Mitchell – It had the same setup as years past. Swain has to travel a long distance for the first two rounds of the NCHSAA Team Dual Playoffs. Then after winning the first round, wind up losing to the host team.
But this time was different. The Maroon Devils stunned the homestanding and higher seeded Mitchell Mountaineers with a thrilling 43-34 win.
Before the Maroon Devils could even face Mitchell, they had to defeat conference foe Rosman. Shaking off the disappointment of their conference loss to Robbinsville on Thursday of last week, the Devils took care of the Tigers 53-22 in the first round, advancing to face the Mountaineers.
The match with Mitchell proved to be an instant classic. Mitchell jumped out to an early lead only to have the Devils take the lead heading down the stretch. Swain built a 37-24 lead with only 3 matches remaining. But the Mountaineers took the first two of those to pull within 3 at 37-34, leaving only one match left to decide the fate of both teams.
The final match of the night would be in the 170 pound weight class. All the Maroon Devils needed was a win on points by their man Cody Long. They got more than that as Long pinned his man at the 3:20 mark to give Swain the win at 43-34.
On the night the Devils got pins from Will Paul (220), Cameron Baines (132), Lucas Brown (145) and Sam Everhardt (152).
Swain got decisions from three wrestlers. Jackson Cooper scored a 18-15 decision in the 195 pound division. Mac Long took a technical fall by scoring a 16-1 win in the 120 division. Then Jonas Trejo also scored a technical fall with a 21-6 win in the 138 division.
With the win the Devils setup another showdown with conference rival Robbinsville, who advanced by beating Murphy 66-12. The 3rd round match between Swain and Robbinsville will be Thursday at Robbinsville.
Full results:
Swain County (SWCO) 43.00 Mitchell (MITC) 34.00
182: Garrett Buchanan (MITC) over Cyle Ponchot (SWCO) (MD 14-3) 195: Jackson Cooper (SWCO) over Jose Guardian (MITC) (Dec 18-15) 220: Will Paul (SWCO) over Samuel Shook (MITC) (Fall 2:47) 285: Hudson Boone (MITC) over Connor McCoy (SWCO) (Fall 1:40) 106: Dakota Tehandon (MITC) over Zachary Cline (SWCO) (Fall 1:11) 113: Dylan Lowery (MITC) over Samuel Green (SWCO) (Fall 3:23) 120: Mackinnley Long (SWCO) over Elijah Smith (MITC) (TF 16-1 4:50) 126: Coltin Marlowe (MITC) over (SWCO) (For.) 132: Cameron Baines (SWCO) over Joseph Maltba (MITC) (Fall 2:51) 138: Jonas Trejo (SWCO) over Joshua Forbes (MITC) (TF 21-6 5:54) 145: Lucas Brown (SWCO) over Zebulon McKinney (MITC) (Fall 2:37) 152: Sam Everhardt (SWCO) over Seth Elsaesser (MITC) (Fall 0:44) 160: Ryan Richardson (MITC) over Ian Brooks (SWCO) (Fall 1:49) 170: Cody Long (SWCO) over John Cox (MITC) (Fall 3:20