Middleton, Fla. – In front of its home fans for the only dual meet this season, The Villages High School wrestling team cruised to victory Wednesday night in Middleton.

The Buffalo won six of the 10 bouts wrestled — and took advantage of three forfeit wins — en route to trouncing visiting Lecanto, 53-29, inside the VHS Gymnasium.

"Anytime you can get a win, it's always a good feeling," said VHS head coach Joe Cummings. "I'm proud of the overall fight and effort. There's a lot of things we can clean up. We came out flat in a lot of spots, but we stayed in the fight and we kept battling, and I'm super proud to see that."

After honoring their two seniors in Emily Frantzen and Devinn Dunn, the Buffalo ultimately defended their home mat with a dual-clinching win at 190 pounds courtesy of a pin by Keegan Woodward.

That followed up a dominant start, in which VHS led 29-11 at intermission.

Despite falling into a 5-0 hole early, the Buffalo battled back to take the next five results, as Blake Foulkes and Aerin Phillips each recorded pinfalls during the run. Dunn also improved to 34-3 overall this season with an 18-1 technical fall over Lecanto's Rikky Johnson, while VHS added a dozen more points on two forfeits by the Panthers.

Liam Huffman added a first-period fall at 150 pounds out of the intermission for VHS, before another forfeit – this one at 157 pounds – extended the Buffalo advantage to 41-11.

It was Woodward's pin that clinched the dual meet at 190 pounds, when he sent Lecanto's Daniel Brown to his back with :15 seconds left in the first period.

The Buffalo added a pin from Cameron Martin at 215 pounds just for good measure late.

All of that action followed a first-period pin for Frantzen, a Point Park University (Pittsburgh, Pa.) commit, who opened the night with a fall over Lecanto's Isabel Ruiz for a special Senior Night moment in front of family and friends.

The dual win over Lecanto on Wednesday continued a strong turnaround in head-to-head meets for the Buffalo, who lost six of their first eight duals to open the season, but now have won 11 of their last 12.

"We're a super young team and one of things we've talked a lot about is that we weren't going to be the same team in February that we were in December," Cummings said. "We've got a lot of sharpening and growing to do, but I'm really proud of where we're at. We're not fully where I want to be, but I'm proud of the effort across the board."

The Buffalo will now look ahead to their fourth and final home event of the season, as VHS hosts the Amanda St. John Memorial Tournament at 9:30 a.m. Saturday inside the Buffalo Sports Complex in Middleton.


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.