STANDISH-STERLING - Jan. 19, 2006 - Standish-Sterling's wrestling team won a pair of non-conference matches Thursday, edging Mio AuSable 41-37 and beating shorthanded Hale 63-6.

The Panthers used a bit of good fortune in getting an advantageous coin toss to start, won some key matches and conserved points in the matches they lost to claim the narrow victory.

SSC had to climb back from a 37-23 deficit in the final three matches. The Panthers got a bit of help as Mio had to void one match, giving SSC six points. Team captains Mark Stawowy (215 pounds) and John Goick (275) each pinned their Mio opponents in less than a minute to claim the team victory.

The two teams split most of the early matches, with Jacob Brown (112) winning by tech fall and John Stanford (119) claiming a decision.

Mio took a 29-22 lead with defending state medalists Joe Burden and Joel Wilson on deck. But instead of providing the clincher for the Thunderbolts, SSC's Robert Towery went the distance with Burden, losing 10-1, and Wes Dunn lost to Wilson by technical fall. By avoiding pins, the two Panthers saved three potentially crucial points.

"These two kids may well have wrestled their best matches of the year," said SSC coach Jim Hergott. "They saved (us) three points. Still, down 37-23, many in the crowd thought we'd been beat."

Dewey Milan and Machylle Porter also won matches by pin, and Amanda Vargo and Joe Self avoided pins to opponents who had done so in the past.

"We talk with every kids that losing to the same kid, but not getting pinned, is an improvement," Hergott said. "That should be a motivation for practice."

And as it proved against Mio, every point not given up counted.

Against Hale, which sent just six wrestlers to the mat, the Panthers claimed victories by Stanford, Porter, Towery, Dunn and Brown in matches that were wrestled, losing just once. The rest of the team's 63 points came from seven Hale voids.

The Panthers improved to 11-6 in dual meets this season.