Eisenhower’s Tucker Lindell looks to take down his Seneca opponent wrestling at 172 pounds. Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger

The Eisenhower defeated Seneca Wednesday night 60-15 as the visitors made a long trip for a quick night of wrestling.

The Bobcats left a large portion of their squad home as they were dealing with a virus that has taken its toll on their wrestlers. Because of that, there were only four varsity matches.

The first weight that had two wrestlers was at 172 pounds, a match won by Eisenhower’s Tucker Lindell, who bumped up a weight class in order to get a match in. Lindell won by pinning his opponent at the 1:32 mark of the second period.

Knights head coach Jared Lindell, “I thought Tuck wrestled a good match,” Knights head coach Jared Lindell said. “We saw an opportunity to get him a match and we took it.”

At 189 pounds, Eisenhower’s Bryceton Wilkins also won, recording the pin over Seneca’s Julian lamp with 3.1 seconds remaining in the first period.

The best match of the night was at 215 pounds as the Knights’ JJ Darr and the Bobcats’ Paul Spires went the distance, with Spires earning a narrow 5-4 decision. The match was a battle for position throughout with both wrestlers waiting for the opportunity to get a takedown. Down 5-2 late in the third period, Darr got his takedown but ran out of time before he could get near-fall points.

“JJ had a tough match and wrestled really smart,” Coach Lindell said. “He just ran out of time.”

The final match of the night had Seneca’s Anthony Scalia earn a first-period pin over Tanner Lookenhouse at 139 pounds.

“With the tool city tournament coming up this weekend, it would have been good to get a few more matches, but I’ll take the win and the opportunity to get rested up for Saturday,” Coach Lindell said.

Eisenhower will be one of 20 teams wrestling this weekend at Meadville’s 42nd annual event.