Palmer Smith (left) pinned his opponent Crawford Thomton from Charlotte Catholic 45 seconds into the third round. Smith is pictured here wrestling at a quad meet back on Nov. 15.
Palmer Smith (left) pinned his opponent Crawford Thomton from Charlotte Catholic 45 seconds into the third round. Smith is pictured here wrestling at a quad meet back on Nov. 15.
GREENSBORO — Watauga High School’s wrestling team had their first round and second round playoff meets on Saturday, Jan. 28, where they defeated Charlotte Catholic 48-29 in the opening round before falling to Northwest Guilford 51-27 in the second round.
The Pioneers entered the playoffs as a No. 8 seed, and were first matched up with Charlotte Catholic (No. 9 seed) in the NCHSAA 4A dual team bracket.
Watauga won the lower weight classes early with two forfeit wins by Liam Perry (106 weight class) and Creed Casner (120 WC), along with a fall completed by Ryder Sullivan in the first period. Sullivan pinned his opponent quickly after managing a takedown early.
Pioneer Isaac Hensley (113 WC) had a drawn out 12-5 decision win over Charlotte Catholic’s Zachary Sweeney. Hensley performed two takedowns and a nearfall in the opening period as Sweeney escaped once. Sweeney used the referee’s position to his advantage to get a 3-point nearfall on Hensley, but completed a reversal and then a takedown. Sweeney tried a similar tactic in the third, but Hensley made another reversal.
Watauga’s Mikey Portante had a pivotal match in the 195 weight class, with the Pioneers only up 33-29 at this point.
Portante completed a takedown on Ian Grier early, but Grier successfully stalled. In the second round Grier used the referee’s position to get a a 3-point nearfall on Portante, but the Pioneer made the escape. Portante was awarded a penalty point and then managed a takedown, but Grier had a reversal. Portante performed two nearfalls on Grier in the third period to take home the critical 10-6 decision.
The rest of Watauga’s wins were either by forfeit or pins as the Pioneers advanced out of the first round with a 48-29 win over the Charlotte Catholic Cougars.
In the second round of the playoff bracket later in the day, Watauga faced the Northwest Guilford Vikings, who were the No. 1 seed on this side of the bracket.
Despite the efforts of the Pioneers, Watauga was downed 51-27 by the Vikings.
Although the dual team portion of the season is now over for the Pioneers, there are still individual playoffs coming up, which multiple Watauga wrestlers qualified for.
The 4A Individual Regional Tournament will take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11, at a location and time that are TBD.
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