CLEVELAND, Tenn. – This is a story about the three Bears.
The high school wrestling season is over, but what a memorable season it was for the Bradley Bears as they repeated as double state champions by winning the duals and traditional tournaments in Franklin.
The Bears have built quite a reputation in recent years with coaches like Turner Jackson, Steve Logsdon, Chad Laxton and now Ben Smith leading the way.
The Bears have earned 26 state team titles along the way and have won 69 individual titles, including three this year.
Knox Fuller, T.J. Hicks and Austin Mathews all celebrated on the top step of the podium after winning their respective weight classes as Bradley waltzed to another team title.
Fuller won his fourth straight title and becomes just the second Bradley wrestler to accomplish that feat while Hicks is now the fifth Bear to win for the third time. Mathews was a first-time champion.
Fuller’s pin over Soddy Daisy’s Tony Wilson completed an undefeated senior season where he was 58-0. As you might expect, he was a unanimous pick as the AAA Outstanding Wrestler. His career record stands at a gaudy 162-4, which is a winning percentage of 97.5. He is also a four-time region champ.
“That was the goal, so it was pretty big for me,” the 18-year-old son of Erin Alford and Roger Fuller said of his most recent state title.
“I thought I might have been in contention for OW, but a pin is what I wanted in the finals. The first state title was one of the most memorable, but this last one hasn’t had time to sink in yet,” he said after joining the late, great Matt Keller as Bradley’s only four-time state champ.
“I was kind of scared as a freshman as I was skinny, weak and young, but I worked hard and I’ve gotten a lot stronger in the off-season. I can be really flexible at times, but I’ve wrestled for so long that I really don’t have to think about what to do,” he responded with a smile.
Fuller reports to West Point on July 3 where he will wrestle for former Soddy Daisy standout Kevin Ward. As you might expect, his daily workouts will continue as he stays in shape, but he just wants to enjoy time with family and friends until then.
Hicks is the 17-year-old son of Tommy and Tracy Hicks. He has an older sister Sam, but he is the oldest of triplets, including Amanda and Trey, who was Bradley’s 120-pounder this season.
He too has an impressive record as he was 45-1 for the season, his only loss in overtime to Cleveland’s Garret Bowers in their dual meet on January 12. He was unbeaten last year and his career mark is now an impressive 125-2. Overall, he lost four matches after finishing runner-up at the NHSCA Junior Nationals at Virginia Beach last year and third at the Flo Nationals.
T.J. now joins guys like Quinn Gibson, Shawn Cordell, David Graham and Toribio Navarro as three-time state champs.
“It was okay,” T.J. responded on his feelings about the season that just ended.
“I was undefeated last year and hoped to be again this year, but I ended up beating Bowers four times this year. I’m part of a very elite club at Bradley, but last year was a lot better as I won all 49 matches and had 40 pins. That one loss this year put a damper on the whole season.”
The loss to Bowers was his first since November 2014 when he lost to Archer’s Alex Smith at the Archer Duals. He got beat out in challenge matches as a freshman by Ryan McElhaney, but has been the starter ever since.
“As soon as my freshman year ended, I saw myself as our starter at 106 the next year. I’ve had a good career at Bradley and I never really felt like I was in any danger of losing this year. I beat Christian Simpson 10-1 in the finals of the Father Ryan tournament and he was probably my toughest match,” he said of the three-time champ for the Purple Irish.
T.J. is looking to wrestle at UTC next fall as he pursues a major in education.
“I hope to be a high school teacher in history or physical education and I also want to coach wrestling,” he expressed what his future plans include.
Hicks beat Brayden Palmer of Beech in the championship finals this year as Palmer suffered his first loss of the year when Hicks prevailed 3-0.
“I was hoping to beat him worse than I did, but he just laid on bottom the whole time. I was disappointed the score wasn’t worse, but I just go out and wrestle and I don’t hang my hat on three state titles,” he said.
Mathews wasn’t sure how many matches he won, although he admitted that he was forty-something and four overall.
“It was awesome as I was so excited to finally have all the hard work pay off,” he said in response to his 6-3 decision over Blackman’s Landon Fowler in the championship finals at 152 pounds.
“I finished third in the state last year and was a two-year starter, but I feel honored to be a Bradley state champion as there’s been a long tradition before me. I just went out and did my job.”
“I felt a little relief when Trevor Rippy of Beech got beat in the semis. He was the guy expected to win my weight class, but the kid I beat pinned him in the semis. I knew if I could stay off bottom that I could win the match, but it was a big moment for me.
“It was also bittersweet as that was the end wrestling for Bradley, but it was really exciting. I’m planning to wrestle in college next year, but I’m just not sure where right now,” explained the son of Brent and Missy Mathews.
This young man has come a long way since the beginning.
“I’ve grown up and matured, but I was the fat, annoying kid that nobody liked at the start as I was always bugging the older guys,” he admitted.
And what about his future plans?
“I’m planning to be a special ed teacher. I’m part of the peer tutoring program and I’ve completely fallen in love with those kids. I’ve learned so much from them and my involvement with them has shown me how much I care about the progress they make,” he concluded.
“I love these guys like my own children,” Smith said when asked about what they mean to him personally and the Bradley wrestling program.
“We’ve grown up together as they were four and five years old with I first started coaching with the kids club in 2003. I know I’ll never have 20 titles like Steve Logsdon, but it’s nice to have an OW, a four-time winner and a three-timer.
“It’s always fun to look at stats, but my goal is to help these guys become outstanding young men who will make positive contributions in our community. All the other stuff is just icing on the cake.
“I’m really pleased with how our season ended. We faced some adversity early, but I’m glad we could bounce back. A lot of other teams would have imploded with two losses to Cleveland like we had, but we never wavered from our plan.
“We had our eyes on February and it’s nice that it paid off. But I’m relieved the season is over. Last year, we were the hunter, but this year we were the hunted and it seemed less enjoyable. Everything has to go right to win a state championship. Losing to Cleveland the way we did was tough, but the more we wrestled them, the better it was for us.
“Knox is a special young man who always seems to make the right decisions. He’s very self-motivated and a lot of kids ran from him this year, but he never lost focus.
“T.J. is a whole lot like me personality wise. He’s hard-nosed kid who taught me a lot about patience.
“Austin is what Bradley wrestling is all about. He went from an average middle-school kid to a state champion. He never quit as he was always working. He’s a true gentleman and a fine outstanding young man, but when the whistle blows, he gets after it.
“His winning was not a surprise to us, but it was to a lot of folks. Knox and T.J. were expected to win,” Smith concluded.
All the hard work and long practices are over for Knox Fuller, T. J. Hicks and Austin Mathews. The hay is in the barn and these guys have been richly rewarded for paying the price of success.
And that’s what makes the job so much fun for guys like Ben Smith.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)