Bradley Central's three-time defending state champion Knox Fuller (top) controls Cleveland's Caleb Eachus in their 145-pound bout from January 12th at the Raider Arena. Fuller eventually won the bout by a fall at 4:41, but the Blue Raiders won the match by 30-29 to remain unbeaten for the season. Both teams will be in action at the State Duals this coming weekend in Franklin, Tenn. The Bears will be defending their championship from last year, while Cleveland hopes to return to the top of the Class AAA heap.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo
The most fun part of the high school wrestling season is finally here.
All the dual meets are over and those personal battles to maintain a certain weight are almost over as well. And we won’t even mention those long and grueling practices that make weekends like this so worthwhile.
We’re down to the final three weekends and this first one will feature the annual State Duals tournament at the spacious Williamson County Agricultural Exposition in Franklin.
Competition will include 32 teams in three divisions – 16 in AAA while eight teams will battle in A-AA and Division II.
No doubt the huge arena is pretty much quiet today as tournament workers work to get the eight mats in just the right spots and to make sure everything will unfold as planned on Friday and Saturday.
Action begins Friday afternoon with quarterfinal rounds in Division II and Class A-AA getting things started at 3 p.m. (CST). The 16 teams in the AAA competition follow with first-round matches at 5.
All of those first round winners will then wrestle another match at 7 while the losers wait until first thing Saturday morning for consolation rounds to begin.
Defending champions include Red Bank in A-AA, Bradley Central in AAA and Father Ryan in D-II. The Lions didn’t qualify this year, but the Bears and Purple Irish are sure to be in the thick of things before the championship hardware is distributed Saturday night.
Hixson and Notre Dame are Chattanooga’s entries in the A-AA field while Bradley and Cleveland will lead the way in AAA. McCallie and Baylor are the D-II entries.
HIXSON: The Wildcats didn’t qualify last year, but were the runner-up in 2015 after four straight years of finishing third. Hixson won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 after finishing second in 2008.
Hixson might just have the toughest first-round match of all as they face Greeneville. The Wildcats appear to be peaking at the right time and they’re hoping to surprise a few folks before it’s over.
“I think we’re ready to roll, but we just want to stay focused on one point at a time and one match at a time,” said veteran coach Garrick Hall, his team 17-3 at this point.
“We went to Greeneville’s tournament this year and I’m not sure if that helped us or not, but I’m ready to go and hope my kids are ready too. The majority of my kids have been to this tournament and hopefully, they won’t be intimidated by the surroundings.
“We just have to make sure our head is screwed on right and play the cards we’re dealt. No question we’ll have to win some big matches and we have to perform to our ability, but this is what we live for. I just hope we’ll be wrestling on Saturday night,” Hall said during a phone conversation Wednesday afternoon.
While Hixson faces 25-4 Greeneville in its first match, the winner will face the Greenbrier-Alcoa winner.
NOTRE DAME: The Fighting Irish had a tough run here last year as they lost to Red Bank and Greeneville in their first two matches.
The Irish won three straight titles in 2008-2010 and finished runner-up to Hixson in 2009. Notre Dame also enters the tournament at 17-3, but everyone knows this team is stronger and more talented from top to bottom than last year.
“We’re excited about the possibilities as we’re always glad to get to the post-season,” said second-year head coach Rocco Mansueto on Wednesday.
“I don’t know much about Stratford, but I know we’re going with some intent. We have a relatively-young team with seven of our 13 individuals either first or second year wrestlers. Most of our second-year guys have doubled their win totals from last year and a lot of our first-year guys have winning records, so we’re excited.
“If we wrestle hard, we’ll be okay. We’ve turned on the switch every match and I have no doubt the effort will be there again on Friday. There seems to be a bit more parity this year, so hopefully we’ll do better,” Mansueto added.
The winner of the Notre Dame-Stratford match will face the Pigeon Forge-Page winner Friday evening.
CLEVELAND: The Blue Raiders are the only unbeaten team competing this weekend and are looking to get back on the winning track after not qualifying last year. They won the previous three Duals titles and hope to make it four out of the last five.
They won their own Cleveland Duals in early December by dominating Baylor and Father Ryan before posting a 34-33 win over Bradley in the championship match. They proved it wasn’t a fluke after Cleveland prevailed 30-29 in their dual meet with the Bears in mid-January.
Most folks are anticipating a third Cleveland-Bradley match in the championship Saturday night.
“We’re excited about the upcoming weekend,” said first-year Cleveland head coach Josh Bosken.
