Greg Musser, assistant wrestling coach at Seymour High School, said one of the things the coaching staff has emphasized to the team during practice is to be aggressive when they take the mat for their matches.
Musser said he liked what he saw Thursday night as all five Owls that wrestled came up with the initial takedown as Seymour blanked Madison 84-0.
Because of sickness and injuries, Madison only brought five wrestlers. On the mats, the Owls won 28-0, as Madison forfeited nine matches.
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“It’s been a talking point for our team all season as far as not being reactionary out there,” Musser said. “Let’s be the person that dictates the pace of the match and make them react to us. We’ve struggled doing that a little bit this year but I thought tonight we definitely went out, all we can do is wrestle the people in front of us, and I thought all five of the matches we had today we controlled the tempo, we went after it and we got the victories to prove it.”
Sam Castetter took an early lead against Kelcey Bilz in their 113-pound match and gained a pin in 3:30.
Castetter recorded a takedown in the first period, then came up with a reversal in the second period and controlled Bilz before gaining the fall.
After the Owls won the next four matches by forfeit, Ethan Hawkins scored an 11-1 decision over Trent Stockdale.
Hawkins had two takedowns and three near falls to dominate his 145-pound opponent.
Jake Kriete, at 152, wrestled aggressive from the start in pinning Hunter Robbins in 3:29. Kriete had two takedowns and two near falls in the first period, and reversed Robbins early in the second period before gaining the fall.
Jacob Rotert, at 170, took down Caleb Horn down four times in the first period and let him up three times before getting a pin in 1:21.
Rotert has the best record on the team at 10-1.
The Owls won the next three matches before Gab Ramirez pinned J.J. Stone in 3:57 of their 285-pound match. Ramirez had a takedown and near fall in the first period.
None of the Owls gave up a takedown, reversal or near fall.
“It’s a whole different match when you’re constantly going from one move to another,” Musser said. “We call it ‘chain wrestling’ up in the room all the time. We’re trying to get the kids to understand when one move doesn’t work got to the second, go to the third, go to the fourth. Be relentless, don’t let them have time to react and try to counter things. I thought it hit home a little bit today with the kids, and they gave Madison very little time to react to some things, and we put points on the board because of it.”
Seymour is 11-9 in dual meets. The Owls will host a junior varsity tournament Saturday, beginning at 9:30 a.m.