Hounds win first two home duals

With an epic comeback to end the night against Hamilton, the Spoofhound wrestling team was able to sweep its first home triangular Tuesday.

Facing a 24-point deficit, Maryville recorded pins in each of its final four matches to pull even with Hamilton and was awarded a 43-42 win on the ninth tiebreaker—near fall points.

The Hounds won that statistic 11-9, meaning one near fall made the difference.

With an earlier 54-24 win over Gallatin, Maryville evened its dual record at 2-2 following a pair of dual losses to Stanberry and Albany Thursday.

"We didn't wrestle well at all last week, so tonight we had our lineup a little more set," said Maryville head wrestling coach Joe Drake. "Our attitude was a little bit better and we had a couple wins in there that we probably hadn't really counted on, and all of the sudden things went our way. We knew when we got down to those last two matches if we pin, we tie it up. Then once we tied it up, we just got to go to the book and see what happens. We were pleased with the way the last few kids wrestled for us."

Considered an underdog, Ryan James started Maryville's streak of pins at 113 pounds, putting opponent Cameron Butterworth down for the count with 45.9 seconds left in the opening period.

This drew a huge ovation from the home crowd aware of the match's importance.

Another surprise came in the next match when Maryville's Dustyn Wilmes upset Josh Shempp with a pin occurring nearly a second earlier in the first period.

"I'm sure they were counting on winning those two," said Drake.

This put Maryville in a good spot with Nate Alexander (126 pounds) and Ben Wilmes (132 pounds) both favored to win their matches.

Needing pins to keep the Hounds hopes alive, both delivered.

Alexander recorded a second period fall on Reynaldo Garcia and Wilmes planted CJ Leeman in the first period.

"With those first two, there wasn't any pressure on them at all except to win their matches," said Drake. "With Alexander, I'm sure you heard me say 'you got to pin this kid.' Then it all came down to Ben. No one told Ben what he had to do. We just told him to go. Of course, he got almost too aggressive and got himself in trouble. But he got himself back out of it and went ahead and got the pin for us. There's pressure, but they all understand what's at stake, so I think they handled it pretty well."

Never ahead in the dual until the tiebreaker kicked in, Maryville won despite handing Hamilton 24 free points on open weight classes.

Of the 10 matches contested, Maryville won seven of them, all by fall.

Maryville's other three victorious wrestlers were Dane Hull (145 pounds), Derek Stiens (152 pounds) and Brendan Weybrew (285 pounds).

Hull's match was the only one that lasted into the third period. He recorded the pin of Kyle Elliott with 29.4 seconds left. Stiens ended his match against Clay Dunlap with 8.6 seconds left in the second.

Weybrew needed just under two minutes to vanquish Max Ernat.

Jacob Partridge (106 pounds), Trevor Zimmerman (160 pounds) and Cody Jackson (182 pounds) all lost by fall. Zimmerman lasted the longest, fighting off two pin attempts before going down deep in the second period.

Maryville's dual with Gallatin lasted less than 15 minutes due to a combined eight open weight classes and five first period pins by the Hounds

Maryville picked up its remaining 24 points from forfeits.

Dane Hull (145 pounds), Stiens (152 pounds), Zimmerman (160 pounds), Weybrew (285 pounds) and Partridge (106 pounds) all pinned their opponents in the first period. Four of the five required less than a minute to end the match.

Gallatin's only win in a match that was contested came from Jonah Flanders over Wilmes at 120 pounds by fall in the second period.

The Hounds (2-2) are off until Jan. 3 when they wrestle Savannah, Cameron and Lafayette in a quad at Savannah.

"We had a couple upsets tonight," said Drake. "If those kids keep working hard and keep improving, who knows? As long as we keep improving, we're going to be okay."