Both the Andrews and Murphy varsity wrestling teams headed east earlier in the week to compete in duals competitions.
Andrews headed to Rosman and Murphy headed to Towns County, Ga., for mat time before Saturday’s Smoky Mountain Conference boys duals.
Dogs win 46-32
Murphy’s boys varsity wrestling team headed to Georgia to take on Towns County and got the win on Jan. 6.
The Dogs started the dual to two forfeit wins for Reyden Galarza and Weston Adams. Then the Indians of Towns County got six points with a forfeit win of their own.
James Garrett of Murphy then lost by a 5-0 decision to give the Indians three points.
The Dogs then got four points as Braden Edwards got the win by a 17-5 majority decision. They added six more points as Josiah Niebla got the pinfall win.
Towns County then got back-to-back forfeit wins to add 12 points to its team total.
Murphy then got back-to-back pinfall wins by Jeremiah Bateman and Anthony Catuto for six points each.
The Indians added five points as Murphy’s Branson Crocker lost by technical fall. They added six more points after a forfeit win.
In the final two matches of the dual, Kane Gibson and Reese Haney of Murphy secured pinfall victories for the Dogs to win the match 46-32.
In the dual, Towns County had no pinfall wins. The Indians were not able to pin the Dogs as they only got wins by forfeit, decision and technical fall.
Cats fall in duals
The Andrews boys varsity wrestling team hit the road on Jan. 7 to compete at Rosman. They faced the Tigers and Swain County in duals competition.
In both duals they lost. The Cats lost to Rosman 48-11 and lost to Swain 54-12. Despite losing both duals, Andrews wrestlers earned more wins than losses. Rosman and Swain won the duals on having forfeit wins because they have more wrestlers across all weight classes.
Up first for the Cats was Rosman, which got the 48-11 win. Rosman earned 30 points right off the bat with forfeit wins in the 113-, 120-, 126-, 138- and 144-pound weight classes.
In the 150-pound weight class, Chase Beasley of Andrews got the pinfall win to earn the Cats six points.
Rosman then earned 18 more points on two forfeit wins and a pinfall win. In the final match of the dual, the Wildcats earned five points after Chris Jackson got a 18-1 technical fall victory.
In their second dual of the day, the Cats fell to Swain 54-12. Like with the Rosman dual, Swain earned big points immediately on forfeit wins.
Beasley was in action again and earned his second pinfall win of the day to earn the Cats six points.
Hayden Virtanen got the Cats six more points after a forfeit win as Swain did not have a wrestler in the 190-pound division compete.
The dual ended with Ford Ashe of Andrews falling to Hunter Williamson of Swain by pinfall for the Maroon Devils to win the dual.
Up next
Following the Smoky Mountain Conference boys duals Saturday, Andrews and Murphy will meet again on the mat in Robbinsville on Saturday at the James Orr Memorial Tournament.
Prior to that, Murphy will travel to Georgia to face Fannin County on Thursday.