Schaack Van Deusen was nervous, but anyone who knows the veteran Baylor assistant wrestling coach takes it as a fact of life. Ben Nelson was expectedly nervous in his first appearance against McCallie as the Red Raiders’ varsity head coach.
The Baylor wrestlers, though, were only mildly concerned after they fell behind by 17 points to their crosstown rivals. They roared back, getting a technical fall from veteran Alex Manley to take the lead and a pin from fellow senior Stuart Doster to lock up a 37-20 win.
“I got a little nervous when we got down so far, but I have a lot of faith in this lineup,” said Doster, who earned his fourth win in the series.
“I never got nervous. I was 100 percent confident,” Manley said. “We have a great stretch of guys in the lineup.”
The problem for the Red Raiders was that their great stretch didn’t get near the mat until after McCallie had dug a fair-sized hole. The meet started at 152 pounds in the teeth of the Blue Tornado strength.
The teams were tied after two matches, but McCallie went on a four-win roll to take a 20-3 lead. The streak included heavyweight Tye Youngblood’s unexpected pin of defending state champion John Mackey. Youngblood caught him high, took him to his back and refused to let him get away. The pin came with 43 seconds left in the first period.
BAYLOR 37, McCALLIE 20(Meet started at 152 pounds)103–Cole Holloway (B) dec. Adam Connell, 3-0; 112–John Eady (B) dec. Morgan Boyd, 5-1; 119–Daniel Brunner (B) major dec. Matthes Boyd (M), 9-0; 125–Zach Watson (B) dec. Alex Ward, 4-1; 130–Bennett Reese (B) major dec. Tim Westbrooks, 10-0; 135–Alex Manley (B) tech. fall over Alex Kent, 3:45; 140–Stuart Doster (B) pinned Dalton Ayers, 0:58; 145–Bryson Popp (B) pinned Cory Cobb, 4:36; 152–Michael Hooker (M) dec. Matthew Cate, 5-2; 160–Spencer Craig (B) dec. Daniel McClure, 3-0; 171–T.J. Duncan (M) major dec. Nic Bullard, 16-4; 189–Chase Martino (M) major dec. Matthew Bodine, 11-1; 215–Casey Cook (M) dec. Bryan Starnes, 3-1; 285–Tye Youngblood (M) pinned John Mackey, 1:17.Records: Baylor 24-4; McCallie 13-5.
Yet even as they were losing matches, the Red Raiders managed to keep McCallie in check, giving up major decisions rather than pins to T.J. Duncan, who bumped up from 160 to 171, and Chase Martino, who went up from 171 to 189. The Tornado’s other win in the string came from 215-pound Casey Cook.
“You have to give [Baylor] credit,” McCallie coach Gordon Connell said. “Their guys that needed to stay off their backs did it. They did the right things — no pins to our big guns and then taking care of business in their other matches.”
There were two key setbacks where Connell and co-head coach Mike Newman had hoped for wins. Baylor eighth-grader Cole Holloway beat Adam Connell at 103, and though the meet was by then decided, the Red Raiders’ Bryson Popp pinned Cory Cobb at 145.
“I knew we had to win at 103 if we were going to have a chance, and I fully expected to win at 145,” Coach Connell said. “I know one thing. We have to get a lot better from the bottom.”
The Red Raiders put on an eight-match win streak to rally for the victory. It started with Holloway and went through John Eady, Daniel Brunner, Zach Watson, Bennett Reese, Manley, Doster and Popp.
Brunner, Reese, Manley, Doster and Popp came up with bonus points, Brunner and Reese on major decisions.
The two teams may not be through with each other. They could meet again in the Division II state duals tournament next Friday and Saturday at the Williamson County Agricultural Expo in Franklin.