The Austin wrestling team won just as many individual matches as John Marshall, but the Packers fell short on the scoreboard 37-28 in Ove Berven Gym Thursday.

The Rockets came out on top becuase they collected five pins, while Austin (5-8 overall, 2-3 Big Nine) had just two.

Austin’s Michael Hirsch, who is 17-1 overall and ranked No. 2 at 189 pounds in Class ‘AAA’ had eight takedowns in his 16-7 win and Howie Underwood, who is 16-4 on the year, had four takedowns in his 8-2 win, but neither could get a pin.

“We’ve not worked on stalling on the bottom quite as much as they probably have,” Austin head coach Bill Kinney said. “Mike’s kid and Howie’s kid both stalled like crazy on the bottom. They did a good job of that and that’s part of the game if you can conserve points by not doing much of anything.”

At 152 pounds, Nate Williamson got his first win of the season for Austin as he gutted out a 15-13 decision. With Williamson up 15-8, John Marshall’s Alex Evan came back with a late reversal and near fall as the buzzer sounded.

“I don’t know how he got me,” Williamson said. “I was a little frightened, but I got out of it. He couldn’t get me on my back.”

Williamson’s match was tied at eight in the second period, when he made a takedown as the buzzer sounded.

“I knew I had it coming. I had to take him down,” Williamson said.

At 112 pounds, the Packers got a gutsy effort from senior Colin Sheehan who fought off an illness to pull off a 6-4 win over Charlie Stellpflug. Sheehan practiced just once this week, but held on to his 6-4 lead after Stellpflug escaped with 26 seconds left in the third period.

“The third period was tough,” Sheehan said. “I know if I would’ve been out, ready and better this week, I could’ve put up a lot more points on the scoreboard tonight.”

Sheehan scored a takedown in the first and second periods to give him an early 4-0 lead.

“I got some confidence right away, so I just tried to keep my energy rolling,” he said. “I’m kind of coming off a losing streak and I’ve got to get back to work.”

In the heavyweight match, Austin’s Thomas Herrera put a good fight against JM’s Pen Maclin, who is ranked No. 9 in Class ‘AAA.’

Herrera scored on a penalty point in the first period to take a one-point lead, but Maclin had an escape and scored a penalty point in the second period to go up 2-1. At the start of the third period, Herrera, hoping to get an escape to tie it up, chose to give Maclin the advantage.

Maclin pinned Herrera 23 seconds into the third period.

“If we wouldn’t have gotten the head butt call (against us), we would’ve been back on our feet, but being down one I wouldn’t have looked for them to open up too much,” Kinney said. “I thought Thomas wrestled extremely well.”

The Packers were without Brandon Holtorf, who is day-to-day with an injury.

“We missed Brandon Holtorf, that’s a big swing,” Kinney said.

Ethan Eggum got a pin at 160 pounds to improve to 17-1. Eggum is ranked No. 9 in Class ‘AAA.’

RESULTS

103: Carter Williamson (JM) pinned Jacob Finnegan (1:13)

112: Colin Sheehan (A) 6-4 dec. over Charlie Stellpflug

119: Eric Power (A) pinned Austin Giordano (1:41)

125: Garrett Steiger (JM) pinned Dylan Diekmann (:44)

130: Jacob Bosshart (JM) 10-6 dec. over Lucas Akkerman

135: Zach Sauer (A) 8-3 dec. over Tim Moore

140: Luke Robison (JM) pinned Jay McConnell (1:37)

145: Howie Underwood (A) 8-2 dec. over Ryan Williamson

152: Nate Williamson (A) 15-13 dec. over Alex Evan

160: Ethan Eggum (A) pinned Kyle Frazier (:33)

171: Taylor Gordano (JM) 9-0 dec. over Brett Newell

189: Michael Hirsch (A) 16-7 maj. dec. over Tyler Lande

215: Cole Swanson (JM) pinned Brett Kraemer (2:36)

Hwt: Pen Maclin (JM) pinned Thomas Herrera (4:23)