State Duals - Pick 'em

[ArtusCimber]

Most teams struggle with having really strong wrestlers in the upper weight classifications.  Frequently those kids are multi sport athletes (football, baseball, rugby, etc...) and do not focus on wrestling like the kids in the lower weights.  Even for the very best athletes it's difficult to be really good at a sport when you only focus on it for 3 months per year.  Personally I wish that all kids were multi sport athletes in high school.  It just seems to make them more well rounded both athletically and socially. 

That's because the weight classes are ridiculous. When they were changed, every year we had some kid in the 130-150 pound range who was a stud and had to sit while we scrambled to fill all those silly upper weights. Add to that the fact that Science Hill is successful enough in football that lots of the big guys here, most of whom are incredibly soft and undisciplined, get footballhead, convince themselves they're major college prospects, and choose all you can eat wings and pizza and chinese buffets over the rigor of wrestling. And don't even get me started on the one sport athlete thing. That's another can of worms entirely.

[ArtusCimber]

That's the beauty of this sport, you never know till you step on the mat. Did anyone expect Hicks to drop a match to Bowers? I would guess not. I'm definitely not saying THS would beat either team, just simply stating that the potential exists for it. To answer your question, who knows until they square off. Science Hill is no slouch, granted they have lost to both Bradley and Cleveland, all we really have to go off is the past and what's on paper. I definitely agree that winning 4 matches won't cut the mustard. I honestly feel that THS unfortunately had a really bad off night, better now than down the road.

You're right. If we just accepted what was on paper, we wouldn't have to exert all this effort. The beauty of what might happen next weekend is that neither team wrestled their best yesterday. Potential for improvement on both sides is pretty great, which means next week might be even more exciting than it was last night.

[ArtusCimber]

The thing about Cleveland is that he has three horses, eleven middle to upper middle managers, and no holes in the lineup. They don't give up bonus.

 

Note that they won Thursday by winning only six matches. However, most of his guys stayed out of bonus and he picked up four pins.

 

That's a hard row to hoe, and as the air gets more rarefied, the holes become more pronounced.

Edited January 18, 2017 by ArtusCimber

[1993Viking]

Worst officiated match I have seen, period! On that note Science Hill came out and wrestled their butts off, so that first comment is to take nothing away from those kids. A few calls in the favor of THS and you have a different result. But as I've always said you should never be in a position to where the ref can decide anything. Oh by the way go ahead and write THS off, a lot of people must have short memories and obviously forgotten what they accomplished last year.

 

I would agree that there were several very wishy-washy calls and way too many no calls, especially stalling and fleeing the mat.  When your average wrestling fan in the bleachers sees a wrestler pulling another out or blatantly crawling out of bounds to avoid wrestling, the official should be able to recognize the situation and make the call.  Some of the SH kids laid on bottom in nothing but a defensive position in order to not get pinned (such as the Pendley/Storey match).  Maybe a valid strategy to avoid bonus points but by rule, bottom has to work to improve.  I wrestled in and have been watching wrestling in Region 1 for years and this has always been the case.  The quality of officials we have on this end of the state is simply bad.  Notice that none of the officials from here ever get chosen to call state, this is why.  Unfortunately we have all learned to accept the issue and try to work through it. 

 

I talked to some of the THS coaches following the match and they were disappointed with some of those calls but said bottom line, the calls didn't decide the outcome of the match.  Coaches and wrestlers realize they have some things to "fix" but will be ready next week for Regional Duals. 

 

And what are the chances, everyone on the board is talking about Region 1 wrestling today--that in itself is pretty cool in my opinion.

[mrfixalot49]

SD had a bad night against Cleveland 2 weeks ago. Our guys didn't wrestle well at all. Bottom line is if your going to beat Cleveland or Bradley you can't have a bad night. You can't give up bonus points and the matches you can win. They better step up and win them.

[texas23]

it may be that Cleveland makes a team have a bad night, they are pretty good.

[mrfixalot49]

Your are right Texas. I'm not saying SD would beat them. We definitely didn't wrestle our best. They are very good.

[DaChampsAgain]

SD had a bad night against Cleveland 2 weeks ago. Our guys didn't wrestle well at all. Bottom line is if your going to beat Cleveland or Bradley you can't have a bad night. You can't give up bonus points and the matches you can win. They better step up and win them.

I do believe this Thursday will be a very good meet. Since they have got to wrestle again next week, may see some weight movements around Thursday.

[Norseman]

I completely agree with Artus, next week will be absolutely amazing and those no calls went both ways. The stalling was definitely there in the 45 and 52 weight class. Too bad the Freshman ran out of time in the 52 match. He pulls that one out and we have a totally different dual. But it is what it is.

[Norseman]

I completely agree with Artus, next week will be absolutely amazing and those no calls went both ways. The stalling was definitely there in the 45 and 52 weight class. Too bad the Freshman ran out of time in the 52 match. He pulls that one out and we have a totally different dual. But it is what it is.

[1993Viking]

Just rewatched the Spangler/Medina match.  I hate to see an official make such a bad call and then not have the respect for the kids to correct the mistake.  The first 2 cautions on Spangler were correct.  The 3rd and match deciding was a terrible call.  As you can see from the 2 screen shots off FB, 1 - ready position, 2 - Refs arm out to indicate start at which point he should have simultaneously blown the whistle.  The arm signal is there in cases like last night where it was so loud that the wrestlers might not have been able to hear a whistle so then they have a visual cue to start.  THE REF INDICATED TO START BUT NEVER BLEW HIS WHISTLE!!!!  How is this a false start??  Bad bad call to let that decide the match!!!!

 

[KingGreene]

I completely agree with Artus, next week will be absolutely amazing and those no calls went both ways. The stalling was definitely there in the 45 and 52 weight class. Too bad the Freshman ran out of time in the 52 match. He pulls that one out and we have a totally different dual. But it is what it is.

Yes. It is what it is. Leave it at that and show up on Thursday. A couple TN High fans on here keep saying "not to make any excuses" but then are making excuses. I promise you there were zero posts on here with excuses the two times TN High beat us last season and won't be if we lose next time.... I was going to let all this go until you mentioned the 152 match. That is a heck of a stretch to say "if he pulls that one out". It was evident (even to the ref) that the job of TN High's 152 was to keep it close and not give up bonus. SH chased him all over the mat in a strong attempt to get the major for 5 minutes. Can't blame him for being a little tired on bottom when TN High finally was able to get on top for the last minute. But he was never close to turning SH so I'm sure the TN High coaches are just glad he didn't get majored.... And by the way, just because a kid is good on top doesn't mean the kid on bottom is stalling.

 

And seriously?? The pictures?! In the NFL, if you start early, you lose 5 yards immediately!... In wresting, you get 2 freebees before you give up a point. That was an UTB situation. A jump of the whistle is a huge deal! You can't move before the whistle. It doesn't matter what his hand is doing. He jumped the whistle three times, he losses a point. That is not the refs fault. That is the wrestler's fault. It was a mistake because the kid was nervous. We had a 152 lose a state medal because of that a few years ago and it was his fault he couldn't wait until the whistle. How can you blame the ref on that? You are making TN High fans look silly right now.

 

At a high level, the dual team that wins is the one that wrestled their best that day. We have lost to both Independence and Arlington this year. No excuses. No "what ifs". They wrestled better that day. They beat us. We are just focused on not letting that happen if we run into them again.

Edited January 18, 2017 by KingGreene