Last February, Josh Miller capped his junior wrestling season with a Peterson roll on the state championship stage at the CHI Health Center.
On Friday, the Arlington Eagle used the same move to start his senior campaign at the Blair High School Duals Tournament.
“Right when I hit it I was just kind of thinking back to (state),” Miller said. “I hit that move a lot in practice. Work on it a lot, so it's not surprising that it came out.”
With his back to Beatrice's Torrance Keehn, the defending state champ grabbed an arm and leg, scored back points and earned bonus points with a pin in 5:16. It was the first of two falls for Miller as the Eagles finished with a 1-3 dual mark during the season-opening competition.
AHS' sixth-place finish also served as the debut of first-year head coach Doug Hart, who's served as an assistant for the departed Brandon Mues in recent years. The Eagles started with a 69-9 pool loss to Beatrice, before a split against Logan View/Scribner-Snyder and Tekamah-Herman. They lost to the Raiders 53-23, but defeated the Tigers 51-18 to set up a fifth-place dual with Schuyler that the Warriors won 66-18.
“We've got a lot of new guys, but they're picking it up,” Miller said.
The senior noted Izzy Sanchez and Cade Podany as Arlington wrestlers who are improving with each practice and match.
“It's just a process,” Miller explained. “It takes awhile to get pretty good at this sport and they're doing a dang good job of keeping up with it, and just day-by-day getting better and better.”
Against Beatrice, Will Eppenbaugh earned Arlington's first win of the season after multiple-time state medalist Hunter Gilmore came up just short, 3-2, in a rematch with Trevor Reinke from last year's state tourney.
Eppenbaugh notched a late escape before the third-period buzzer against the Orangemen's Kruse Williamson to force overtime in the grapplers' 145-pound match.
“We were both tired,” the Eagle said. “You could tell.”
But Eppenbaugh prevailed, securing a sudden victory when he held onto Williamson's waist and thwarted the Beatrice wrestlers' cradle attempt, turning it into points.
“Slipped my head out,” the victor said.
From there, Miller notched his Peterson roll pin at 170 pounds and the Arlington wrestling season was firmly underway. Gilmore (two), JoeSeth McBride and Trevor Cooley added pins along the way through the Blair tournament, while Eppenbaugh also notched a 5-2 decision and Gilmore had a 20-3 technical fall.
In total, the Eagles notched six pins and 94 total match points to begin the 2020-21 season. They next compete tonight against Fort Calhoun and Weeping Water in the Pioneers' home triangular.
