Blackman wrapped the first day of the TSSAA State Duals with a win over Dobyns Bennett in the first round and a tough loss to Arlington in the second.
In the first dual with Dobyns Bennett , Blackman dug themselves a deep hole by losing the first six out of seven matches and finding themselves on the wrong side of a 30-6 score. Peyton Adams (113), Jeremiah Savage (120), Liam Elam (126), and Aaron Fisher (145) all lost by fall. Austin Marlatt (132) and Jalen Brown (152) lost by decision. Senior Daniel Bradford scored a pin at 138.
At this point, most of the spectators and fans were adding numbers in their heads trying to determine if there was enough room left for the Blaze to make a comeback. Luckily, there was.
At 160, Brooks Sacharczyk breathed some life into the Blaze bench after scoring a pin over Dobyns Bennett’s Clinton Morrisette. Landon Fowler (170) followed with a pin of his own to make it 30-18.
Spencer Layne (182) pinned Carson Harris in the third period, and Ryan Heath (195) got a quick pin over Matthew Malone to tie the match at 30-30.
At 220, Bowdy Boyce earned a tough 6-1 decision to give the Blaze the lead for the first time. Senior Jamil Hughes (285) followed Boyce’s effort with a third period pin to put the match away for the Blaze. Sitting on a comfortable 9 point lead with only one match to go, Blackman forfeited the final match.
Final score Blackman 39 – Dobyns Bennet 36
After finding themselves in a similar position in the second round match with Arlington, the Blaze’s good fortune ran out. The match started at 120 and once again, Blackman was in the hole early. Two pins and a tech fall put Arlington ahead 17-0.
At 138, Daniel Bradford scored the first points (4) for the Blaze as he earned a major decision over Michael Ford. At 145, backup Aaron Fisher gave up a fall and Blackman trailed 23-4. At 152, Junior Jalen Brown won a hard fought match with Harrison Phillips to add three to the Blaze’s score. Phillips has beaten Brown a couple of times this season so getting the win tonight was very satisfying for Brown and the Blaze coaching staff.
At 160, Blackman’s Gabe Gomez put up quite a fight against Alrington’s Dalton Cockman. Gomez fought off three periods of relentless attacks before reluctantly giving up the fall in the third period. At this point, it was Blackman 7 – Arlington 29.
At 170, Brooks Sacharczyk defeated Worley 8-2 and Landon Fowler (170) defeated Antcliff 10-3. Senior Ryan Heath (195) came up big with another first period pin over Milton to lift the Blaze into striking distance. Heath’s pin brought the score to 19-29 with four bouts to go.
At 220 Blackman’s Bowdy Boyce got the first takedown on Lewis but ended up getting pinned in the second period. At this point with three bouts left Blackman had to have all pins to win. At 285, Jamil Hughes came out strong against John Worley but he wasn’t able to get Worley to his back. Hughes won by decision but there was not enough points available to give the Blaze a chance to win. Arlington does not have a 106 and they forfeited that weight class. At 113, Peyton Adams earned a decision over Asadoorian. Final Score: Blackman 31 – Arlington 35.
Bonus points ended up being the determining factor in the match. Blackman won 8 out of the 14 matches and Arlington only won 6 but Arlington scored bonus points in every match that they won. Blackman only scored bonus points in two matches. (One fall and one major decision).
Blackman starts off day two against Soddy Daisy on Saturday and unless the Blaze want to go home early, they need to find a way to win the battle of the bonus points. The Soddy Daisy match starts at 11am at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center.
Go there and support the Blaze!