Bradley Matmen Put 53-19 Whipping On Soddy Daisy

Bears Get Seven Pins As They Improve To 19-2 With The Lopsided Victory

Tuesday, January 26, 2016
John Hunt

The Bradley Bears took care of business at Soddy Daisy Tuesday night.

There have been some great wrestling matches between these two teams in years past, but this latest clash wasn’t one of them as the Bears put an old-fashioned whipping on the hosts.

The final score was 53-19, but it really wasn’t that close.

These two teams split the first six matches, but the Bears were still ahead 18-13 after getting pins from Ed Elkins, Brett Brown and D.J.

Adams at the start.

Bradley then put the hammer down by winning the next seven matches for a commanding 53-13 lead before the Bears forfeited to Tucker Russo at 160 pounds in the final match of the evening.

“What I want to know is the Cleveland-Walker Valley score,” said Bradley coach Ben Smith as soon as this match ended, knowing that his team will face the loser in the semifinals of the Region Duals, which will be at Soddy Daisy High School on Thursday.

Cleveland defeated Walker Valley by a 44-21 score, meaning that Bradley will face Walker Valley in one semifinal while Soddy Daisy and Cleveland will battle in the other. Both semifinal winners will advance to the State Duals, which will be in Franklin next weekend.

“I’m glad that we won as this gives us a district championship and sets us up for the number one seed next week if we get there. All I know is that they took it to us two years ago in this gym and I wanted to remind my guys of that fact. Tonight, we just wanted to do what we were capable of doing, knowing the final score would take care of itself,” the scrappy and emotional coach continued.

“We were fortunate to come out on top as we were better in a few spots. We got a lot of bonus points, including a bunch of pins, but Soddy Daisy has a pretty good team. We aren’t a sure lock for next weekend as there are at least four teams capable of winning, but it’s just a matter of who shows up.

“I was really proud of my 145-pounder Austin Matthews, who beat a state-ranked kid. I want to give him a shout out for a job well done. Overall I’m pretty happy with our performance tonight, but we still have to get a lot better and we still have a lot to improve on,” Smith added.

“We just got our tails whipped, but Bradley has a solid team and they came ready to wrestle tonight,” said Soddy Daisy coach Jim Higgins afterward.

“Bradley wrestled well and we didn’t. That’s the most pins we’ve given up all year as we just didn’t show up. There’s no question we’re a better team than that, but our first goal is to get back to Franklin for the Duals and we still have a shot at that. I’m guessing that we’ll get Cleveland on Thursday,” Higgins added.

The Bears, improving to 19-2 with Tuesday’s win, finished with seven pins. Heavyweight Adams was the quickest as he took just 24 seconds to get the fall call.

While Elkins, Brown and Adams got the ball rolling early, T.J. Hicks, Ryan McElhaney and Joshua LaCoe had consective falls to give Bradley a commanding 36-13 lead following the match at 126.

Hunter Parker made it 39-13 with a 9-2 decision at 132 while Knox Fuller got the last pin in 2:18 at 138. Matthews then posted a 3-0 decision over Conner Stiles at 145 before Donnie Beyer added five team points with a technical fall at 152.

Soddy Daisy’s Russo, a two-time defending state champ, then got a forfeit at 160 to end the match.

While Russo got the only forfeit, Landon Wheaton had Soddy Daisy’s only pin at 106. Ty Boeck had a major decision at 182 while Addison Roberts posted a 6-3 decision at 220 for the remaining points for the Trojans.

Soddy Daisy is now 11-3 following Tuesday’s match.

BRADLEY 53, SODDY DAISY 19

(Match began at 170 Pounds)

106 – Landon Wheaton (SD) pinned Bryson Bishop, 3:14;

113 – T.J. Hicks (BC) pinned Chase Payne, 1:20;

120 – Ryan McElhaney (BC) pinned Jacob Kilgore, 2:33;

126 – Joshua LaCoe (BC) pinned Slater Daniel, 2:52;

132 – Hunter Parker (BC) dec. Tony Wilson, 9-2;

138 – Knox Fuller (BC) pinned Emory Holcomb, 2:18;

145 – Austin Matthews (BC) dec. Conner Stiles, 3-0;

152 – Donnie Beyer (BC) won by technical fall over Hunter Rogers, 5:50;

160 – Tucker Russo (SD) won by forfeit;