Dan Rigby

CAMDEN — There were a lot of new faces in the lineup for Caesar Rodney High in its opening dual meet.

The Riders have a lot of inexperience on the varsity roster. But still, they finished just four points behind Cape Henlopen 35-31 on Wednesday night.

Second-year coach Dan Rigby hopes the team will look even more different at the end of the season with some hard work in the practice room.

“We’ve got five brand new varsity kids, three of which had never wrestled a day in their life,” Rigby said. “You saw the youth and inexperience. We have to address that and the kids are working hard. I think at the end of the year we’re a different team.”

Aside from the opening dual meet against Cape, the Riders have only participated in one other event. They sent eight of their most experienced wrestlers to the Mule Classic in Pennslyvania last weekend.

Caesar Rodney placed third among 22 teams.

Cam Hayes, a two-time defending Delaware state champion, won the 120-pound bracket. Mike Primo finished second at 106 pounds while freshman Jackson Dean placed third at 138 pounds. Dean dropped the first match of the tournament and wrestled all the way back with five consecutive victories to earn third.

Other placers for CR were Kevin Bowne, who was fourth at 113, Ben Anderson who was fifth at 126 and Bobby Stevenson who was eighth at 132.

Beast kicks off this weekend

The annual Beast of the East tournament will take place at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center this weekend. The prestigious tournament is in its 24th year.

The field is made up of competitors from 115 different teams from all across the country.

Action begins on Saturday with different rounds at 8:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The quarterfinals take place at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday with the semifinals at 11:15 a.m. and first place and consolation finals at 3:15 p.m.

Caesar Rodney, Cape Henlopen, Dover, Indian River, Milford, Polytech, Smyrna, Sussex Central and Sussex Tech are the Henlopen Conference teams participating.

Polytech takes YellowJacket Invitational

Polytech earned the team title at last weekend’s YellowJacket Invitational hosted by Newark High.

The Panthers were led by first-place winners Noah Denemeustier (138 pounds), Evan Harris (145), Avery Mayan (160) and Jaden McCove (170).

Indian River came in second while Sussex Tech finished fourth. The Indians also had four champions — Ta’Jon Knight (120), Jessie O’Neal (126), Jared Arlett (132) and Ezekiel Marcozzi (182).

Bonus points

• Dover High’s Anthony Fisher recorded his 100th career victory last weekend at the Scorpion Duals in Oakland Mills, Maryland.

• The Dover-Polytech dual meet originally scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14 was moved to Thursday, Dec. 22.