Red Bank Picked To Win Region 2-A/AA Wrestling

Reigning State Duals Champs Lead With Six Top-Seeded Individuals

  • Wednesday, February 10, 2016
  • John Hunt

It appears that the Red Bank Lions will be the target for teams involved in the Region 2-A/AA wrestling tournament being held at Hixson Middle School this weekend.

The Lions, fresh off Saturday's A-AA State Duals title, are the early favorites for the upcoming tournament after claiming six number-one seeds in the 14 weight classes during the seeding meeting held Wednesday at Amigo's in Hixson.

Notre Dame and Hixson have two apiece while East Ridge, Signal Mountain, Central and Boyd-Buchanan have one each.

Other teams competing include Chattanooga Christian, Brainerd, Howard, Whitwell, Sale Creek, Sequatchie County and Tyner.

Those Red Bank individuals expected to win include Blake Reichel at 113, Gabe McDuffie at 145, David Johnson at 170, Devin Crawl at 195, Devon Suddeth at 220 and Anthony Ottinger at 285.

The top picks for Hixson include Isaac Yates at 132 and Dylan Bargerstock at 182 while Notre Dame had top seeds for Cade Holloway at 106 and Luke Mullin at 126.

The remaining top seeds included Kashawn Cosey of East Ridge at 120, Signal Mountain's Daniel Dawson at 138, Central's Alonzo Heyward at 152 and  Boyd-Buchanan's Zane Williams at 160.

The goal for every team is to place as many individuals in the top four of their respective weight classes so they can advance to the TSSAA Traditional State Tournament, which will be held next week at the Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Park in Franklin.

"It looks that way based on the seeds, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything as there is no cakewalk in this region," said Red Bank coach Shane Turner after the seeding process had concluded and coaches began to disperse.

"Every one of these teams has capable wrestlers, but we have a good team and have a legitimate shot to win this region for the first time in more than 20 years.  My guys have put the work in, so we'll see what happens.  It always helps to win a region title (for individuals) because that automatically puts you against a fourth-place finisher from another region at the state.

"I keep telling my guys that we can't live on what we did yesterday, but I'm hoping they will respond in a positive fashion.  They have a chance to bring something back to Red Bank High School that is special.

"If we do what we're capable of doing, we should be hard to beat.  We were the definite underdogs at the duals, but we found a way to win.  We have already accomplished half of our season goals.  Winning the region this weekend is next on the list," Turner nodded.

The Hixson Wildcats are the defending region winners, but this hasn't been the kind of season coach Garrick Hall had in mind when it all started back in early December.  The Wildcats did not qualify for the state duals, so there are several questions to be answered this weekend.

"I'm anxious to see how we respond after having such a long layoff between matches," said Hall, who presided over the coaches meeting on Wednesday.

"This seeding process went about as expected and it appears that we'll be fighting for second place.  It looks like Red Bank's tournament to lose, but we're healthy for the first time in a while.  We know we have to wrestle hard and to bring the Hixson style to the mat and not leave it in the practice room," Hall added.

Hixson's Landon Goforth is the only individual unbeaten at 25-0, but he was seeded second behind Red Bank's McDuffie, who comes in at 33-2.  McDuffie was a state champ two years ago and that's why he's seeded in first.

Four others enter the competition with only one loss, including Notre Dame's Mullin (32-1), Boyd-Buchanan's Williams (26-1), and Red Bank teammates Crawl (35-1) and Ottinger (31-1).

The tournament action begins on Friday at 6 p.m. and will proceed through the championship quartrerfinals and one round of consolations.  Saturday's championship semifinals are set for 9:30 a.m. with the medal rounds slated to begin around 3.

Admission for the tournament is $7 per person.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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