Blackman Wrestling finished 8th out of 24 teams last weekend at the 22nd annual, Stewart Schay Blackhorse Invitational held at Houston High School in Germantown, TN. The tournament is an early measuring stick for the Blaze and features competitive teams from Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama.
Blackman started off on Day 1 in the hole with no wrestlers in two important weight classes. 106 was scratched due to medical and 220 is still descending after coming in from football. Despite the setbacks, Blackman turned in a solid opening day. Captains Matthew Sells (170) and Landon Fowler (160) both turned in dominating performances pinning their first two opponents. Blackman newcomer, Daniel Bradford (132) and Freshman Gabe Gomez (152) also scored victories in their first two matches.
Blackman had 4 freshman competing and those guys learned what a tough tournament the Blackhorse can be. Blackman freshman Brooks Sacharczyk (138) opened the tournament with a solid 13-6 decision over West Creek Senior, Austin Woodward. Sacharczyk wrestles at a higher level than most freshmen but couldn’t get past former Blackman kid’s club wrestler, John Glover from MBA losing an 11-7 decision that was much closer than the score indicates.
Day 2 separated the pack and Blackman had 5 wrestlers end up competing for medals. Daniel Bradford defeated Brother Martin wrestler Matt Williams 10-8 in the 5th place match. Sophomore Jalen Brown (145) defeated Brother Martin Junior Noah Roux 7-1 in the 5th place match as well. This match was a grudge match for Brown as Roux had beaten him 10-9 in the quarter-final match the day before.
Once again, sophomore Landon Fowler dominated his opponents and pinned #2 seed Perry Matthews from MBA in the first period of the championship match. Fowler was calm and collected and we don’t think he even broke a sweat. Senior Matthew Sells faced Beech’s rising star Kyle Smith in the finals match at 170 pounds. Sells looked very confident and jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the 2nd period. Smith tried to mount a comeback and managed to close the gap to 6-3 late in the 3rd period. Sells was called for fleeing the mat with almost no time left, and won the bout 6-4.
At heavyweight, Dylan Heath (285) faced the #1 seed in the 7th place match. Hixon’s Guiliano Palacio had lost his quarter-final match in overtime and ended up battling back in the consolation round. Heath went blow for blow with him and managed a pin in the 1st period.
At the end of the day, our guys got some great experience and our younger guys got a real taste of what is expected of them in the coming months.
Pics from the Blackhorse can be found HERE.
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