Defending Class A/AA state wrestling champion Hixson punched its return ticket for the state duals Tuesday night with a 36-21 victory over classification newcomer Red Bank.
The Wildcats, though, will have very little time to celebrate, as coach Garrick Hall had a strenuous practice planned before he got through the Red Bank exit. And he had time to plan more Wednesday misery on his drive home.
“I am very disappointed. I mean real disappointed,” Hall said. “I’m disappointed with my kids, but don’t mistake that for me taking anything away from Red Bank’s performance. Red Bank was prepared and ready to wrestle, and it showed.”
The Lions, who dropped from Class AAA with the new classification settings for the 2009-10 school year, gave the Wildcats a test. They held a 12-12 tie six matches in. However, veterans Logan Vandergriff (119) and Curtis Fletcher (125) gave Hixson a 21-12 lead with a major decision and a technical fall.
Even there, though, Hall wasn’t satisfied. He had counted on at least 11 points instead of nine.
He felt he was going to need it, especially after Zac Sharp (130) pulled the Lions back within three with a third-period pin.
The Wildcats then put together decisions from Drew Schefano, Gary Cosey and Curtis Flanagan to go up 30-18. It left the Lions knowing they had to pin at 152 and 160 to achieve a tie. They fell short when 152-pound Peyton Williams won by only a 7-3 decision. Nick Alemany then closed out the Hixson win with a second-period pin.
Hixson got out to an early nine-point lead. Justin Mathieson was awarded a forfeit at 171 pounds, the opening match, and the Wildcats’ Thomas Crowder and Alphonzo Smith took two of the next three for a 12-3 edge.
“I wanted to win two of the three upper weight matches, but I really wanted a pin at one of those,” Hall said.
That failed opportunity allowed the Lions to tie with a pin from Chris Palacio at 103 and Madison Martin’s decision.
“I think they were expecting a win at 135 and we won there, but I thought 130 would be a toss-up and they get a pin,” Hall said.
The win put the Wildcats (19-1) in the state duals for the third straight year. They finished second two years to Notre Dame and won the title last year.
“We’re going to have to wrestle a lot better than we did tonight,” Hall said. “We’re going back to basics. This is the first time we have looked like this all year, and I will chalk it up to inexperience on the part of our younger guys. They put a lot of pressure on themselves.”
Red Bank coach Ben Reichel’s disappointment was minimal.
“Right now we’re all about the (traditional) region,” he said. “We’re young but we’re getting better. We have come a long way since the start of the season, although maybe not as far as I wanted. Some of our guys have progressed well. There are things to work on, though.
“We have wrestled a lot of matches the last couple of weeks, and we haven’t had time for a lot of individual work. We’ll get that in the next couple of weeks.”