Blue Raiders Trailed 21-11 Before Beating Father Ryan In 33-24 Thriller
Friday, December 10, 2021 – by John Hunt
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – It has become a tradition for Father Ryan and Cleveland to wrestle on the Friday night before the Al Miller Cleveland Duals as these two great teams don’t wrestle any other time.
It’s normally a great match between two well-coached teams and that was certainly the case on Friday at the Jones Wrestling Center.
Cleveland is ranked first in the initial state mat poll while the Purple Irish are sixth, but the Blue Raiders didn’t look like it as they had to come from behind to record the 33-24 victory.
Both teams won seven matches, but the difference was bonus points.
Six of Ryan’s seven wins were by regular decision with the other being a pin. Cleveland won two regular decisions, but got bonus points with one major decision, one technical fall and three pins.
Cleveland remains unbeaten at 9-0 while Friday’s loss was the first for the guys from Nashville after five straight wins to start the season.
Cleveland coach Joey Knox is normally the most relaxed and laid-back coach you know, but that wasn’t the case on Friday as he did more yelling than ever before as he tried to motivate his kids to put forth more effort.
If you really want to get down to it, the Blue Raiders were lucky to win as they were clearly out-wrestled from the first match to the last. Knox gave his team a “five” for their effort, but he knows as well as anyone that this one could easily have gone either way.
“Father Ryan definitely pushed us as they came ready to wrestle,” Knox said after a lengthy talk with his team at the end.
“We somehow found a way to win. We still have a lot of room to improve. There were a lot of questionable calls, but most just happened to go our way.
“Father Ryan is a really good team and they pushed us to a point where we were uncomfortable, but I’m just thankful we found a way,” Knox added.
Bentley Ellison got Cleveland off and running with a technical fall at 120 while Blake Randall added a first-period pin three matches later.
The Purple Irish countered with six wins in seven matches following the opener and had a 21-11 lead following a pin by Joey Terry at 170, but that’s when the Blue Raiders got serious and started acting like they wanted to win.
Jax Ernest got a 5-4 decision at 182 to make it 21-14 before Tetoe Boyd got the Blue Raiders within a point following a first-period pin at 195. Jared Canalas somehow pulled out a 3-1 overtime decision at 220 before Ashton Davis sealed the win with a pin in 40 seconds at 285.
Zach Bosken put a little icing on the cake with a major decision at 106 before Ryan’s Joseph Calvin won the final match at 113 with an overtime decision.
Ryan coach Pat Simpson felt like the match was much closer than the final score might indicate.
“We lost two close matches by decisions that would have changed the outcome had we won both of them, but we just came here tonight hoping to compete and win a few matches,” Simpson said with a smile on his face.
“We have to be able to compete with teams like Cleveland if we ever want to beat Baylor, but those guys make you fight to the end. I thought we looked good on our feet and I’m really pleased with our overall effort, but we had no room for error tonight as this was a real test for us,” he added.
Perhaps the best match of the evening took place at 145 pounds where Ryan’s Chancey Dean came from behind to record a stirring 8-7 victory over Cleveland’s Hagen Cooper.
Dean trailed 2-1 after the first period and was still behind 6-4 with two minutes to go. Starting in the down position, Dean evened the score at 6-6 with a reversal before Cooper took a 7-6 lead with an escape. Then with the match on the line, Dean scored the all-important takedown with 29 seconds left and was able to hang on for the win.
Another great individual battle took place at 132 where Ryan’s Calvin Eason rallied from a 7-5 deficit to beat Arlo Laxton, 9-7.
Both of these teams will be battling on Saturday and could possibly meet again in the finals as they’re in different pools.
Woodland, Bradley, Summit and Cleveland JV join the Purple Irish in one pool while Rossview, Arlington, Gilmer County and Blackman join the Blue Raiders in the other pool.
Pool matches begin at 8:30 with the championship match expected to begin around 3:30 or so.
CLEVELAND 33, FATHER RYAN 24
(Match began at 120 pounds)
106 – Zach Bosken (Clev) major dec. Ethan Lampert, 14-4;
113 – Joseph Calvin (Ryan) dec. Daniel Sims, 5-3 in overtime;
120 – Bentley Ellison (Clev) won by technical fall over Brody Gobbell, 3:59;
126 – Cason Roark (Ryan) dec. Logan Fowler, 7-4;
132 – Calvin Eason (Ryan) dec. Arlo Laxton, 9-7;
138 – Blake Randall (Clev) pinned Patrick McGrady, 1:19;
145 – Chancey Dean (Ryan) dec. Hagen Cooper, 8-7;
152 – Matt Oberlander (Ryan) dec. Cy Fowler, 7-4;
160 – Ben Stigamier (Ryan) dec. Lucas Syzbroski, 7-2;
170 – Joey Terry (Ryan) pinned Dave Giraldo, 3:50;
182 – Jax Ernest (Clev) dec. Benjamin Marchetti, 5-4;
195 – Tetoe Boyd (Clev) pinned Tim Brunett, 1:57;
220 – Jared Canalas (Clev) dec. William McGrady, 3-1 in overtime;
285 – Ashton Davis (Clev) pinned Abraham Cromartie, :40.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
