Instead of earning its first-ever banner to hang on the wall, the Perryville wrestling team had to watch Patterson Mill celebrate in the Panthers' gym. The Huskies trailed 26-12 before winning four straight bouts to capture the region title with a 33-32 triumph over top-seeded Perryville. "We knew it was going to be tight," Perryville coach Thad Gough said. "[Patterson Mill] always wrestle tight. It's hard to beat Patterson Mill by a big score. Their guys know how to keep your points down and prevent bonus points from getting on the board. That's what ends up happening. When you wrestle close, something goes wrong for you, and they can turn the match. There's not going to be a big margin if you're not putting those extra points on the board, getting minors instead of pins, minors instead of majors, and it adds up at the end when you get down to it."
Jarrett Hunter's 4-3 victory at 152 pounds pushed Perryville's lead to 22-9. Patterson Mill's Kevin Le won the 160-pound bout 6-4 on a reversal with seven seconds left. The Panthers' Nathan David (170) prevailed via major decision to make it 26-12. But Perryville was forced to forfeit the next two matches to enable the Huskies to narrow the gap to 26-22. Patterson Mill's Sami Lameche won a closely contested bout at 220, scoring a reversal and two near fall points in the final five seconds to triumph 6-2. It was the first time the Huskies led. Despite being down 27-26 with two bouts remaining, the Panthers were still optimistic with heavyweight Steven Thomas and 106-pounder Josh Barnett left to wrestle. "Steve is a tough wrestler," Gough said. "I was feeling pretty confident with him going in that we would be in good shape. [Our 106-pounder] Josh (Barnett) is also a tough wrestler so the math in our heads we figured it would be not bad chances for us." The Panthers' region title hopes were dashed when Mason Sprinkel pinned Thomas midway through the second period. With a seven-point lead with one match left, the only possible way Patterson Mill could have lost would've been to get pinned at 106 and be deducted a team point in the process so the Huskies wisely forfeited the final bout. Perryville had built the big early lead thanks to a pin from Kole Dobash (132), a major decision by Nik Weatherington (113), and a decision from Hunter Zacerous (138). Caleb Phillips (120) received a forfeit. In the semifinals, Perryville edged Havre de Grace 32-30. David essentially locked up the win with a 7-4 victory. It was an impressive night for the Panthers' sophomore. "He's come a long way," said Gough. "As a freshman, we always told him to be careful, it's a tough sport. Last year as a freshman, he was spending a lot of time as the nail, not a lot as the hammer. It takes a lot of fortitude to withstand that part of it. It's really rough getting beat on for 14 dual meets and a couple of tournaments, but he withstood it and he's turning the corner now. We've kind of thrown him out to the wolves the entire season in dual meets. “Part of the reason we've been so successful is we've been throwing him in against some of the best kids in the county and he's been holding his own as a sophomore against seniors. I couldn't be prouder of him. He wrestled his heart out. He's really come a long way." Dobash also came up big in the tournament with a pair of pins. Jarrett Hunter and Barnett also prevailed by fall. Jeff Leonard (120) won by tech fall. Weatherington received a forfeit. Patterson Mill beat Bohemia Manor 52-30 in the other semifinal. Despite the disappointing defeat in the finals, Gough saw some silver linings. "I've been talking about it all year," Gough said. "We've been preaching to the kids that we are building, trying to get more kids on the team, more energy in the room. It was great to see the gym basically filled and the noise here, it was awesome. I was ecstatic for what we had going on. One of the principals pointed out to me people were excited. They don't even understand the rules because it's kind of a new thing, but there was excitement for actually coming out and watching a wrestling match. That's a positive going forward. “Plus, we still have all of our individual tournaments to go. We've still got UCBACs, regionals, and states so the season is far from done. We've got plenty other successes in front of us. Comments are closed.
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