Steady progress
Hutch loses tiebreaker, but continues to show improvement at dual
By Vance Janak - The Hutchinson News - vjanak@hutchnews.com
Dameitrik Morris didn't have a good feeling about his match.
The Hutchinson High heavyweight needed to pin Derby's Travis Anderson to ensure the Salthawks at least a tie in a dual with the Panthers at the north gym on Thursday night.
"Usually I'm happy and jumping around and ready for everything," Morris said. "But I wasn't ready for it. I felt like I was going to lose. That's when it kicked in that I had to win to get the tie."
The match went much better than Morris expected.
A minute into the first period, Morris slammed Anderson to the mat after the two were locked together grappling for position. With his teammates shouting encouragement, Morris took control of Anderson on the mat.
Morris pinned Anderson, a Class 6A state-placer a year ago, in a minute and 23 seconds, to help the Salthawks tie the fourth-ranked Panthers, 34-34.
"I honestly didn't think it was going to happen like that," Morris said. "I figured it be a close one and I might lose by a little bit. Then it happened to be that we were all bottled up and then I got to the top end with my quickness and the power."
Despite the tie, Derby was awarded the victory on the sixth tiebreaker of first points won, where the Panthers had a 13-11 edge.
"It still goes down as a loss because of the tiebreaker," Hutchinson coach Mike Garcia said. "It would have been nice to have called that a team win but it wasn't. We wrestled well, though.
Considering Hutchinson's under performing and disappointing 40-32 loss at Campus a week ago to open the season, Thursday's tie was further proof of the Salthawks' quick growth against a tough Derby team.
"Derby came ready to wrestle and our kids met head-to-head with them and wrestled them tough," Garcia said. "That speaks highly about the way we're competing."
Hutchinson and Derby each won seven weight classes and each team recorded four pins.
Derby got the better start, getting a pin from 103-pound freshman Gage Wells while Hutchinson was open at 112.
The Salthawks bounced back with pins from junior Chris Sullivan and 125-pound junior Jonathan Peterson to knot it at 12-12.
Derby then broke out with three straight wins to build a 13-point lead. Then 145-pound senior JR Roman swung the momentum for the Salthawks.
Roman recorded a takedown with 25 seconds left against Brady Little. Although Little did his best to tie the match with an escape in the remaining time - including bumming his head on the gym floor outside the mat - Roman didn't let go.
Even after the match ended.
"I heard the whistle blow but I was holding on to be sure," Roman said. "He just kept fighting. He bloodied my nose."
Coaches and an official briefly separated the two before they shook hands. The incident served as motivation for the Salthawks.
"I wanted to get it started up but that's not the way I wanted to do it, " Roman said. "... I think it gave us some momentum going into the next match."
Hutchinson 152-pound junior Ja'mon Cotton and 160-pound senior Brad Wagner each recorded pins while 171-pound senior Brandon Vieyra recorded a takedown in the closing seconds of his match to earn a 3-1 decision that gave the Salthawks a 28-25 lead.
With 189-pound senior Jon Bernard out an injured hernia, freshman Dalton Luce battled Derby's Clay Gordan to 9-7 overtime loss.
The Panthers took a 34-28 lead when 215-pound junior Travis Marlett recorded a pin.
That set the stage for Morris' heroics and an unexpected finish for the Panthers.
"I think TA got a little bit overanxious," Derby coach Bill Ross said. "He tried to do some things that weren't quite there. We always do count on TA.
"He's one of our leaders. ... The Hutch wrestler had an opportunity and he took advantage of it and helped tie up the dual. I take my hat off to Hutch, they're a very well-coached team."
