The Soddy Daisy Trojans are the second-ranked high school wrestling team in Tennessee and the best among the public schools.
They proved it on Saturday night when they defeated Cleveland to win the AAA State Duals title in Franklin.
The traditional state tournament is coming up in two weeks, but the Trojans next step will be advancing as many wrestlers as possible to the big dance on Feb. 16-18.
Based on the results of the Region 4 seeding meeting Monday afternoon, the Trojans shouldn't have a lot of trouble defending their title.
Soddy Daisy received nine seeds with seven firsts and two seconds. They were not seeded in the top four of the other five weight classes.
The Central Purple Pounders, who just won their second straight A-AA State Duals title, didn't have any number one picks, but they had five who were penciled in at second.
Red Bank had two top seeds while Hixson, Signal Mountain, Notre Dame, Ooltewah and Tyner all had one each.
While virtually everyone is saying that Soddy Daisy will dominate this weekend, a lot of coaches are saying that the battle for second will be fierce with teams from East Ridge, Central, Hixson and Notre Dame in the middle of that fight.
"I don't know and don't really care," said Soddy Daisy's Steve Henry when asked about the results of the seeding meeting.
"We just have to try to get ready for the state as we want to advance as many as possible in the best spots possible. We can't afford to get complacent at this point," Henry added.
The way the state brackets are drawn, each of eight Region champions get a fourth-place finisher from another Region while the twos and threes are paired together. As you might expect, the region champs normally have the easier first-round matches.
While the Trojans appear to be the team to beat, teams from Central and Hixson aren't conceding anything.
"I feel pretty good about the pairings as most everybody got put where they belonged," said Central coach Marquis Dotson.
"We just want to use the success we had last weekend as a driving force to do well this weekend. It's crunch time for these kids as they don't want their season to end this weekend. This just may be the toughest region in the state," he added.
Hixson coach Garrick Hall feels the same way as Henry about getting as many individuals to the state as possible.
"We all know who should win, but I'm betting that it will be a battle between East Ridge, Notre Dame, Central and Hixson for second place. Today's seeding went about the way we thought, although there are always a couple of curve balls thrown in there," Hall added.
Soddy Daisy's seven top picks include Jacob Stevens at 120, Campbell Lewis at 132, Gage Richmond at 138, Turbo Smith at 145, Blaike Henry at 170, Brett Ervin at 182 and Alex Seeley at 285.
Josh Deckelman and Billy Swanson were picked second at 126 and 220, respectively.
Red Bank's two number ones include Chris Palacio at 106 and Logan Sharp at 152.
The other top seeds include Tyner's DeAngelo James at 113, Notre Dame's Jack Boone at 126, Hixson's Justin Mathieson at 160, Signal Mountain's Tyler Montgomery at 195 and Ooltewah's Jay Rudwall at 220.
Stevens and Lewis are both defending state champions while Henry was second.
Action begins at 5:30 Friday afternoon at Soddy Daisy High School and will continue through the championship semifinals and two rounds of consolations.
Saturday's schedule has a 10 a.m.
start and will wrestle straight through until the finals, which should be held around 12:30 or 1.
The top four seeds for each weight class with their school and current record include:
106: 1. Chris Palacio (Red Bank) 21-9; 2. Cody Bowman (Central) 30-5; 3. Austin Payne (Hixson) 32-7; 4. Trent Walliser (Chattanooga Christian) 20-6.
113: 1. DeAngelo James (Tyner) 35-0; 2. Brandon Whitley (East Ridge) 31-6; 3. Austin Robinson (Notre Dame) 36-9; 4. Bryson Lemons (Central) 26-12.
120: 1. Jacob Stevens (Soddy Daisy) 29-5; 2, Packy Mullin (Notre Dame) 34-11; 3. Taylor Whitley (East Ridge) 22-15; 4. Andrew Fite (Chattanooga Christian) 20-7.
126: 1. Jack Boone (Notre Dame) 44-4; 2. Josh Deckelman (Soddy Daisy) 27-11; 3. Isaiah Hawthorne (Hixson) 35-5; 4. Cody Stacks (Central) 15-4.
132: 1. Campbell Lewis (Soddy Daisy) 35-4; 2. Chico White (Notre Dame) 18-4; 3. Joe Stegall (Central) 15-2; 4. Giovanti Palacio (Hixson) 32-8.
138: 1. Gage Richmond (Soddy Daisy) 35-5; 2. Logan Griffith (Central) 32-6; 3. Michael Labbe (Notre Dame) 15-8; 4. Ameer Jibrin (Hixson) 33-7.
145: 1. Turbo Smith (Soddy Daisy) 32-4; 2. Grayson Mullin (Notre Dame) 46-3; 3. Zac Fordham (Central) 27-8; 4. Antonio Walton (Tyner) 29-3.
152: 1. Logan Sharp (Red Bank) 31-7; 2. Larry Dickerson (Central) 30-4; 3. Aaron Alemany (Hixson) 32-8; 4. Cale Shelton (Signal Mountain) 19-8.
160: 1. Justin Mathieson (Hixson) 40-2; 2. Zac Sharp (Red Bank) 16-9; 3. Brock Pressley (Signal Mountain) 19-5; 4. Michael Frazey (Central) 22-8.
170: 1. Blaike Henry (Soddy Daisy) 29-9; 2. Matt Sealor (Ooltewah) 30-4; 3. Nathan Davis (Sale Creek) 34-1; 4. Taylor Bankston (Notre Dame) 23-8.
182: 1. Brett Ervin (Soddy Daisy) 31-4; 2. Sam Sledge (Central) 27-5; 3. Brandon Cantrell (East Ridge) 21-6; 4. Harrison Hall (Signal Mountain) 20-10.
195: 1. Tyler Montgomery (Signal Mountain) 19-10; 2. Trumond Martin (Central) 22-14; 3. LaDarius Griffith (Howard) 13-3; 4. Jacob Metzger (Sequatchie Co.) 20-5.
220: 1. Jay Rudwall (Ooltewah) 27-1; 2. Billy Swanson (Soddy Daisy) 39-3; 3. Francisco Rodriguez (East Hamilton) 32-4; 4. Christian Varner (Hixson) 36-4.
285: 1. Alex Seeley (Soddy Daisy) 40-2; 2. Josh Mackey (Silverdale) 26-3; 3. C.J. Baker (East Ridge) 24-8; 4. Zach Calhoun (Central) 31-7.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)