Back on the mat!

Tyler's return to the wrestling mat happened today at Michigan State for the Michigan State Duals. First up, Swan Valley. This kid was not bad, you could tell Tyler was a little rusty...but his last words to me as I repeated the question, "are you sure you are ok to go, Tyler?" were "yeah, I'm fine, but I probably won't be shooting much on my guy being the first time back and all." Boy, did he eat those words up. Instincts kicked in and Tyler went in for the shot. In fact, he got the takedown and that was pretty much all he needed to seal his first win back on the mat... 2-0. Next up, Shamrock. Again, Tyler did more shooting on the kid just letting him get an escape during the last few seconds, winning again 6-1. Coach Snyder decided he would forfeit Tyler on the next round to Samsons, a great team made up of all stars who had won Disney Duals three of four years. It ended up being a good choice, these guys were quite aggressive and playing it safe for now payed off. Tyler was back on the mat agains Rampage Red, but wow, this team was even better than Samsons! They were made up of all state placers in Michigan. Every single one of them. At one point in the match Tyler felt a sharp pain in his shoulder like he may have extended it too far, so he stopped the match, talked with Coach and decided to out the match. Good call. Tyler iced it up and called it a day. Didn't want to take the off season too far, especially with football on the horizon. The team didn't fair as well as last year, but again, considering we were one of two high school teams only (not all stars or placers, etc) we didn't do too bad. We lost to Samsons and Rampage Red (probably the winners) and beat Swan Valley 34-25, Shamrock 35-15 and Lightning 54-19. Not a bad day at all and very excited to see our boy back on the mat. And not only that, but a leader as well. Very proud of him and what he will bring to the team this year. Lookin good, lookin good.