Never mind the potential and former state medalists on both sides of the mat who were unable to wrestle. A full house at McCallie witnessed a typical Baylor-McCallie wrestling meet Monday.
With a final two-point victory margin, this one was filled with surprise substitutions, an unexpected forfeit, an unbelievable upset, a gritty performance to avoid a pin and a couple of injury defaults.
By the time coaches on both sides had chewed their nails down to the cuticles, Baylor held on to win 38-36.
The victory was the fourth straight for the Red Raiders, who last lost to McCallie in the 2006 state duals, and gave them a 42-40 series lead. The win also threw the Raiders into the bottom half of the bracket with Christian Brothers for this weekend’s state duals in Franklin.
Baylor will open with Briarcrest Christian at 6:30 p.m. EST Friday, and that winner will face the Christian Brothers-Montgomery Bell Academy winner at 8:30. McCallie will open with St. Benedict at 6:30 and then should meet the Father Ryan-Brentwood Academy winner at 8:30.
Baylor actually clinched the victory at 152 pounds despite a 16-4 major decision from McCallie’s T.J. Duncan. The meet started at 189 pounds and, facing a 38-20 deficit, McCallie needed to pin at 152, 160 and 171 to clinch a tie. So though he lost, Baylor’s Spencer Craig actually punctured McCallie’s sagging victory balloon.
“Spencer’s been around a while. He’s a veteran,” Baylor assistant Schaack Van Deusen said. “He knew what was at stake. We had to avoid three pins.”
Duncan’s hands were tied. He had the major decision and likely could have had a technical fall, which would have been worth five team points. But those five points weren’t going to be enough. He had to try for the pin while trying not to get the technical fall, and Craig was savvy enough to realize what was going on.
His ability to wriggle away saved the day because McCallie got pins from Chase Martino at 160 and a win by injury default from Nate Condrey at 171.
Mac Ferguson staked Baylor to an early lead with a second-period pin, but McCallie freshman T.J. Satterfield turned in the night’s biggest upset by pinning 215-pound David Helton, a 2009 state runner-up, in 3:39 — after Helton forged an 11-2 lead in the first period.
“He’s down big and keeps fighting,” McCallie coach Mike Newman said. “He never gave up. He fought to get it from a major decision to a regular decision, and then he gets the pin. That’s the kind of effort we are going to need this weekend.”
Satterfield managed to slip out of a cradle that Helton had used to score the bulk of his points and then got Helton on his back. The Baylor junior fought off the pin for more than 60 seconds.
“There’s a reason that (move) is called a suicide cradle,” Van Deusen said.
John Mackey took Baylor to a 12-6 lead with an injury default over Austin Hicks, and Nick Standefer (103) extended the advantage to 15-6 before John Eady was awarded a forfeit at 112.
“We didn’t have anybody else really. Our guy was a couple of tenths (of a pound) over,” Newman said. “Hopefully it will be a learning lesson for him.”
The next match should have been a highly anticipated bout between McCallie’s Tim Westbrooks and Baylor’s Zach Watson. However, Watson reinjured his ankle during warmups and was relegated to the end of the Red Raiders’ bench with the ankle propped up and iced. The area’s leader in technical falls, the tilting Westbrooks went just eight seconds into the second period before getting a technical fall over Patrick Bryant.
Another surprise followed at 125 when Baylor eighth-grader Josh Deckelman, wrestling his first varsity match, posted a technical fall over Andrew Hamilton. Alex Manley, wrestling at 130, pinned Taylor Silberman in 2:14, but McCallie’s Michael Hooker responded with a pin of Bennett Reese.
Stuart Doster got the Red Raiders’ final points by pinning Coy Cobb in 5:28.
Houston Clements’ 3-2 decision of Matthew Cate closed the Baylor advantage to 38-20 before Duncan’s victory came up short.