The championship of the Seymour boys tennis sectional tournament on Friday wasn’t decided until the final point of the No. 2 singles match between Seymour’s Parker Thompson and Brownstown Central’s Pierson Wheeler.

Thompson won the match 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-0 to help the Owls defend their sectional title and advance them to the Columbus North Regional, where they will face the Bull Dogs on Tuesday afternoon.

Thompson lost to Wheeler in three sets during the season. In snapping Wheeler’s 39-match win streak and handing the Braves junior his first loss of the season on Friday, Thompson said, “I think I was a lot more consistent, and I was way more aggressive. I started hitting more winners.”

Thompson said after he lost the first set, he knew he had to raise his game a notch.

“I started down in that second set, too, and I just started being a lot more aggressive,” he said. “My coaches told me to get up to the net more and look for the angles.”

Thompson said he played No. 2 doubles a year ago when the Owls won the sectional. He recalled the championship match was 3-2 last year.

“I’ve been under pressure moments before for stuff,” he said and called it a very competitive match. “There was some talking during the match.”

The Owls lost to Columbus North last week, and Thompson said he will have to play better than he did in the sectional for the Owls to win.

“I’m going to have to play a lot better in the regional than I did tonight. I’m going to have to hit a lot more winners and be more aggressive than I was,” Thompson said.

Owls coach Jacob Hunt said it took a good team effort to pull out the win.

“It’s a giant weight off my shoulders. I think the boys did a great job battling back from our first sets all around,” he said. “We got hit pretty hard, whether it was singles or doubles. The second set, we kind of came back and kept fighting through that.”

Seymour’s other points came in No. 1 singles, where Joe Schmidt beat Smith Hackman 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, and at No. 2 doubles, where Drew Handloser and Xavier DuBois topped Max Peters and Brady Davis 7-5, 6-2.

“Joe was playing excellent today,” Hunt said. “He had some really close points going into his tiebreaker. I’m really pleased with how Joe toughed it out.”

Brownstown’s points were won by Lane Steward at No. 3 singles and by Chase Brock and Evan Schneider at No. 1 doubles.

Steward beat Carter Stein 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, and Peters and Davis were 7-5, 6-2 winners over Shun Takeuchi and Joel Stevens.

Schmidt and Handloser were the only seniors on the court for the Owls on Friday.

Schmidt said, “I would say today, I was pretty consistent, hitting a lot of well-placed shots. Smith did a good job of that, too. We both played a really good game. I’m really proud of the whole team. They all worked really hard. Winning the sectional means a lot.”

Handloser said, “Xavier and I were able to adapt to their game throughout the match. We started down 0-3, and we were able to close out the set, winning four straight games. We eventually started getting our rhythm and our stride, hitting winners against those guys, hitting great serves and building each other up, talking at every point. It’s really important to be up for each other, especially in doubles. You can’t let your partner slide, and he can’t let me slide.”

Hunt said, “This time around, we’re kind of looking to pull the upset against Columbus North.”

Seymour is 17-4 and Brownstown ended up 12-7.