“This is the most healthy and most focused we’ve been all season. We have a great group of kids and we’re ready to compete. We just want to have fun, score a lot of points and enjoy the weekend. Win or lose, we just want to enjoy the experience as it’s the last time we’ll get to compete as a dual-meet team and we’re hoping to send out our seniors on a positive note.
“It’s been a great ride this season and we just want the Cleveland fans to be proud of our effort. We’ve done well here in recent years and hope to do well this weekend,” Bosken added.
Cleveland faces 22-6 Maryville in its first match Friday afternoon and would meet the Summit-Gibbs winner in the quarterfinals. Summit is coached by former Cleveland standout Pete Miller, son of legendary coach Al Miller.
BRADLEY: Coach Ben Smith tries to stay cool, calm and collected, but those who know the likable guy know that just isn’t always possible.
Nobody hurt any more than Smith when his team lost those two heartbreakers to Cleveland earlier in the season, but he’s also not crying over spilled milk. He knows from his own experience after being part of so many championship teams what it takes to claim the top prize and he’s confident his team has the tools to defend its title.
The Bears have won 11 Duals titles since 1998 and were either the champions or runner-up for ever year since 1998 until 2013 when Cleveland won its first of three titles.
Bradley will face Knoxville Halls in Friday’s first match and would face the Heritage-Houston winner with a win.
“We’re getting there. We’re just staying below the radar, keeping our mouths shut and continuing to work hard. It’s really nerve-wracking with all the stuff you can’t control, but we’re just zeroing in on what we do have control over. If we’re not excited by now, we never will be,” Smith said earlier this week.
And what about the Red Devils in the first round?
“They came to our tournament and I know they’re a tough team. It won’t be an easy first-round match, but we’re just focusing on what we need to do to be ready for them.
“Cleveland is the team to beat. We’re the defending champions, but Cleveland has earned that top spot and they’re number one. We both have an advantage in that we’ve been in big matches all year and we have experience at this tournament. It’s what every team aspires for and that’s to wrestle well in February.
“We definitely have a veteran team going, but at least five have never competed in this tournament before. We just need to get bonus points where possible and to win all the close ones. The sleepers in our lineup have to step up and perform, but this is just a great opportunity for them to make a name for themselves,” Smith concluded.
BAYLOR: The Red Raiders are the top-seed from the Middle-East Region after beating MBA, Father Ryan and McCallie in dual meets. Baylor, like Bradley, has won a bunch of Duals titles with nine total. Father Ryan beat Baylor in the finals last year after the Red Raiders had prevailed in 2014 and 2015.
But this is the year when this division is wide open as any of five teams have the ability to take the biggest prize.
Baylor, now 10-2 after a five-point win over McCallie last Saturday, will face Memphis University School in Friday’s opening round. A win in that match would advance them to a fight with the MBA-Father Ryan winner.
“It should be a really fun weekend,” said Baylor coach Ben Nelson Wednesday afternoon.
“It should be a close race as any of five teams could come out on top. We’ll have to beat some really good teams if we expect to reach our goal of winning the state duals, but we’ll take ‘em as they come.
“In matches this close, bonus points will be key in the matches we win and limiting them in the ones we lose will be critical. I’ve never known this division to be so even as far as talent is concerned,” Nelson added.
McCALLIE: The Blue Tornado last won a state duals title in 2006 and another in 2003, but finished fourth last year after taking third in 2015. McCallie could be the dark horse this year with a host of outstanding individuals leading the way.
Senior Ethan Dendy is the only unbeaten McCallie wrestler at 22-0 while 170-pound Juday Duhm is 24-1 with the only loss being to Baylor’s Khamari Whimper earlier in the season. Duhm had minor knee surgery a couple of weeks back and didn’t wrestle against Baylor last weekend, but McCallie coach Mike Newman is optimistic that he’ll be cleared and ready to go on Friday.
“We always look forward to this tournament and it should be really interesting this weekend,” Newman said Wednesday.
“It’s so even, I won’t be surprised at who wins, but the team that has the best weekend will win. We’ve had a great week of practice so far. We face Brentwood Academy in our first match and really don’t know much about them.
“We feel like we have as good a shot as anyone, but we just have to be consistent and wrestle the best we can. It’s never been this close before, so it’s all about who shows up ready to perform,” he explained.
While Dendy is unbeaten and Duhm has only one loss, three others just have two defeats, including senior Brock Herring at 21-2, junior River Henry at 26-2 and Alex Whitworth, a promising eighth-grader who is 20-2.
All the championship matches will be contested Saturday night with a 7 p.m. start (CST).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)