Baylor beat arch-rival Father Ryan in the championship match of the Al Miller Cleveland Duals wrestling tournament in the cafeteria at Cleveland High School Saturday evening, but the best team in the tournament had already gone home by the time the last match began.
The Archer Tigers, who won here a year ago, are ranked fifth nationally. They won three matches here over the weekend, but left after two matches on Saturday so they could be in attendance at the Georgia Dome for their 6-A state football championship game on Saturday night.
Archer thumped Father Ryan by an amazing 59-3 margin in a dual meet on Friday before beating Thompson 53-15 and Baylor 57-11 on Saturday. To say that Archer was in a league of its own would have been the biggest understatement of the tournament.
The Cleveland Blue Raiders finished fourth after losing 45-32 to the Woodland Wildcats in the consolation final.
Baylor’s 152-pound Caleb Canada was voted the Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.
It was a day with lots of mat time for all 15 teams involved, but by the time pool matches had concluded, the winners were Woodland, Father Ryan, Baylor and Cleveland.
The Blue Raiders dropped a tough 40-26 decision against Baylor in one semifinal while Father Ryan beat Woodland in the other semifinal by 34-23.
Baylor claimed the first-place trophy with a 34-27 win over Father Ryan in a rematch of last year’s Division II State Duals final that Baylor also won.
Baylor raced to a commanding 28-6 over the Purple Irish in the finals by winning seven of the first eight matches. The only loss in that stretch for Baylor was a forfeit at 182.
Another forfeit for Ryan started a streak in which it won three straight matches and had closed the gap to 28-21 when Baylor’s Mason Reiniche recorded a second-period pin over Jared Frazier to clinch the victory for Baylor, now 11-1 overall.
Kirby Simpson and Eli King both posted decisions in the final two matches for the Purple Irish, but it was a matter of too little too late.
“It was a good day for us,” said Baylor coach Ben Nelson after the win over his team’s D-II rival.
“It seems like every team is missing a few key guys on a day like this, but it was good to see our guys battle through adversity like that. We didn’t give up a lot of bonus points and that’s always critical, but we were able to get the job done,” he added.
Father Ryan coach Pat Simpson left town with a bitter taste in his mouth. He was also disappointed with his two Friday matches, including the close win over Cleveland in a battle that was determined by the eighth criteria after the match ended in a 32-32 tie.
“No, not really,” he responded when asked if he liked what he saw on Saturday.
“My seniors didn’t win a single match and that’s why we lost. If we win the matches where we’re favored, we win this tournament, but we didn’t. We gave up too many pins, but we’ll be back,” he added.
Cleveland coach Jake Yost was visibly tired after a long day, but he was overall pretty happy with the results, despite his team just missing earning a trophy.
“I thought we did a good job today as this is a tough tournament. Winning three of five matches wasn’t bad,” he began while members of the Cleveland team were rolling up mats in the Cleveland cafeteria where the championship matches were held.
“I think we got better today. We had a bunch of guys step up in our match against Gilmer County and that may have been a high point, but we fell a little bit short against Baylor and Woodland. But overall, I’m pleased with the way our guys fought today,” he added.
Cleveland won six of the 14 matches against Baylor.
The Red Raiders won the first match with a pin before Ezra Taylor made it 6-4 with a major decision at 145. A forfeit for Aaron Oliver two matches later allowed Cleveland to knot the score at 10-10 before Baylor sandwiched a couple of pins around a win by injury default.
John Gaither recorded an overtime decision at 220 and Bryce Pond was awarded a forfeit at 106, but by the time Colton Landers posted a regular decision at 126 and Tristan Blansit a major at 132, the win had already been secured by the Red Raiders.
Cleveland got pins from Cody Landers, Taylor, Oliver and Trey Simpson in the match against Woodland, but a regular decision from Jonathan Martin at 170 and a technical from Gaither weren’t enough to overcome four pins from the Wildcats.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
BAYLOR 34, FATHER RYAN 27
(Match started at 145 Pounds)
106 – Christian Simpson (FR) won by forfeit;
113 – Raymond Eason (FR) pinned Trevor Milling, 4:49;
120 – Trey Chalifoux (FR) dec. Jack Reynolds, 13-7;
126 – Mason Reiniche (Bay) pinned Jared Frazier, 2:57;
132 – Kirby Simpson (FR) dec. Alex Atchley, 8-2;
138 – Eli King (FR) dec. Michael Murphy, 6-5;
145 – Caleb Powell (Bay) dec. Chris Wesnofske, 8-4;
152 – Caleb Canada (Bay) dec. Nick Naughton, 5-2;
160 – Blake Sutherland (Bay) dec. Marcelo Morrice, 3-1;
170 – Cayman Seagroves (Bay) won by major dec. over Andrew Wesnofske, 11-1;
182 – Preston Cook (FR) won by forfeit;
195 – Ryan Parker (Bay) pinned John Shaw, :40;
220 – Jon Schmissrauter (Bay) dec. Ben Stacey, 3-2;
285 – Cooper Reiniche (Bay) pinned Rotime Bamgbose, 1:03.
CONSOLATION FINAL FOR THIRD PLACE
WOODLAND 45, CLEVELAND 32
(Match started at 145 Pounds)
106 – Daswon Woods (W) won by technical fall over Bryce Pond;
113 – Jahvar Lewis (W) pinned Cody Matthews, 1:30;
120 – Jesus Montero (W) won by forfeit;
126 – Cody Landers (Clev) pinned Spencer Miller, 1:52;
132 – Jake Huffine (W) major dec. Tristan Blansit, 13-3;
138 – Spencer Cooper (W) pinned Joseph Bowers, :37;
145 – Ezra Taylor (Clev) pinned Matthew Evans, 1:02;
152 – Cody Cochran (W) pinned Jack Hicks, 3:45;
160 – Aaron Oliver (Clev) pinned Jacob Jones, 1:59;
170 – Jonathan Martin (Clev) dec. Khalil Morris, 6-1;
182 – Aaron Bishop (W) pinned Riley Stevison, 3:08;
195 – Brett Shedd (W) won by forfeit;
220 – John Gaither (Clev) won by technical fall over Hunter Hardin;
285 – Trey Simpson (Clev) pinned Nathaniel Lehmann, 1:32.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)