By Ken Lay
A former Halls High School wrestler had a triumphant homecoming Thursday night.
Maryville High School coach Alex Cate and the Rebels routed the host Red Devils, 62-12 before a spirited crowd at Halls High School.
Halls is a state wrestling power, but they struggled on a busy night of wrestling in North Knox County as Maryville brought an elementary school, middle school, high school girls, high school junior varsity and boys varsity team to Knoxville.
“How often do you get the chance to beat Halls, right? They have a great team,” said Cate, who wrestled for the Red Devils during his high school days when Shannon Sayne, Halls High’s longtime head coach, was an assistant to Chris Vandergriff. “Shannon’s missing some guys, but we’re missing some guys too.
“This feels really good. We have a seasoned team with a lot of juniors in the lineup and Halls has always beaten us over the years, no matter where I’ve coached.”
Prior to landing in Blount County with the Rebels, Cate was the head coach at Seymour High School and on Thursday, he came home and saw Maryville post a resounding win against his alma mater.
The most dramatic match of the evening was the last one as the Rebels picked up a win from Kainen Kyle, who nabbed a 14-10 decision over the Red Devils’ Aiden Wright.
“That last match was really exciting,” Cate said. “They have a good 106-pounder and we do too and that was just a great match.”
The Rebels picked up forfeit wins in the 113-pound, 120-pound and 195-pound divisions. Maryville also won forfeits at 220 and 285.
In the 126-pound weight class, Maryville’s Dominic Chimeno scored a technical fall victory when he defeated David Cook, 19-4.
At 132, Drake Light scored six points for the Rebels despite sustaining an injury as Halls’ Jordan Sexton was disqualified for illegally slamming Light to the mat.
The Red Devils captured their first win of the night in the 138-pound division when Samuel Hutchinson pinned Maryville’s Griffin Conti in 1 minute, 45 seconds.
Halls got its other win in the dual when Ben Whaley won by fall over Gavin Marsh in 5:35.
The Rebels also won via pin at 182 as Connor Johnson defeated Sean Paxton in 54 seconds.
Maryville won by decision at 145, 152 and 160.
Maryville’s girls downed Halls, 36-18: Samantha Kirk, Sophia Satterfield and Izzy Lancaster all scored pins for the Lady Devils in their loss to the Lady Rebels Thursday night.
Kirk (132 pounds) defeated Maryville’s Autumn Sunderland in 1 minute, 35 seconds.
Satterfield made quick work of Madelyn Spivey as she scored a fall in 1:43 in the 140-pound division.
Lancaster (113) pinned Elizabeth Griffin in 54 seconds.
