Blackman’s ninth trip to state didn’t end up as the Blaze faithful had hoped. The TSSAA State Duals came to a close today as heavy favorite Cleveland won the AAA division over Science Hill. Wilson Central took third over Brentwood in the consolation match.
Blackman was eliminated in the early consolation round by Soddy Daisy by a score of 41-39.
The Blaze finished the weekend 1-2 in dual meets and most certainly disappointed. You might wonder, what is the common denominator in the Blaze losses? Bonus Points. As a whole, the team missed out on many opportunities to score bonus points or avoid having bonus points scored against them.
Get ready for some numbers.
Blackman defeated Dobyns Bennett 39-36
Arlington defeated Blackman 35-31
Soddy Daisy defeated Blackman 41-39
Blackman wrestled thirty-seven matches in three duals. In total, Blackman lost nineteen of those matches. Of those, seventeen were bonus point wins for the other team. Worse yet, fifteen of those were pins against the Blaze.
On the other hand, Blackman won eighteen matches and only eleven were bonus point wins. And six of those were in the first match with Dobyns Bennett. So Blackman scored only five bonus point wins in the last twenty-four matches. That is why the Blaze did not win those duals.
Example: In the quarter-final match against Arlington, Blackman won eight of the fourteen bouts and Arlington won only six. However Blackman only had one bonus point win versus Arlington’s six. Blackman scored 31 points in eight matches and Arlington scored 35 in only six.
The lesson for the Blaze as they head to the individual post season? Stay off of your back and work to score, score, and score!! Decisions are not good enough in dual meets.
The Soddy Daisy dual started today at 220 with Blackman’s Bowdy Boyce losing by fall to #1 ranked Ty Boeck. Blackman heavyweight Jamil Hughes returned fire with a pin over Roberts to tie up the match.
Blackman’s lightweights continued to struggle as Soddy Daisy pinned four in a row at 106, 113, 120, and 126. The Trojans followed that with a tech fall over Austin Marlatt at 132 to take a very commanding 35-6 lead.
Blackman’s Daniel Bradford won the 138 bout by fall and Soddy Daisy countered with a fall of their own at 145 over Fisher. At 152, Jalen Brown had a first period fall to close the gap to 18-41. With four bouts to go, Blackman would have to have 4 pins in order to win.
Sophomore Brooks Sacharczyk had his hands full with 4th ranked Hayden Maynor and although Brooks was able to secure the win with a very hard fought decision, mathematically, the Blaze were done. Soddy forfeited the remaining matches and won 41-39.
All in all, it was great to see the Blaze back at state and firmly in control of Region 5. Many teams were sitting on the couch this weekend so it is a special honor to be able to go and represent our school.
A few individuals this weekend were unbeaten:
138 – Daniel Bradford (Two pins and a major decision)
160 – Brooks Sacharczyk (One pin and two decisions)
170 – Landon Fowler (One pin, one decision and a forfeit)
182 – Spencer Layne (One Pin and a forfeit)
195 – Ryan Heath (Two Pins and a forfeit)
285 – Jamil Hughes (Two Pins and a decision)
A couple of other individual performances that need recognition are 160 pounder Gabe Gomez and 152 pound Jalen Brown. Jalen faced off against 6th ranked Harrison Phillips for the third time this season and earned a solid win over him. Brown had an incredible first period and set the tone early. It was the first time he has beaten Phillips. Gomez was thrown into the lineup against a very tough Arlington wrestler and he fought as hard as anyone on the team all weekend. He didn’t win the match, but he wrestled like it was the end of the world and his life depended on it and he set a great example for our younger guys…(and some of the older ones as well).
Blackman will get back to work and prepare for the individual region tournament next weekend at Blackman. Make sure that you get out to see the Blaze try to defend their region title!