One match away

The Patriots were one victory away from upsetting a top-10 team in the state.

Instead, the Jay County High School girls wrestling team had to settle for a 42-36 loss to the No. 10 Hamilton Southeastern Royals followed by a 48-30 win over the Hagerstown Tigers in a pair of duals on Thursday night.

The close loss followed by a solid win continued to build the confidence of a youthful Patriots team with five freshmen in the lineup.

“If we win one more match somewhere, that tips it in our favor,” said Jay County coach Troy Jacks. “So I’m happy we performed as well as we did.”

One young Patriot who excelled against the Royals (5-1) was Chloe Torres. With the team score tied at 6-6, the freshman took the mat in the 105-pound match against Anjali Patel and emerged from the opening period with the score knotted 5-5.

Torres found another gear as the second period got underway, pinning Patel to earn her first career victory.

“She’s always so full of energy and she comes to practice and she works hard,” Jacks said. “And it’s just her being a little timid and unsure of herself … She still has nerves being a freshman and trying the sport out for the first time, so that’s exciting when girls get their first win.”

For Torres, the maiden victory could go a long way in helping her settle into her nascent wrestling career.

“That really calmed my nerves,” Torres said. “Before I was really nervous about what I was going to do, but then after, it was pretty good.”

Another highlight in the dual came in the 155-pound clash between Jay County’s Madison Gage and Hamilton Southeastern’s Kendall White. Neither wrestler managed to score in a physical opening period, but Gage’s mental tenacity paid off as she swiftly ended the match by pinning White early in the second.

“She was being rough, and I just kept calm and did what my coaches told me to do,” Gage said.

The senior tandem of state No. 6 Katie Rowles (100-pound weight class) and Maleah Parsons (140) also notched non-forfeit victories against the Royals.

Rowles earned her win by amassing 13 first-period points against Charlotte Dragoo before finishing the match via fall 90 seconds in. Parsons held just a 3-0 lead over Jaelyn Fowler late in the first period of her tilt, but sealed the contest via pin with seven seconds left on the clock.

Moments after the razor-thin loss to the Royals, the Patriots were back in action.

Rowles secured her second pin of the day, this time competing at 105 pounds, and was joined by 110-pounder Alayna Willoughby with non-forfeit wins in the 48-30 victory over Hagerstown. Gage also picked up a win in what was scored as an exhibition match.

The triumph over the Tigers gave Jay County (4-2) a pleasant segue into celebrating its five soon-to-be graduates on senior night. Program veterans Rowles and Parsons were honored alongside first-year wrestlers Kaylee Bramlett, Kaileigh Compton and Jolee White in a post-event ceremony.

“Katie Rowles and Maleah Parsons, they have been the anchor for our team for four years, being senior leaders, and they really take that to heart,” Jacks said. “… And then having these three seniors that are just trying it out for the first time and seem to be really liking it is great for the future of our program.”

Crafting that future is well underway for a Patriots team that was ranked in the top 10 earlier this season. Though Thursday’s event resulted in a split, the progress transcends the results for Jacks’ squad.

“The last couple of weeks, I can just see a lot more aggressiveness, and I’m seeing the pistons starting to fire,” Jacks said. “And even if we’re not having our hands raised in the matches, we’re wrestling deeper into the matches, and we’re doing a lot of things right.”