Wednesday night, the Milford Buccaneers traveled to Caesar Rodney in the opening round of the DIAA Dual Wrestling tournament. Coming in as the 7th seed, Milford knew they had their work cut out for them against 2nd seeded CR. Just a few weeks after falling to the Riders 49-21, it was going to be a tall order for Milford to pull off the upset, While Milford would fall by a score of 42-29, it was a meet that could have been much closer, but inevitably would have ended up with a one point CR win, even if Milford would have been able to flip two key matches.
With the meet starting at 113 pounds a forfeit and then a win by fall at 120 pounds by Aston Graham of CR put Milford into a 12-0 hole right out of the gate. At 126 pounds Milford would lose 6-4 by decision at 126 
pounds as Colton Gilbert would defeat Charlie Truesdale, continuing to extend the Riders lead. Milford would finally get on the board as junior Dan McElwee would pin Quade Cummings for Milford’s first six points.
At 138 pounds a rarity occurred as CR’s Johnny Spence would win by decision over Dometrius Dorell 1-0.
“That was a match we were trying to flip, but unfortunately Dometrius could just not get the point we needed. When you review Charlie’s decision, it really took us out of the match. The guys gave it a great effort tonight and I am very proud of them.” Coach Don Parsley said.
Milford would have wins by Davonne Dallas in a technical Fall 22-6 over Miguel Sigararan, Dauriel Jones by fall and Greg Locket by fall over Jagger Clifford. Prior to the match Lockett, Delaware’s number one ranked heavyweight was honored by DIAA as the outstanding Milford Scholar Athlete.
“Greg has been fantastic to coach but we have a lot of work still left to do, with Conference and State Championships on the horizon.” Parsley stated.
Speaking with Parsley following the meet, it was clear that he felt very strongly about this Milford group.
“All you can ask of a team is for them to improve and achieve their potential. Our team worked very hard this season, and I am very proud of them,” he said. “The season wasn’t easy, but our team showed heart, even when things didn’t go our way.”
Lockett surpassed 100 wins this season. However, another milestone was accomplished by Parsley himself, as he reached 350 dual meet wins as a coach, when asked about it Parsley indicated he was far from done coaching.
“I love this sport and I really enjoy coaching these athletes. There are so many fantastic wrestlers I have coached, I couldn’t even begin to thank them enough for all their effort,” Parsley said. “Hopefully I can’t see myself leaving the sport anytime soon, I truly love it and don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t coaching. It really has been an honor to represent the Milford community, I have had nothing but support along the way,”
With the Conference and State Championships coming up, some Milford wrestlers to keep an eye out for are Lockett, Ryan Farissier, Davonne Dallas, Danny McElwee, Riley Carmean and Ryan Collingsworth.
“Tournaments are tough and I believe these guys have what it takes to put in a good showing,” Parsley said. “For some of them it may not be about winning titles, it’s about achieving your potential and pushing yourself to get better. I am very excited to see what these guys can do.”
