Pigeon Forge Nips Hixson For A-AA State Wrestling Title

Notre Dame Finishes Fourth With Four Champions

  • Saturday, February 14, 2015
  • John Hunt

 The Hixson Wildcats did everything humanly possible to win the A-AA state wrestling tournament for the second-straight year, but like the guy who runs out of gas on the final lap after leading the Daytona 500 from the start, the Wildcats just came up a little bit short.

Last year, it was Hixson who had an incredible last day as they overcame Alcoa to win the title.  This year, that honor belongs to Pigeon Forge, who added a traditional title to the State Duals title they also won at the Williamson County Agricultural Expo Center two weeks ago.

Hixson hung on to first place as long as possible, but the Tigers took the lead for good following the 132-pound final when Matthew Kieta pinned Hixson’s Cederick Harris for a 153.5 to 150 advantage.

Alex Breeden put a little icing on the cake for the winners with a major decision at 220 as Pigeon Forge finished with two champions.

“That was the craziest state tournament I’ve ever been associated with, but for the roller-coaster ride that my guys took in the last two days, I’m really proud of the way they hung in there and kept battling,” said Pigeon Forge coach Greg Foreman after the tournament had ended.

“These kids are just phenomenal at handling pressure and adversity, but it just shows what they’re made of.  I was sweating bullets when the finals began, but I knew that we had to do our job to pull it off, but we had the guys in place to do it.

“These guys have really worked hard to get to this point and I hope we’ll be battling at the top for several more years, but this just happened to be our year and we got it done,” Foreman added.

Hixson coach Garrick Hall was probably hurting as bad if not worse than anyone on the Wildcat team after his team came up short.

“Now we’re feeling what Alcoa felt like last year, but this year, we had the lead all the way until the finals began,” Hall said later.

“I knew it would be tough, but for the most part, I’m really happy with what we did.  We had seven sophomores in our lineup this year, so they had to grow up in a hurry.  We battled and scrapped this weekend, but we just came up a little bit short of our goal.

“Despite the disappointment we’re all feeling right now, we still had an outstanding season and we don’t need to forget that,” Hall nodded.

Hixson had four in the finals, but for the second-straight year, went home with no champions.

Pigeon Forge finished first with 158.5 points while Hixson was second with 149.  Alcoa was third with 135 while Notre Dame claimed fourth with 122.5.  East Ridge rounded out the top five teams with 89.5.

Notre Dame had four in the finals and all four left with state titles, including sophomore Tucker Gill at 106, junior Luke Mullin at 120, senior and older brother Packy Mullin at 145 and junior Noah Bankston at 152.  It was the first championship for Gill while the other three all won last year.

“It was a blast,” is how Notre Dame coach John Mullin described his experience on the final day.

“We had three champions last year and four this year, so we’re all excited and pumped up.  There’s no doubt that we’ll all walk out of here feeling really good about ourselves,” Mullin expressed.

While Notre Dame had four, Alcoa was next with three.  Pigeon Forge had two while Eagleville, Harpeth, Christian Academy of Knoxville, Red Bank and Signal Mountain all had one apiece.

Alcoa’s three winners included Nathaniel Murphy at 126, Karim Shereef at 160 and Samson Evans at 285 while the two for Pigeon Forge were Kieta and Breeden.

Other champs included Eagleville’s Hayden Hammonds at 113, Harpeth’s Tyler Christian at 138, CAK’s Michael Long at 170, Red Bank’s Devin Crawl at 182 and Signal Mountain’s Cale Shelton at 195.

Alcoa’s Shereef was voted the Outstanding Wrestler after posting one of three pins in the finals and the fastest at 55 seconds.

The 138-pound final between Harpeth’s Christian and Gary Reagan of Pigeon Forge was voted Best Match after Christian posted the 5-3 victory in overtime.

FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1.

Pigeon Forge 158.5; 2. Hixson 149; 3. Alcoa 135; 4. Notre Dame 122.5; 5. East Ridge 89.5; 6. Red Bank 86; 7. Central 70.5; 8. Signal Mountain 61; 9. Page 53; 10. Harpeth 52.

