By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
It wasn’t a championship but it was the next best thing which served its purpose by qualifying the Eagles for regional competition.
The district tournament took place at South-Doyle High School as the Eagles lost the championship to host South-Doyle 46-36.
The event was the second half of the IMAC Duals/District Tournament.  The first half was at Seymour on January 3 when the Eagles beat Cocke County, Morristown East and Jefferson County.
This time Seymour defeated Sevier County which puts the Bears out the team regional although they will make it as individuals.
Seymour’s Luke Hall (125) number 1 ranked wrestler in the state, Trent Williams (140) the number 5 ranked wrestler in the state, Caleb Stoffle, William Stooksbury and Shane Chipley all earned wins by forfeit. Later however, they did win their matches over the Sevier County by pins.
South-Doyle purposely forfeited these matches against Seymour’s top wrestlers so they could stack the deck against Seymour’s other wrestlers.  The strategy worked and they came out district champions.
Coach Cate of Seymour said, “It’s definitely a positive (earning the region championship). I’m proud of the boys for finishing second in the district, but I would have liked to have won it.”
Cate spoke about the South-Doyle strategy, “They dodged my good guys.  If we won the toss, it could have been different.
“South-Doyle won by pins in all the other matches.”
Next up for the Eagle Mat Men is the Sevier County Championship at Pigeon Forge between Pigeon Forge and Sevier County.

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