The Seymour wrestling team celebrated senior night Thursday in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium by defeating Scottsburg 69-12.
Prior to the meet, seniors Colin Sons, Alejandro Sachinas and Gabe Ramirez, along with their parents, were introduced. Sachinas and Ramirez received forfeits. Sons has been sidelined with a back injury.
Owls Coach Todd Weaver said the seniors have meant a lot to the program.
“The seniors we’ve got going on right now are probably some of the best leaders we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Weaver said. “They do a really good job of being good role models, showing kids not just about being here on time but working hard and all of those things you want all of your wrestlers to be. That’s what our seniors do. They are really important to our program.”
The Owls (14-11) regained possession of the “Big Shoe,” a traveling trophy between the two schools.
“We’ve won it every year I’ve been here except last year, which was kind of a silly reason why we didn’t have it,” Weaver said. “It goes with the dual meet, and we chose to send our junior varsity there last year, and they beat us by six. We talked about getting the shoe back and make sure it stays here at Seymour.”
Scottsburg only had six varsity wrestlers, and the Owls won four of the six, including pins from Jacob Kriete at 145, Jake Rotert at 160 and Sam Linville at 170. Wade Banister won a 3-2 decision at 132.
The meet did not start well for the Owls, as Ed Ramirez was pinned in 37 seconds by Jayden in their 106-pound match.
Banister got an escape and a takedown in the second period and held on for his win over Braxton Vincent.
Kriete dominated Avery Lyttle from the start, as he had four takedowns, a reversal and a near fall in taking a 13-2 lead before getting the pin.
Rotert controlled Tyler Barley from the start by building a 16-3 lead before gaining a pin in 3:32. Rotert had five takedowns and two near falls.
Linville trailed Jon Vincent 4-3 at the end of the first period before getting an escape early in the second period, and he followed up with two takedowns and a near fall.
“We were really aggressive,” Weaver said. “I thought Nate Banister should have pulled the trigger a little bit sooner, but eventually, he got to where he needed to be. He started to get his points back and did a great job at trying to ride the kid out for a period because that’s tough to do. Their kid was scrappy, and he was going all the time. It’s hard to stay behind someone when you can’t lock your hands. It’s hard to ride a guy out. He did that for most of the second period and all of the last period.”
The middle school teams between the two schools wrestled with Seymour winning 75-33.
SMS coach Chadd Rogers said 25 matches were held.
Weaver said he was pleased to see the fan support.
“It’s great. I think the middle school has a good turnout anyway,” he said. “We had a better than normal turnout for us. With senior night and middle school, I think a lot more people come out when there is a lot more to do.”
The Owls will compete Saturday in the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament at Jeffersonville, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
No. 1 seeds for the Owls are Rotert (22-5) and Sachinas (16-3). Sam Castetter (15-5) is a No. 2 seed at 113.
Weaver said several of the Owls will face opponents in the first round they haven’t seen all season.
“Whoever we end up taking is going to wrestle really hard, which we’ve been doing these last two or three weeks, which we’ve really been proud of,” he said. “Now, our guys are wrestling hard and having close matches and finding ways to win those close matches.
“We need to finish strong and stay healthy or get healthy, whichever your situation is. Be ready physically and mentally and be ready to go no matter how you season had gone. It’s a fresh start.”