Also, 16. Whitwell 29.5; 21. Boyd-Buchanan 21; 30. Chattanooga Christian 9.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

106 – Tucker Gill (Notre Dame) dec. Blake Reichel (Red Bank), 5-3;

113 – Hayden Hammonds (Eagleville) dec. Hunter Owens (East Ridge), 4-0;

120 – Luke Mullin (Notre Dame) won by technical fall over Jacob Ruiter (Pigeon Forge), 5:30;

126 – Nathaniel Murphy (Alcoa) pinned Logan Chase (Sullivan East), 2:55;

132 – Matthew Kieta (Pigeon Forge) pinned Cederick Harris (Hixson), 3:37;

138 – Tyler Christian (Harpeth) dec. Gary Reagan (Pigeon Forge), 5-3 in overtime;

145 – Packy Mullin (Notre Dame) dec. Landon Goforth (Hixson), 12-6;

152 – Noah Bankston (Notre Dame) dec. Alonso Heyward (Central), 8-6;

160 – Karim Shereef (Alcoa) pinned Xavier Norwood (Central), :55;

170 – Michael Long (CAK) dec. DeAngelo Johnson (East Ridge), 9-4;

182 – Devin Crawl (Red Bank) dec. James Hughes (Stratford), 3-1;

195 – Cale Shelton (Signal Mountain) dec. Dylan Bargerstock (Hixson), 4-3 in overtime;

220 – Alex Breeden (Pigeon Forge) major dec. Jimmy Bowman (Greeneville), 12-4;

285 – Samson Evans (Alcoa) dec. Brody Gregory (Hixson), 4-1.

CONSOLATION FINALS FOR THIRD PLACE

106 – Spencer Matherley (Greenbrier) dec. Kashawn Cosey (East Ridge), 8-4;

113 – Michael Colon (Alcoa) major dec. Dylan Pendley (Forrest), 9-1;

120 – Grayson Reed (Greeneville) dec. Braxton Hunter (Harpeth), 4-2;

126 – Caden Pennington (Eagleville) pinned Bryson Lemons (Central), 2:57;

132 – Mitchell Camper (Sycamore) dec. Spencer Griffey (East Ridge), 2-0 in overtime;

138 – Andrew Birchett (Page) pinned Tabrin Walker (East Ridge), 3:39;

145 – Franklin Darnell (Pigeon Forge) major dec. Greg Layne (Whitwell), 11-1;

152 – Josh Croley (Pigeon Forge) dec. Joseph Kamp (Fairview), 5-2;

160 – Philip Nichols (CAK) pinned Ronny Huff (Hixson), 4:29;

170 – Wyatt Baxter (Greenbrier) dec. Seth Petarra (Signal Mountain), 10-5;

182 – Chris Nicholson (Hixson) major dec. John Noe (Page), 15-6;

195 – Chris Poole (Pigeon Forge) pinned Stevon Rose (Stratford), 4:37;

220 – Kevin Bennett (Cheatham Co.) dec. Truman Ross (Hixson), 6-4;

285 – Sam Stephenson (Central) dec. Joseph Cartwright (East Nashville), 11-5.

CONSOLATION FINALS FOR FIFTH PLACE

106 – Isaac Tate (Signal Mountain) pinned Tanner Corlew (Creek Wood), 2:38;

113 – Austin Gilley (West Greene) pinned Scott Weaver (Boyd-Buchanan), 2:54;

120 – Caley Salyers (Sullivan South) pinned Jonah Bird (Red Bank), :45;

126 – Isaac Yates (Hixson) major dec. Ned Warwick (Notre Dame), 11-3;

132 – Landon Fowler (Eagleville) won by forfeit over Ryan Verhulst (Alcoa);

138 – Justin Wheeler (Chattanooga Christian) pinned Jesse Miller (Greenback), 3:00;

145 – Steven Novack (Kingston) pinned Jonathan Reda (Creek Wood), 1:59;

152 – Gabe McDuffie (Red Bank) major dec. Peter Leichner (Page), 15-7;

160 – Kaine Kell (Red Bank) dec. Ty Boeck (Signal Mountain), 3-2;

170 – Zach Diviney (Sycamore) won by forfeit over George Hooker (Alcoa);

182 – Jack Warwick (Alcoa) pinned Johnathan Hill (East Nashville), 1:57;

195 – Gregory Williams (Nashville Christian) pinned Seth Cumby (Whitwell), :56;

220 – Will Watkins (Boyd-Buchanan) pinned Chris Hornsby (Notre Dame), 1:56;

285 – Daniel Bituli (Nashville Christian) pinned Christian Sisto (Pigeon Forge), 2:57.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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