BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The Boiling Springs wrestling team got a little bit of redemption from last year as they picked up two wins over ranked teams Clover and Rock Hill along with a win over Chapman in their first home match of the season on Wednesday night.
While the victories are some forms of redemption from last year, Boiling Springs head coach Lee Thomas said that any wins over quality teams like that early in the season are big for his team. "It's great to get a little redemption from last year but it's still early in the season," said Thomas. "Any win early is a big win though and the redemption portion is nice after our team took our lumps the last few years. It's nice to be back toward the standard that we expect from the wrestling program around here." Boiling Springs started their quad match on Wednesday night with a victory over the #16 ranked team in the preseason Rock Hill, the same team that ended the Bulldogs season last year in the first round of the 5A playoffs. Boiling Springs got an impressive 47-26 victory over the Bearcats, for the Bulldogs third only win against the Bearcats under Coach Thomas. The Bulldogs got pins in the match from Peyton Hornack, Ayden Whisler, Jason Blackwell, Jacob Hill, Harrison Bradford, Eddie Aleksik, JoJo Barrett, and Jacob Dawkins. "It's only the third time we've beaten Rock Hill since I've been the coach and any time you can get a win against those guys it's a big deal," said Thomas. "I don't care if it's the first week of the season or the playoffs, if you've beat Rock Hill, you've pulled off a pretty impressive accomplishment." In their next match, Boiling Springs defeated Clover, the #7 ranked team in the preseason, 42-39 to defeat a team that won the Region III-5A championship over the Bulldogs last year. The match was an exciting one for the Bulldogs as they trailed 39-30 with two matches left. In the first of the final two matches the Bulldogs saw Jacob Hill come away with a pin to cut the Bearcats lead to 39-36. In the final match against the Bearcats and the match on the line, Jason Blackwell worked his way to almost winning a major victory to clinch the match but instead came away with a pin to seal the victory for the Bulldogs. Coach Thomas said he was proud to see two guys like Hill and Blackwell who have worked hard since their freshman years with the Bulldogs to come away with key victories. "Both of those guys have been starting since they were freshman as Jason is now a senior and Jacob is a junior and just like our team, they have taken their lumps over the last few years," said Thomas. "We've stuck with them and allowed them to grow into the wrestlers they have become now. I felt Jacob had a chance to get a pin but with Jason we hoped for a major victory, but he just went ahead and got the pin. As a coach it's just great to sit back and see the development of those guys over the years." The Bulldogs in their final match of the night came away with an 84-0 victory over local rival Chapman. In the match against the Panthers, the Bulldogs got a pin in every match along with a forfeit victory by Cloe Osteen in the final match of the night. After the victory the team now sits at 3-0 including a win in a preseason tournament last week and Thomas says the early wins are great for his team's momentum. "Wrestling like any other sport is eighty percent mental and while it sounds cliche, it really is the truth," said Thomas. "When you can show the kids the results of working hard in practice over the first three weeks of the season, it makes the other practices easier because they know if they do what we ask of them, that they'll be successful." Boiling Springs will next take the mat this weekend (Friday and Saturday) in the Southern Slam at Eastside High School. Comments are closed.
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