HVA, FHS wrestling teams advance to regionals
HVA and FHS will take on West and Halls, respectively, in the first round, which will be single-elimination. Winners of those matches will wrestle for the region championship that night and will both move on to sectionals the following week.
The layout from here onward is clear, but the path to reach this point has been rather tricky.
Having beaten each other, Farragut, HVA and Maryville all tied atop District 2-AA at 1-1. So with all three teams tied in head-to-head results, the result for the 1-seed came down to most points scored against the other teams in the tie.
Hardin Valley claimed the prize with the deciding win coming from HVA’s Mikeal Arce, who staged a comeback victory over Maryville’s Payton Cromwell in the 285-pound bracket last Thursday.
The win propelled the Hawks to their second straight district title, something head coach Matt Bates called “an expectation” as opposed to the “dream” it was when he arrived four years ago.
The win also left HVA with 89 points against MHS and FHS altogether. Meanwhile, Maryville stood at 80 with Farragut — who beat William Blount in a separate match last Thursday — with 77.
For the 2-seed, the head-to-head came back into play, so Farragut got the nod since the Admirals had beaten Maryville earlier in the season.
If Arce had lost to Cromwell in that last match between Maryville and Hardin Valley, the Rebels would have won in points to take the top seed. That would have left HVA in second since they beat Farragut, thus ending the Ads’ season last Thursday night.
Instead, Charlie Rohn’s team will live to fight another day, as FHS and HVA will take part in the region portion of the postseason Wednesday night.
Weigh-ins take place at 5:30 p.m. while wrestling is set to begin an hour later.
