Blackman wrestlers travelled to Tullahoma on Thursday night for an important Region 5 contest with the always tough Tullahoma Wildcats. The last time these two teams met was at last season’s region dual finals where Blackman came out on top 45-25.
The dual was held at Old West Middle School in Tullahoma where the Wildcats call home. They have made a ton of improvements to that facility and it’s a great place to have a dual.
The evening started off with several JV matches and Blackman’s JV wrestlers wasted no time in getting things warmed up! Blackman has an excellent group of young guys who are going to make a lot of noise. The JV match winners were Anthony Gomez, Shawn Wolford, Quinn Hunter & Blake Barrett. Those four wrestlers are much improved and they will certainly provide Blackman fans with a ton of excitement in the near future!!
For the varsity matches, Tullahoma dimmed the lights and the teams wrestled under the spotlight. The match started at 126 with Blackman’s Liam Elam coming out hot and getting a first period pin over Tullahoma’s Xavier Sanson. Tullahoma countered with a win of their own as Luke Price scored a major decision over Austin Marlatt.
Blackman came right back with pins from Daniel Bradford and Dylan Stebbins at 138 and 145. In the next match at 152, Tullahoma’s John Bonee scratched out a 1-0 decision over Jalen Brown and gave the Wildcats some renewed spirit and their second win.
From there, the Blaze turned up the heat and things certainly warmed up. Brooks Sacharczyk(160), Landon Fowler(170), Ryan Heath(182), Spencer Layne(195), and Bowdy Boyce(220) all pinned their opponents in the next five matches. Their efforts gave the Blaze a commanding 47-6 lead.
Hand it to Tullahoma for having a spirited group and being ready to wrestle. Their guys were ready for battle and came out swinging. Things got a little chippy between the wrestlers sometimes and at one point in the Fowler/Adkins (170) match, both teams were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.
At heavyweight, Blackman’s Jamil Hughes lost a very close 2-0 decision to Tullahoma’s state medalist Luke Champion. The final match was Blackman’s Alex Rose getting a pin at 106. (Blackman’s Peyton Adams received a forfeit at 113 and both teams had a double forfeit at 120.)
Final Score Blackman 59 Tullahoma 9.
At the end of the evening, Blackman came away with a solid win over a good Tullahoma team. Blackman has moved up to 10th in the latest state wrestling polls.
Coach Ronnie Bray said, “Although we won many of our matches, I didn’t think that we looked great. We made a lot of mistakes and we still have work to do.”
Pictures from Tullahoma can be found on our PHOTOS page.
Look for Blackman to be back in action this weekend at the GP West Invitational at Brentwood High. (weather permitting).