Seymour just misses state
By Will Estep | (sports@thedailytimes.com)
SEYMOUR — In a battle to earn a spot in the Class AAA state wrestling tournament, Seymour came up just short on Thursday night against a highly-ranked Maryville squad at Seymour High School.
Entering the night, the winner of the Maryville and Seymour matchup that was part of the Region 3-AAA semifinals was guaranteed a spot in the state tournament. Maryville picked up a close 35-33 win over the Eagles to earn that spot. Seymour, who won the District 5-AAA championship this season, took an early 18-10 lead in the match before the Rebels made a comeback. Maryville won the next five matches to take a 35-18 lead.
“We were back in it there for a little bit,” said Seymour coach Alex Cate. “We won a couple of decisions and a tech fall and we needed to get pins in those if we were going to win. Three-point wins weren’t going to beat Maryville because they are a tough team.
“I’m proud that we won the matches we won. That was good, but their guys got the pins when they needed them and our guys weren’t able to do it. That’s what kind of did us in.”
Early in the season, Maryville knocked off Seymour 51-30, but the Eagles kept it a lot closer this time around. The match started off with the lightest class at 106 pounds and Chris Poore took a major decision win over Maryville’s Tyson Holt to give Seymour an early 4-0 lead.
Senior Chris Hinshaw, fighting for the last time in a dual meet tournament for Seymour, won his match over William Crowder with a second round pin. Another senior, William Stooksbury, picked up a technical fall win for Seymour that gave the Eagles the 18-10 lead before No. 11 Maryville made a comeback.
Cate didn’t want to see his team’s season end, but thought they were much improved from last season.
“We are definitely a tougher dual team than we were last year,” Cate said. “Maryville beat us by a whole lot more last year. Overall, we are a lot better team than last year and we are proud of the guys for improving and working like they have.”
Besides Hinshaw and Stooksbury, Seymour also had Timothy Maher and Jacob Loveday in the senior class. Maher won his match with a 12-7 decision in the 195-pound class against Maryville.
The four seniors won’t be going to the state tournament in the dual format, but all still have a chance to go as individuals.
“All my seniors have a shot at taking it to state, all four of them,” Cate said. “I hope they can punch through.”
