There were few before the holidays who thought Baylor School would emerge as a team to be in the wrestling postseason, especially after a drubbing at the hands of Bradley Central.
Yet here Baylor stands, slightly more than a month past Christmas, with wins over perennial midstate powers Father Ryan and Montgomery Bell Academy and now a coveted victory over the guys on Missionary Ridge.
"Our mantra all year has been to get better by the postseason," Red Raiders coach Ben Nelson said after Saturday's 38-33 home win over McCallie. "The guys have kept fighting all season, and it looks like we're getting better toward the end of the season."
Baylor rallied from a 15-12 deficit five matches into the meet in packed Duke Arena.
"Both teams fought really hard. Baylor scrapped. It was just another hard-fought match," McCallie coach Mike Newman assessed.
"They don't disappoint very often," Nelson said with a nod toward the McCallie bench. "It's a fun meet - with a great atmosphere as usual."
The win secured the Red Raiders the top East/Middle Region seed for the Division II state duals Friday and Saturday in Franklin. McCallie will be the No. 2 seed and MBA will be the No. 3 seed.
The No. 1 seed out of Division II's West region will be either Father Ryan or Christian Brothers.
Baylor didn't lock up the victory until the next-to-last match when eighth-grader Porter Kaufman, who recently completed a highly successful middle school season, registered a major decision for an insurmountable 38-27 advantage.
"This was a pretty big stage for him, especially when you consider that he didn't start wrestling until the sixth grade, but the kid has great mental toughness," Nelson said.
It was the 11th varsity match for Kaufman, son of Baylor football assistant coach Julian Kaufman, since joining the high school varsity less than three weeks ago.
The win actually boiled down to bonus points with Baylor getting extras in seven of the 14 weights. Those also included a forfeit for Tyree Tolliver (220), pins from Hayden Hartline (126), Austin Atchley (138) and Mason Reiniche (160) and technical falls from Riley Westlake (170) and Khamari Whimper (195).
McCallie had four pins - from eighth-grade 106-pounder Alexander Whitworth, Zach Ward (120), Brock Herring (132) and Ethan Dendy (152). The Blue Tornado wrestled without 182-pound Judah Duhm, who is recovering from an injury but should be back for the postseason.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.