Good article regarding Page finishing 3rd at State Duals

[rodteague]

We don't get a lot of press or props, so this was nice for a change. Most insiders have figured out Page is an up and coming program and Benji's team did a spectacular job of confirming what many have suspected, seen and experienced this year. I'm very proud of all our wrestlers and looking forward individual regionals and the state tournament. BTW don't sell us short once we move to AAA. Go Patriots!

 

 

Posted: Sunday, February 5, 2017 5:45 am | Updated: 10:00 am, Sun Feb 5, 2017.

By Maurice Patton for the Williamson Herald | 0 comments

Benji Gray said at the onset of this weekend’s TSSAA State Dual Wrestling tournament that the Class A/AA quarterfinal matchup between his Page Patriots and Pigeon Forge could just as easily be a championship clash.

When the smoke cleared at the Williamson County Ag Expo, Gray wasn’t far off base.

The Patriots’ two-point loss Friday turned out to be the closest match Pigeon Forge faced en route to the state title, as the Tigers defeated Notre Dame in Friday’s semifinals and Greeneville in Saturday’s finals by more comfortable margins.

Page, meanwhile, closed out its A/AA stay by rallying to defeat Stratford, Alcoa and Greenbrier in Saturday’s consolation bracket to place third in the eight-team, double-elimination tourney.

It was the best finish by any of the five local entries in the state duals, as Summit and Independence were both eliminated in their initial Class AAA consolation matches. Brentwood Academy defeated Battle Ground Academy in a Division II consolation match, but lost to Baylor in its next contest.

For the Patriots, the rally from that opening-day loss led to the program’s best-ever finish as a move to Class AAA looms for next season.

“We started the day telling them they had to have the will – the desire and the determination – to come back,†Gray said. “We’ve wrestled five matches in a day, so we were prepared for this. We were led by our seniors. Our guys stepped up and did their jobs. They won big and lost small. That’s been our mantra.â€

Against Stratford, Page didn’t lose a match on the mat. Starting at the 285-pound weight class, the Patriots opened with a forfeit win, followed by pins at 106 (Mitchell Turner), 113 (Cole Winer) and 120 (Ian Daffron) before an Alek Filaroski 11-1 major decision at 126 made it a 28-0 score. Vincent Ha added a forfeit win at 132 and Nick Oberstaedt won by pin at 138, and Page led 40-0 before forfeiting at four of the final seven weights for a 52-24 victory.

In the Alcoa semifinal, Page similarly seized control early – scoring 25 straight points to open before the Tornadoes picked up a major decision at 138. However, Oberstaedt answered with a pin at 145 and Austin Harshaw did so at 160, and a forfeit win at 170 put the contest out of reach for Alcoa in an eventual 43-30 decision.

Greenbrier pressured the Patriots early, with pins at 120 and 132 to lead 12-9 after the first four weight classes. A Laz Bibeau decision at 138 tied the team score and sparked a run of six consecutive Page wins – including pins by Harshaw, John Noe (170) and Houston Tywater (182) to put the contest out of reach. Page forfeited the final four weights for a 37-36 victory.

“The only control I have is the lineup,†Gray said. “Ultimately it’s the guys stepping on the mat and getting the job done.

“This was a great way to end things in Class A/AA. I think you could put us in the championship match against either Pigeon Forge or Greeneville (Pigeon Forge won 41-26) and we’d still have the crowd on their feet.â€

 

In Class AAA, Summit was eliminated by Halls and Independence was ousted by Arlington in matches that were contested right to the end.

A controversial pin at 220 turned the match for Summit in an eventual 38-36 loss.

“We got reversed to our back, on the (boundary),†Pete Miller explained. “It could have gone either way. It was an opinion call, and that was the call. We shouldn’t have gone to our back. But hat’s off to Halls. If we wrestle 10 times, we probably go 5-5, but this was their day.

“I’m proud of this team. We’re not done yet. We’ll come back Monday and start getting ready for individual regionals and individual state.â€

Independence trailed Arlington by five going into the final weight class, 285, but Isaiah Demello was unable to come up with the tying technical fall or winning pin – instead dropping a 6-5 decision.

“We dug some holes for ourselves early in the match,†Jared Grindstaff said. “We tried to dig out a little bit, but our decision making did us in.

“We had a lot of bad habits throughout the season that, when adversity hits, they’re hard to hide.â€

Brentwood Academy opened DII consolation wrestling Saturday with a 46-21 win over BGA, but lost to Baylor 49-30 in the consolation semifinals.

Bradley Central defeated Cleveland 35-24 in the Class AAA finals, with Father Ryan defeating McCallie 45-27 to claim its second straight DII title.

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by rodteague