The pairings have been announced for the 2018 State Duals wrestling tournament, which begins Friday afternoon at the spacious Williamson County Agricultural Exposition in Franklin.
Six teams from the Chattanooga will be battling for top honors. Cleveland and Soddy Daisy are among the 16 AAA teams while Signal Mountain and Hixson are among eight A-AA teams battling for first place. McCallie and Baylor are the two entries in the Division II contest.
All of Friday's first-round winners will wrestle a second match later in the day while Friday's losers return for consolation matches first thing Saturday morning.
The AAA teams hit the mats first with top-ranked Cleveland battling Centennial and Soddy Daisy facing Brentwood. The Cleveland-Centennial winner would face the winner of William Blount and Wilson Central while the Soddy Daisy-Brentwood victor would tackle the Houston-Heritage winner.
Signal Mountain takes on Greeneville in the first A-AA match with the winner taking on the winner between Nolensville and Fairview. Hixson faces Gibbs with that winner advancing to a semifinal match with the winner between Alcoa and Greenbrier.
Then in Division II, McCallie will face Brentwood Academy with the winner facing the winner of Christian Brothes and Knoxville Grace. Baylor has MUS in its first match with the winner advancing to face the Father Ryan-MBA winner.
Two of the three defending champions didn't even make the field this year, including Bradley in AAA and Pigeon Forge in A-AA.
Cleveland was runner-up to Bradley last year in AAA while Greeneville was second to Pigeon Forge in A-AA. Father Ryan beat McCallie for the D-II title a year ago while Christian Brothers beat Baylor for third place.
All of the championship matches for all divisions are set for 5:30 (CST) on Saturday.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)