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Thompson’s wrestling team took down Hoover in dominant fashion on Jan. 7 in a special match at the Thompson Performing Arts Center. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By DAWN HARRISON | Special to the Reporter 

ALABASTER – Thompson hosted Hoover High School on Tuesday, Jan. 7, for the Vision Quest Dual at the Thompson Performing Arts Center.

The Dual match was named after a movie that premiered in 1985 called ‘Vision Quest’ that had two dueling schools, The Spokane “Warriors” and Hoover High School, whose schools, ironically, sported the same school colors as the competitors in this area match.

As the lights dropped, and a spotlight shone on the center of the mat, the audience of over 200 was treated to a photo montage of the Thompson wrestlers in action.

Weight class by weight class, the opponents were called to shake hands in front of a screen highlighting the Warrior’s with their picture, grade, weight and rank.

“The Vision Quest Dual was an amazing event,” said Alabaster City Schools Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers. “I’m so proud of our wrestling program and appreciate all those who made it such a success. It was a great way to showcase the talent of our championship wrestlers through a unique venue in our Performing Arts Center.”

And as usual, Thompson had a lot of talent to be proud of, as the Warriors dominated the match with 49-14 win over the Buccaneers, only losing four of the 14 individual matches with five pins, one technical fall, two major decisions and two decisions.

Hoover started out with the first points of the match, however, in the 108 weight class as Ty Sisson of Hoover beat Thomas Giere of Thompson by a decision of 6-2.

Yanni Vines of Thompson answered back in the 113 weight class as he racked up 10 points to Devin Ardis’ one point in the first period, then pinned Ardis with 37 seconds left on the clock in the second, giving him a fall time of 3:23

Cory Jones was the next on the mat facing off against one of Hoover’s strongest competitors, Nick Smith in the 120 weight class. Smith controlled the six-minute match, earning 14 points to Jones’ four points, giving him the major decision as the clock ran out. The victory, however, was short lived as Thompson won the next seven matches.

In the 126 weight class, Thompson’s James Latona showed his skills as he took down Hoover’s Logan Robert five times before pinning him early in the second period giving him a fall time of 2:47.

In the 132 weight class, Emmanuel Oliver of Thompson had the fastest fall time of the night of 1:22, as he pinned Hoover’s Liam Harrell of Hoover in the first period.

In the 138 weight class, Wilson Kennedy of Thompson came out controlling two periods before getting a tech fall early in the third period over Hoover’s Jack Gibbs.

Will Garrett of Thompson and Alex Carbajal of Hoover were the next to face off in the 145-pound weight class, and yet another Buc was pinned in the third period, giving Garrett a fall time of 5:15.

Thompson’s Will Miller continued that success in the 152-pound division and showed Hoover why he was crowned a state champion, as he went three rounds with Hoover’s Jacob Johnson. Miller earned 12 points holding Johnson to three points, which gave him a major-decision win.

Ashunti Perry of Thompson and Evan Warren had one of the most exciting matches of the night. Perry and Warren seemed to be evenly matched in the 160-pound weight class.

Both wrestlers battled for control, neither one able to dominate the other. As the clock wound down on the third period Hoover’s Warren looked as if he was going to walk away the victor with a one point lead over Perry, but Perry rallied in the last minute with a burst of strength as he overpowered his opponent with a reversal, giving him two points, just enough to come away with a decision as he won 8-7.

In the 170 weight class, William Browder of Thompson won in another close decision, as he and Gabe Cason of Hoover engaged in a very physical match.

Despite a late takedown by Hoover’s Cason, it wasn’t enough, as time ended and Thompson won in an 11-9 decision.

Hoover was finally able to put more points on the board in the 182 weight class, as JT Foster pinned Thompson’s Carson Freeman in the first period, giving him a fall time of 1:49

But as before, the thrill of the victory didn’t last long, as Thompson’s Michael Jackson dominated the full six minutes with Hoover’s Dawson Rye in the 195 weight class. Jackson won handily in a major decision with a score of 13-5.

In the 220 weight class Alex Ward of Thompson won by pin over Wyatt Huddleston with only five seconds left of the clock giving him a fall time of 1:55.

Hoover closed the match by winning six points in the heavyweight class as Edwin Lagos pinned Tucker Hutson in the second period giving him a fall time of 2:55.

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