BOILING SPRINGS - After a year away from the playoffs the Boiling Springs wrestling team will return to the familiar territory of the 5A playoffs after finishing third in Region III-5A on Tuesday after going two and two with victories over Nation Ford and Gaffney.
”With last year being a Covid year and them only taking two teams per region it was the first time in my 15 years we hadn’t made the playoffs and it feels good to be back in the playoffs,” said Bulldogs head coach Lee Thomas. “I’m glad that the kids get to reap the benefits of their hard work.” Boiling Springs fell to Fort Mill in their first match of the night 53-19 before coming back to defeat Nation Ford 49-23 to even their record on Tuesday night at 49-23. After falling behind 11-4 to start the match against Nation Ford, the Bulldogs rebounded by going on a 27-13 run to take a 31-17 lead with pins coming from Bill Pryor at 182, Ayden Whisler at 113, and Jason Blackwell at heavyweight. Trent Coppola pushed the lead to 37-17 with a pin at 126 while Harrison Brafford made the lead 43-23 with a pin at 138. Peyton Coulter grabbed a forfeit victory at 145 to help secure the 49-23 victory for the Bulldogs over the Falcons. In their third match of the night Boiling Springs fell to Clover 60-15 before rebounding for their match of the night defeating Gaffney 48-32 to secure the third place spot in the region and their spot in the 5A playoffs. The Bulldogs started the match with a pinfall victory by Cam Mills at 170 to take an early 6-0 lead. Gaffney responded with two straight pins to take a 12-6 lead before Tyrell Nesbitt tied it at 12-12 with a pinfall at 220. Gaffney scored the next nine points for a 21-12 lead before Ayden Whisler (113), Rylee Douglas (120), and Trent Coppola (126) all picked up three straight pinfall victories to take a 30-21 lead over the Indians. Harrison Brafford (138), Peyton Coulter (145), and Ethan Coppola (152) picked up three more straight pinfall to help secure the victories as the Bulldogs took 48-26 lead over the Indians. ”It seems like this is where our group is at right now as Clover and Fort Mill are solid teams and when we go against solid teams our inexperience seems to stand out,” said Thomas. “My hats off to Gaffney and Nation Ford though as they both have solid teams but are young which is similar to us and it seems our guys compete better when they see it’s an even playing field.” With the third place finish in the region, the latest projection had Boiling Springs facing Rock Hill in the first round of the playoffs at Byrnes High School on Saturday. The opportunity to face Rock Hill in the first round of the playoffs is a little ironic for Coach Thomas as the last time they faced each other in the playoffs, it was for a spot in the state championship. ”It’s super ironic that we have Rock Hill in the first round of the playoffs because the last time we saw them in the playoffs we were competing in the Upper State finals back in 2015 where they beat us by three and went on to win the state championship,” said Thomas. “It’ll be the first time we’ve had them in the playoffs since then and I think we’re both in similar situations with young groups trying to build our programs back to where we once were, so it’ll be fun to face them in the first round and hopefully advance.” Comments are closed.
|
Our Sponsors
If you would like to join us as a sponsor please contact us at: [email protected]
Archives
October 2023
Categories |