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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – The Thompson Warriors kicked off their tournament slate right at home as they hosted the boys and girls Southeastern Duals on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Thompson High School.

After a 2-1 start to the boys duals season with wins over Central-Tuscaloosa on the road and Pike Road at the University of Montevallo, the Warriors hit the mat for a string of matches against some of the top teams from across the region.

Thompson went 4-5 on the day, notching victories against Daphne, Enterprise, Opelika and Louisiana’s Holy Cross. Their five losses were against Hewitt-Trussville, Georgia’s Central-Carroll, Hartselle, McAdory and Mortimer Jordan.

In the match against the Daphne Trojans, the Warriors dropped just three matches on the mat during a 45-24 victory.

Turner Hutson, Jaiden Moore, Wyatt Massey, Brady Walsh, Brody Logan and Will Atkinson all won their matches by fall while Jordan Weltzin won an 8-6 decision, Braylen Johnson took a 12-9 decision and Austin Owen won in sudden victory in the 144-pound match.

Thompson then defeated Enterprise 45-22 thanks to falls from Atkinson, Owen, Rylan Davis and Walsh, a 21-9 major decision from Chase Kellgren, a 21-2 technical fall from Johnson, a 7-1 decision from Hutson and Moore’s 17-10 decision victory.

The Warriors lost just two matches on the mat against Opelika in a commanding 65-18 win.

Johnson kicked off the match with a 17-1 technical fall before Logan, Weltzin, Massey and Logan Treadwell earned first-period falls and Atkinson, Hutson, Kellgren and Moore wrapped up their matches in the second period.

Thompson’s final victory of the day came in a tight 38-30 win over Holy Cross.

The Warriors kicked off the match with four straight wins, including major decisions from Josiah Turner and Owen and falls from Weltzin in the third period and Hutson in the second period.

However, Thompson’s 20-0 lead got cut into thanks to three straight wins by their Louisiana-based opponents. A fall, decision and major decision left the Warriors’ lead at just 20-13.

Massey and Holy Cross’ Ethan Regis exchanged falls to keep the seven-point lead before a double forfeit in the heavyweight match.

Walsh earned a first-period fall to extend the lead before Holy Cross got a fall and technical fall to leave Thompson’s lead at 32-30, meaning the final match between Atkinson and Cole DesOrmeaux would decide the dual.

Atkinson stepped up and got a fall at the 1:35 mark to seal the 38-30 win for the Warriors.

As for Thompson’s girls team, it went 4-0 on the day with a 48-23 win over Auburn High School, a 36-33 victory over Daphne, a 54-12 win over Opelika and a 39-30 victory over Hewitt-Trussville.

In the Auburn match, Ella Orr, Emma Combs, Rebecca Firstbrook, Aenaya Vines and Elizabeth Rosenstiel won their matches by way of a fall to earn the team win.

The Warriors then had a thrilling match with Daphne as the teams went back and forth trading victories.

Kelsey Siegler responded to an opening Trojans win with a 44-second fall, and Kaydence Seigler followed that up with a second-period fall to take a 12-6 lead.

Combs then got a first-period fall after Daphne got one of its own to retake the six-point lead, but the Trojans tied the score up once again in the 145-pound match.

Thompson got a forfeit win in the 152-pound match before dropping the 165-pound contest, but Ava Nguyen sealed the dual win with a first-period fall in the 185-pound match against Esteisy Rodriguez.

The Warriors and Opelika only competed in three matches in their dual as Kelsey Seigler got Thompson’s lone win with a 21-second fall in the 107-pound match.

In another close match with Hewitt-Trussville, Kelsey Seigler responded to an opening match win from the Huskies with a 15-second fall to tie up the match at 6-6.

Hewitt-Trussville won the next two matches to take an 18-6 lead, but the Warriors got falls from Combs and Allyss Gonzalez, a 3-0 decision from Camila Magno and a forfeit win to go up 27-18.

From there, Thompson traded the final two matches with the Huskies as Anna Gann and Gissell Trejo won their matches by falls in the first minute to seal the victory.

Both the boys and girls teams will return to action on Nov. 22 and 23 as they head to the Gulf Coast Clash.