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HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: LAVIGNE ENJOYS EXPERIENCE AS HE GETS A CHANCE TO WRESTLE HIS COUSIN (20 PHOTOS) (2023-02-02)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
HORSEHEADS — When the match was over Horseheads’ Hunter Lavigne bent down over his opponent, and wrapped his arms around SVEC’s Jacob VanEtten.

This wasn’t your ordinary high school wrestling match. It was a cousin vs. cousin matchup during a 189-pound match on Thursday night.

“It’s pretty fun, we didn’t care what the outcome was, we are still family, we just went out and had fun,” Lavigne said. “Nothing serious, win or lose, we are still family.”

In the opening period Lavigne had a few takedowns, but he didn’t try and force the issue and get the pin, letting VanEtten back up and working for more takedowns.

For Lavigne, he knew his cousin was a senior wrestling one of his last matches and he didn’t want it to end quickly.

“He’s a senior and it could be his last match and I didn’t want it to be over quick,” Lavigne said. “I wanted this match to go as long as I possibly could.”

For Lavigne it was special to get a chance to wrestle his cousin.

“It’s a great match, I’m glad I got to do it against him,” Lavigne said.

The two have done plenty of wrestling around as kids growing up.

“We don’t really work out together, but we’ll mess around in the summer, we’ll have quick little wrestling matches, but nothing to major,” Lavigne said.

 Thursday’s match was different as it was a varsity match in the season finale for both teams.

“It’s different, he goes harder and I go harder,” Lavigne said. “We are both going as hard as we can. It’s a completely different story on the mat.”

In the end Lavigne ended up getting a pin in 3:07. Normally Lavigne would celebrate a pin, but in this match as his arm was being raised he was putting his other arm around his cousin in his last regular season varsity match.

“I feel bad for him, because I know he’s a great wrestler,” Lavigne said. “Hopefully he goes to sectionals and places there so this isn’t his last match.”

The two cousins have been excited about this match since they saw each other on the schedule.

“We actually knew we were going to wrestle each other, because we knew we were at the same weight class,” Lavigne said. “As soon as we saw we were on the schedule we were texting all the times saying we can’t wait for this. We were excited for this.”

And, Lavigne feels like his family was enjoying the matchup.

“I think they had a good time,” Lavigne said. “I don’t think they had any sides. I think they were just encouraging both sides and sitting back and letting us do the work.”
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IN TOP PHOTO: Cousins Hunter Lavigne of Horseheads and Jacob VanEtten of SVEC hug after they wrestled a match on Thursday. . . PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES.


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