In Seymour’s second match of the season after the Edgewood Invite last week, the Owls had a tough task ahead of them hosting the pre-season No. 1-ranked Columbus East Olympians in 3A.

The Olympians showed why it was deserving of that ranking by defeating the Owls 76-6.

Despite not securing any victories on the night (their six points came via forfeit), first-year Seymour head coach Dan Rasey was pleased that his team showed some fight.

“I like our aggressiveness,” Rasey said. “We went out there, and we did attack. We just need more time in the room to get that experience going.”

Of the 24 wrestlers on Seymour’s roster, 13 of them have never been in a wrestling room prior to this season.

“We’re just a very young team group,” Rasey said. “It’s going to take time. It’s good to see they’re attacking and trying things. Against a team like that, you’re going to take some licks.”

Seymour’s Rolando Baltazar-Felipe had a close match going into the third round with East’s Bo Wagner tied 0-0. But in the final two minutes, Wagner was able to do enough work to come away with the 13-2 victory.

Baltazar-Felipe had been battling an ankle/foot injury leading into this match, so he wasn’t able to do as much cardio. He is also planning to move down to the 120-pound weight class for the Owls (currently in 126), so he has been fighting a tad above his weight class in the first couple matches.

“The kid has a tremendous amount of fight in him. He’s gonna go out and fight tooth and nail,” Rasey said. “When you’re giving up a bit of bulk and the lungs are flaring, you get kind of sloppy with the technique, elbows flaring and it got him.”

Other results from Thursday’s contest included Ricky Bogard getting pinned by Liam Kruger in the second round, Nathan Anderson pinned Chase Rogers in the first round, Kenton Wilson pinned Dunnigan Huddleston in the second round, Tony Ruiz-Tapia defeated Sam Castetter by decision, Jordan Sutton pinned Brandon Mora in the third round, Tristan Statler pinned Hunter Wick in the first round, and Ashton Hartwell pinned Carlos Ortiz in the second round.

With this being Rasey’s first year, he hasn’t seen East wrestle before, but he thought his team lost the match mentally before competing physically.

“They knew the name. To convince them they belong on the mat with Columbus East is where we need to get them,” Rasey said. “As soon as they believe they belong in that circle, we’re gonna take off.”

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Owls as they will be competing in the Scottsburg Tournament later today, starting at 5 p.m., and then again on Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

Rasey wants to see his team start to control the pace of the match as the season progresses.

“Controlling ties, using our hand control, us being the ones dictating the pace,” he said of some keys moving forward. “We just gotta get to the point where we’re wrestling our speed and doing our stuff, and then you’ll start seeing those close matches go the way of the purple team.”