Bradley Central's Ryan McElhaney, right, prepares to take down his opponent, Blackman's Daniel Bradford, in their 132-pound Class AAA championship semifinal match Friday evening at the Williamson County Ag/Expo arena. McElhaney was one of the five out of seven Bears that advanced to the finals. Bradley has amassed 204 points for first place while Cleveland trails with a distant 133 in the Class AAA tournament.
photo by Dennis Norwood
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – There are still three medal rounds to be wrestled on Saturday, but the AAA division of the TSSAA State Wrestling Tournament is all but over after the defending champion Bradley Bears won five of seven in the championship semis and totaled 204 points for the day.
The Cleveland Blue Raiders are a distant second with 133 while Tennessee High is a close third with 130.5. Independence and Wilson Central are currently fourth and fifth with 108 and 104 points, respectively.
Friday is always the longest and most grueling day of this season-ending event as there’s a lot of emotion involved, both for the guys who win and advance and for those who suffer heart-breaking defeats.
Bradley coach Ben Smith has been through these wars for a number of years, so he knows just how tough it can be regardless of the team standings.
“I’m exhausted,” he said shortly after the action had ended for the day.
“The Bears had a pretty good day by winning five of seven in the semis. That wasn’t bad as we got two major decisions and two pins. Six would have been great and seven would have been totally amazing.
“We let down in a couple of spots and some of the ones who lost are seniors. It’s a real high for those who win and a real low for those who don’t, but I’m hurting for those guys who won’t earn a medal for their hard work,” Smith added.
Cleveland coach Josh Bosken knows exactly what Smith is talking about, but maybe to a greater degree.
“We had a rough time in the semis as we only won one of five. We had great effort as always, but we wrestled some really good kids and just got beat as we couldn’t figure a way to get it done,” the first-year coach explained.
“Colton Landers is our only finalist and he’s finished second the past two years. I’m hoping that he can go out with a state title in his final attempt, but he did what he was supposed to do and he’s had a great season.
“Titus Swafford had an outstanding day for us. He got beat in the first round yesterday, but came back and has now won five straight matches. He finished fourth in the region, but the three guys who finished ahead of him are all out, so I’m really proud of him.
“I was pleased with our effort, but not the outcome. I just hope we can come back and win a bunch of matches in the consolation finals Saturday as Tennessee High is just two and a half points behind us,” Bosken said.
Bradley’s five finalists include T.J. Hicks at 113, Ryan McElhaney at 132, Knox Fuller at 145, Austin Mathews at 152 and Caleb Adkins at 160. The four Bears in the consolation rounds include Wes Devaney at 106, Andy Robinson at 138, Kevin Gentry at 195 and D.J. Gibson at 220.
While Landers is the only finalist for Cleveland, other Blue Raiders still fighting in the consolations include Garret Bowers at 113, Bryce Pond at 120, Cody Mathews at 138, Seth Garcia at 220 and Swafford at 285.
Saturday’s action begins with the consolation semifinals at 10 a.m. (CST) and will be followed by the consolation finals for third and fifth place while the championship finals are set for 5 p.m. local time.
AAA TEAM SCORES FOLLOWING FRIDAY ROUNDS: 1. Bradley Central 204; 2. Cleveland 133; 3. Tennessee 130.5; 4. Independence 108; 5. Wilson Central 104; 6. Beech 91; 7. Mt. Juliet 89; 8. Blackman 88; 9. Halls 87.5; 10. Arlington 81.
OTHER CHATTANOOGA AREA SCHOOLS: 13. Soddy Daisy 70; 25. East Hamilton 37; 31. Walker Valley 27; 34. Rhea County 20; 58. McMinn County 8; 62. Ooltewah 6.
RESULTS FROM AAA CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
106 – Trent Nelson (Tennessee) dec. Christian Isbell (Clarksville), 9-2
106 – Noah Horst (Beech) pinned Wesley Devaney (Bradley), 1:59.
113 – T.J. Hicks (Bradley) pinned Michael Cannon (Arlington), 2:36;
113 – Brayden Palmer (Beech) dec. Garret Bowers (Cleveland), 8-5.
120 – Calvin Martin (William Blount) dec. Nathan Wysong (Science Hill), 2-0 in overtime;
120 – Sean Sesnan (Wilson Central) dec. Bryce Pond (Cleveland), 4-2 in overtime;
126 – Daniel Fowler (Independence) dec. Landon Wheaton (Soddy Daisy), 3-1;
126 – Jack Shrader (Franklin) pinned Austin Plumlee (Mt. Juliet), 4:44;
132 – Ryan McElhaney (Bradley) major dec. Daniel Bradford (Blackman), 11-0;
132 – Colton Landers (Cleveland) pinned Nathan Porter (Summit), 2:44;
138 – Dewey Pendley (Tennessee) dec. Cody Mathews (Cleveland), 13-8;
138 – Zachrey Wilkins (Mt. Juliet) pinned Brady Ingram (Independence), 4:55;
145 – Knox Fuller (Bradley) major dec. Joshua Teaster (Heritage), 12-1;
145 – Tony Wilson (Soddy Daisy) won ultimate tie breaker over Jason Chambers (Stewarts Creek), 5-4;
152 – Landon Fowler (Blackman) pinned Trevor Rippy (Beech), 5:36;
152 – Austin Mathews (Bradley) dec. Arthur James (Science Hill), 5-1;
160 – Matthew Sells (Blackman) major dec. Mikel Gregory (Walker Valley), 9-1;
160 – Caleb Adkins (Bradley) pinned Joseph Garrett (Beech), 5:38;
170 – Colton McMahan (Halls) dec. Sawyer Knott (Summit), 12-6;
170 – Max Grayson (Bearden) dec. Dawson Satterfield (William Blount), 4-2;
182 – Hunter Fortner (Gibbs) dec. Aaron Moore (Arlington), 8-2;
182 – Christian Salter (Siegel) major dec. Brent Buckman (Halls), 14-5;
195 – Jeremy Spangler (Tennessee) dec. Dawson Johnson (Bartlett), 12-6;
195 – Nathan Walling (Mt. Juliet) dec. Kevin Gentry (Bradley), 7-1;
220 – Isaiah Demello (Independence) dec. Seth Garcia (Cleveland), 11-6;
220 – Javier Salvador (Heritage) pinned Alan Roaten (Arlington), 4:14;
285 – Nick Boykin (Riverdale) pinned Christopher Keller (Independence), 2:33;
285 – Michael Kramer (Wilson Central) pinned Luke Champion (Tullahoma), :35.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)