Clarksville, TN – The gym at West Creek High School was filled with takedowns, switches, escapes and pins as the Coyote wrestling team defended their mats against three other schools in a wrestling tournament Thursday evening.
The Rossview Hawks, Warren County Pioneers and Stewarts Creek Red Hawks all brought their wrestling squads to West Creek ready to test the Coyotes. The last two teams standing at the end of the night were the local favorites Rossview and West Creek.
“It’s a good feeling. Those guys brought a different level of intensity today. We enjoyed it,“ Coyote’s head coach Zachorie Suggs said. “We had some hard fought matches. We lost some close ones. We will see them again after Christmas. It should be a lot closer and we will be ready for them then.”
Both the Coyotes and the Hawks earned wins over the Pioneers and Red Hawks in the first two rounds of the tournament.
In the finals, when they faced each other, the Coyotes took an early 12-0 lead after they won with pins in both the 113 and 120 weight class.
However, the Hawks won the next five matches to take a 27-12 lead.
“They are really strong in the middle weights. They are really strong from 32 all the way to 52,“ Suggs said. “We have got some guys out, some key injuries right now that would have went the other way had we seen them. But we fought hard.”
Injuries forced the Hawks to forfeit several matches and relinquish the lead. The Coyotes heavyweights earned wins to secure the win.
“As always, I am real proud of the guys that wrestled tonight. They wrestled hard. They battled,” Hawks head coach Dan Cozine said. “Unfortunately, I had to forfeit a couple of weight classes against West Creek due to injuries. Battling hard creates some injuries. You never finish a season healthy. Its not an excuse for defeat necessarily. Its just hard to give up points when we can’t put somebody on the mat.”
Suggs credits his teams intensity and effort for the final win over the Hawks.
“The guys really stepped up, brought their A-game today and were ready to wrestle,“ Suggs said. “The intensity was where it needed to be. The aggression was where it needed to be. They were pumped for this match. They were really excited about it.”
West Creek 45
Warren County 30
Rossview 43
Stewarts Creek 24
West Creek 51
Stewarts Creek 30
Rossview 51
Warren County 24
West Creek 45
Rossview 33
