Within the first 15 seconds of the first match, Seymour wrestler Alejandro Sanchinas inadvertently bloodied the nose of his Columbus North opponent.
Although the match would resume a short time later, unfortunately for the Bull Dogs, it was a sign of things to come.
The Owls turned in a dominating performance on the mat, defeating the Bull Dogs 42-28.
Seymour won the first two matches of the night, with Sanchinas winning by pin in a mere 34 seconds at 182 pounds. That was followed by a victory for the Owls’ Kevin Corralles over North’s Tay Wells by a 9-6 decision at 195.
The Bull Dogs’ Bradley Guttierez stopped the bleeding momentarily with a quick pin of Seymour’s Landon Coffee at 220, but the Owls would win the next three matches to take a commanding 24-6 lead. Dallin Anderson followed with another victory for North at 138, but wins by Seymour’s Jake Kriete, Zach Newton and Jacob Schlatterer put the match out of reach.
The Bull Dogs’ Brigham Kleinhenz did continue his winning ways, however, making quick work of Sam Linville at 170. Kleinhenz pinned Linville in 51 seconds to round out the team scoring.
The closest match of the night was at 160 and featured Schlatterer against North’s Tom Hancock. Neither wrestler could get anything going for the first two periods, as the match remained scoreless. A reversal by Schlatterer 20 seconds into the third period gave him the only two points of the match, and he was able to ride Hancock out for the remainder of the time and score the 2-0 victory for the Owls.
Also winning for the Bull Dogs was Tyler Williams at 120.
Although North lost, coach Justin Cooper was pleased with the effort of his team. The Bull Dogs were missing a couple of regulars.
“I think we had a couple of matches that could have gone our way also, but didn’t tonight,” Cooper said.
Cooper saw some great teaching opportunities throughout the meet.
“We need to work on being more aggressive to score some points,” Cooper said. “We are going to have to take more chances in the matches, so we will be working on that.”
