Forrest senior grappler Spenser McGuiggan, making his second consecutive appearance at the TSSAA Division I Wrestling Tournament, fought tooth and nail on Thursday and Friday, trying to bring home a medal for the Rockets, but the 220 lb. standout fell in the fourth round of the consolations 8-5 to Walker Valley's Zach Miller.

"It's been a great year, especially for these two kids taking part in this event," said Forrest head coach Kyle Stacey. "Hopefully, our younger kids will look at this and be hungry to follow these kids' lead."

Early pin

McGuiggan won his first round match in a superior fashion, dominating junior Corey Cantrell from White House before getting a pin at the 5:12 mark of the match.

"Cantrell did not want to lock up with him because he had wrestled him before and he knew Spenser wanted to throw him, " said Stacey. "Spenser wrestled a good, fundamentally sound match and he was aggressive, yet patient with his moves."

Earlier in the 120 lb. bracket, Forrest's Cage Hargrove, also a returner to the event at the Williamson County Ag. Expo Center, came up with a tough first-round draw in Caleb Poole and the Pigeon Forge senior pinned Hargrove at the 1:51 mark of the first period.

"I think it was a little bit of nerves," said Stacey. "It is going to be an uphill battle now, losing in the first round makes it tough to battle back."

Close match

Hargrove took to the mat a short time later, facing elimination in a first round consolation bout versus Tim Morris from Happy Valley.

"Cage is a mentally tough kid, I hope he can battle back," said Stacey.

Hargrove fell behind early before coming back to knot the match at 6-6 by the end of the second period.

In period number three, the Rocket junior tried in vain to score the go-ahead points, but surrendered two points instead to fall back 8-6 before Morris came up with the pin fall with just over a minute to go in the match.

"I feel bad for Cage, it was a long season and a great accomplishment to get here, but we have got to want more," said Stacey. "I know he is the type of kid that will come back and work hard in the off-season and in the weight room and we just have to come back and get over that hump."

Surprising foe

McGuiggan waited until the dinnertime hour to return to second-round action versus Rex Shotts from Ravenwood and the Raptor junior threw McGuiggan off his game in a 9-0 victory, handing the Rocket standout only his third loss of the season.

"I think that kid's height, leverage, and reach threw Spenser off a bit," said Stacey. "Once he got him down, he used his legs a lot and that's something Spenser hasn't seen a lot of this year and it really took him out of his game plan."

In a fight to stay in the tournament, McGuiggan came up huge in Thursday night's third round, taking down Germantown's Justice Houston 5-3 in a match that went the distance.

Final round

On Friday morning, McGuiggan manhandled John Gaither from Cleveland in a 7-3, three period victory to keep hope alive.

"I knew if I lost, I couldn't wrestle any more and that was not going to happen," said McGuiggan. "I want hardware, that is what I came to this tournament to get."

McGuiggan was one win away from achieving his goal of medaling, but standing in the way was Miller, who took a slim 2-1 lead after the first period.

McGuiggan fell behind by two-points in the second period and it looked like he had tied the match on a throw, but he was just out of bounds and the Rocket warrior was down to his final three minutes of varsity grappling.

Miller kept the upper hand and would not let McGuiggan get any advantage in the three-point victory for the Mustang junior, who would go on to finish in fifth place.

Hard effort

"That is the kind of effort it takes, that kid went down fighting and I can take that any day," said Stacey. "He (Miller) was a very aggressive wrestler and we went in to that match, trying to use that aggression against him. He wrestled a smart match and Spenser fought and gave everything he had, he left it all on the mat and that is all any coach could ever ask for."

Shotts would go on to beat Miller and finished third, while last year's runner-up, T.J. Satterfield (William Blount) took home first place after beating Wilson Central sophomore John Kramer 5-1 in the championship match.