Satriano (VC) pinned Jason Aroosian, :58.
145: Maximus Smith (VC) pinned Luke Lederman, 2:46.
152: Evan Weeden (G) pinned Nicholas Capicchioni, :20.
160: Michael Giannoni (VC) pinned Ethan Tetzlaff, 1:50.
170: Zyon Lowe (VC) pinned Frank Carbone, 1:24.
190: Declan Thornton (G) won by forfeit.
215: Collin Bishopp (VC) pinned Bryant Vass, 5:34.
285: Josue Luna (G) pinned Tucker Pearson-Leary, 2:48.