JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Two double-digit seeds scored upsets to secure spots in the final 16, while two other matchups were decided by just one vote in the second round of voting for the Carson-Newman Play of the Decade.
The tumult again was primarily in the Holt Region. In the first round, five of the eight seeds to advance were lower seeds. Voting in the round of 32 followed the same pattern for the region. The 13 seed in the region, Jason Williams' 90-yard fumble recovery for a score at Mars Hill took home 65.4 percent of the vote to move past Jason Brown's one-handed catch. Williams' TD is the highest seed to advance to the final 16.
Williams' score will face off with the top seed in the Holt Region - Tobias Karlsen's SAC quarterfinal volley. Karlsen edged Jaysen Cook-Calhoun's big hit against Brevard by the slimmest of margins, literally. Out of 257 votes, Karlsen took the honor by one single solitary vote, 129-128 (and shockingly, it was one of two one-vote decisions in this round).
On the opposite side of the chaotic Holt, second-seeded Joao Pedro Dowsley's 88th minute national semifinal game winner moved past Tyron Douglas' pinball run with 60 percent of the vote. It will be an all soccer region semifinal in the other half of the Holt Bracket with 11th-seeded Kennedy Rankin's SAC quarterfinal rocket scoring an upset over the three seed - Charles Clark's game-winning, length-of-the-floor drive at Tusculum. Rankin secured 54.5 percent of the vote to move on.
While the Holt Region was pure chaos, the Bivens Region was pure order. All four higher seeds advanced to the region semifinals, however, the margins were fairly tight. The top seed - Tanner Stepp's national championship high jump moved past ninth-seeded Sindre Welo and his game-tying 35-yard free kick at Mars Hill with 53.2 percent of the vote. Stepp will face fourth-seeded Malik Abraham and his game-winning buzzer beater over sixth-ranked Lincoln Memorial. Abraham's OT buzzer beater edged Thibault Mathorez's OT game winner over Tusculum by just eight votes.
In the other half of the Bivens Region, Charles Clark secured one spot in the final 16 with his game-tying three off an intentionally missed free throw against Tusculum, knocking out 10th-seeded Kristen Toppel and her over-the-shoulder backhand grab with 59.1 percent of the vote. Bird takes on Rurik Pereira's bicycle kick - the three seed - which secured a spot by seven votes over Tobias Karlsen's free kick v. Newberry.
The Sparks Region featured two of the widest margins in the round of 32 voting, as well as the other matchup decided by just one vote. First for the dramatics. Zach Pangallo - the two-seed - edged out 10th-seeded Haris Price with his 35-foot game-winning buzzer-beating three at Newberry 105 votes to 104 votes. he advances to face the three seed - baseball's SAC tournament triple play, which was voted into the round of 16 by a 3:1 margin over Trever Lee's diving grab.
The top overall seed - Braxton Westfield's one-handed TD catch at Lenoir-Rhyne secured 54 percent of the vote to move past Antonio Henderson and Desmond Fairell's goal line forced fumble and return against Wingate. Westfield will square off with Devon Moore and the sprinter's 10.12 100 meters at the UT relays. Moore racked up the second biggest margin in the field for the round of 32, collecting 69.4 percent of the vote over Magda Mosengo's national semifinal 18-yard header.
Lastly, in the Wilson Region, the bracket saw its first one seed depart. Rachel Harper's under-the-net save got upended by the nine seed - Jessica Fraiture and Helen Seed and their saves against Armstrong State in the regionals. Fraiture and Seed will do battle with the five seed. Romain Kelly's one-handed grab v. UNCP. Kelly took home 58.9 percent of the vote to glide past Lauren Wade and her SAC title game missile.
The final matchup of the Wilson Region features two of the better plays at driving votes in the two and three seeds in the region. Jake Headrick's 64-foot tournament clinching putt (the two seed) and Charlie Brown to Ethan Goforth to erase the tying run at the plate against Northwood brought home the two highest vote totals for the round of 32. Both Headrick and Brown/Goforth advanced with more than 60 percent of the vote in their respective matchups.
Football, men's basketball and men's soccer are the three most represented sports - with three apiece in the round of 16. Track, baseball and women's soccer each have two, while Jake Headrick keeps the duffers in with one.
Voting on the third round will take place this week, starting with the Sparks Region on Tuesday. Voting on the elite eight, final four and championship will take place in the ensuing weeks.
