A high school wrestling tournament has never been won on paper, but based on the seedings for the upcoming Region 2-A/AA tournament at Signal Mountain this weekend, Hixson and Notre Dame are picked as the teams to beat.
Hixson has four individuals who received number-one seeds for their respective weight classes while Notre Dame followed with three.
Boyd-Buchanan, Central and Chattanooga Christian were afforded two each while East Ridge earned the other.
The other representatives in the 14-team field include Brainerd, Sale Creek, Sequatchie County, Signal Mountain, Tyner and Howard.
Action begins at 6 p.m. Friday evening and will run through the championship quarterfinals and the first round of consolations. It all starts back on Saturday morning at 10 and will run straight through to the championship and consolation finals, tentatively set to start around 3:30.
Tickets are $7 per person each day.
Red Bank is the defending champion for this region while Hixson was second a year ago and Notre Dame third.
“I feel like Notre Dame is the team to beat and we’re the underdog since they won a match at the state duals and we didn’t,” said Hixson coach Garrick Hall following the noon meeting at the Chili’s in Hixson.
“We just have to show up, make weight and wrestle as hard as we can, but we can’t relax because anybody can lose on any given day. We just need to wrestle up to our potential and do what we’re supposed to do.
“My job is to get as many individuals advanced to the state next week as possible. If we win the region along the way, that’s a bonus,” Hall added.
Notre Dame coach Rocco Mansueto knows that pre-tournment seeds don’t guarantee anything except maybe a little extra pressure for the coaches involved.
“Those seeds mean nothing at this point, but they’re always fun to look at,” he said.
“We still have to wrestle, but I’m always on edge at this point because I want every young man to reach his potential and that doesn’t always happen. But it comes down to who shows up ready to compete two days in a row.
“There’s a lot of parity in this region as everyone is represented. I think Notre Dame has just as good a chance as anyone as we have a great opportunity in front of us,” Mansueto nodded.
Hixson had top-seeded wrestlers in Jacob Newman at 120, Jonas Shackleford at 132, Truman Ross at 220 and Guilano Palacio at 285 while Notre Dame’s three number-ones include Cade Holloway at 106, Grant Speer at 126 and Ned Warwick at 138.
Boyd-Buchanan’s two number ones include Scott Weaver at 113 and Will Watkins at 195 while Central’s two include Isaac Coffman at 145 and Alonzo Heyward at 160. Chattanooga Christian’s two include Justin Wheeler at 152 and Alex Hundley at 170 while the top-seed for East Ridge is Darian Smith at 182.
Wheeler is the only unbeaten entry at 28-0 while Weaver, Hundley and Smith all have just one loss. Weaver is 8-1 while Hundley is 26-1 and Smtih 19-1.
There are five individuals entering the tournament with just two defeats, including Notre Dame’s Holloway at 31-2, Hixson’s Newman at 9-2, Kashawn Cosey of East Ridge at 19-2 and teammate Steven Davoren at 13-2 and Boyd-Buchanan’s Zane Williams, the third seed at 152 who enters at 28-2.
The top four individuals in each weight class advance to the TSSAA traditional state tournament, which begins on Thursday, Feb. 16 in Franklin.
Listed below are the top four seeds in each weight class with their school and individual record.
106 – 1. Cade Holloway (Notre Dame) 31-2; 2. Daniel Uhorchuk (Signal Mountain) 17-3; 3. Haiden Dill (Central) 23-9; 4. Greg Marquez (Hixson) 13-14.
113 – 1. Scott Weaver (Boyd-Buchanan) 8-1; 2. Tucker Gill (Hixson) 25-6; 3. Isaac Tate (Signal Mountain) 16-8; 4. Thomas Loher (Notre Dame) 16-9.
120 – 1. Jacob Newman (Hixson) 9-2; 2. Caiden Cline (Red Bank) 26-12; 3. Jaren Thames (Whitwell) 12-7; 4. Logan Silvers (Sequatchie Co.) 19-4.
126 – 1. Grant Speer (Notre Dame) 34-5; 2. Kashawn Cosey (East Ridge) 19-2; 3. Jay Brock (Sequatchie Co.) 25-5; 4. Jimmy Herrera (Central) 16-11.
132 – 1. Jonas Shackleford (Hixson) 23-5; 2. Dominick Coker (Boyd-Buchanan) 20-7; 3. Zach Gee (Red Bank) 17-18; 4. Nathan Connor (Chattanooga Christian) 11-11.
138 – 1. Ned Warwick (Notre Dame) 26-5; 2. Cederick Harris (Hixson) 25-5; 3. Steven Davoren (East Ridge) 13-2; 4. Lachlan Brandt (Chattanooga Christian) 12-11.
145 – 1. Isaac Coffman (Central) 32-5; 2. Jonah Bird (Red Bank) 28-4; 3. Cameron Weaver (Sequatchie Co.) 24-8; 4. David Hodges (Notre Dame) 23-10.
152 – Justin Wheeler (Chattanooga Christian) 28-0; 2. Daniel Dawson (Signal Mountain) 16-6; 3. Zane Williams (Boyd-Buchanan) 28-2; 4. Alex Spraker (Notre Dame) 17-8.
160 – Alonzo Heyward (Central) 30-3; 2. Daniel Hodges (Notre Dame) 25-9; 3. Jerrold Higginbotham (Hixson) 19-12; 4. Will Davis (Signal Mountain) 15-11.
170 – 1. Alex Hundley (Chattanooga Christian) 26-1; 2. Warren Ashworth (Whitwell) 21-5; 3. Jake Woodlief (Signal Mountain) 19-8; 4. Ashton Tubbs (Red Bank) 12-11.
182 – 1. Darian Smith (East Ridge) 19-1; 2. Kell Stott (Boyd-Buchanan) 22-4; 3. Daniel Mikel (Whitwell) 18-7; 4. Jackson Hash (Red Bank) 15-6.
195 – 1. Will Watkins (Boyd-Buchanan) 24-3; 2. Doogan Boyd (Notre Dame) 22-11; 3. Will Carter (Whitwell) 17-5; 4. Michael Nelson (Chattanooga Christian) 14-7.
220 – 1. Truman Ross (Hixson) 28-3; 2. Devin Suddeth (Red Bank) 32-8; 3. T.D. Argo (Whitwell) 22-4; 4. Griff Wheeler (Chattanooga Christian) 11-3.
285 – 1. Guilano Palacio (Hixson) 25-8; 2. Kobe Bragg (Notre Dame) 22-4; 3. Steven Goff (Signal Mountain) 12-6; 4. Jeremiah Welch (Red Bank) 22-14.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)