“We just can’t seem to get over that hump,” Covington coach Tom Barbee said after his squad dropped a 45-31 decision to Mechanicsburg in a dual between two of the top five Division III teams in the state Wednesday night.
“I’m proud of the kids. We came back and made a shout at it.”
Mechanicsburg, No. 4 in the state in Division III, advanced to the Region 23 final with an easy 58-12 win over Ben Logan. Covington, ranked fifth, battled to the end to claim a 36-33 win over rival Versailles to move into the finals.
The Indians, who will make their first appearance at the state meet on Feb. 14 at St. John Arena in Columbus, came out storming against Covington.
Returning state qualifier Alex Rhine opened the match with a pin for Mechanicsburg as the guests jumped to a 21-0 lead.
Covington started to climb back into it with back-to-back technical falls by returning state champ Jarred Ganger and returning state placer Ryan Ford, but Mechanicsburg answered with pins by returning state qualifier Joe Ziegler and state champ Kaleb Romero to push the lead to 33-10.
“It is a chain reaction,” Romero said. “Once we start getting pins, it gets everyone fired up and we had some kids step up. It is nice to have a solid team like this.”
Covington made one last push with Lance Miller, Ben Miller and Seth Thomas recording pins to bring the deficit to 39-31 heading into 285.
“This is the first year for Seth and we have told him it is winter football for him,” Barbee said. “He has a lot of heart and he is learning and he had a big match for us tonight. We lose two guys out of this group, but we have some new guys coming up and we will be there battling.”
Mechanicsburg recorded six falls and a forfeit to go with a decision while Covington had three falls and two technical falls.
“We knew it would be huge to get pins and not give pins up,” Mechanicsburg coach Cameron Doggett said. “We had to get the points where we could and minimize where we gave them up. That was going to be crucial and we had some kids step up and get those points and some not give those points up.”
Barbee knows his kids learned one thing about the sectional tournament on the horizon at the end of the month. It is going to be tough with Versailles and Mechanicsburg in the field.
“Hopefully this helps us come sectional time,” Barbee said. “Our sectional is going to be tough. This (loss) may be good for us. It may have been what we needed.”
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