CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The top-ranked Cleveland Blue Raiders faced on of its toughest challenges for the current wrestling season on Thursday night at home and they passed with flying colors.
Facing the previously-unbeaten Soddy Daisy Trojans, the once-beaten Blue Raiders finished with a bang as they prevailed in five of the final six matches to win 43-24 after trailing 21-18 following the first eight matches.
Cleveland coach Joey Knox knows that everyone is pointing for his team and that they must respond with their best effort to keep that number-one ranking intact.
“We got some key bonus points there at the end that were huge, but this was sort of a readjustment match for us. We just have to stay humble and stay on track, but everyone is gunning for us and we have to be razor-sharp every time we compete,” he said after a lengthy post-match talk with his team.
“I don’t think we were expecting to get pinned at 145, but Cody just got caught and that’s one of those things. There were a lot of things we did well, but a match like this is always a great learning experience. We just have to keep working hard,” Knox added after his team improved to 20-1 for the season.
Soddy Daisy coach Jim Higgins has all the respect in the world for the Blue Raiders, but he entered Thursday night’s battle fully confident that his team could battle on even terms.
He was right, at least for the first half of the competition.
“I thought we wrestled hard and gave a great effort for the most part, but we came in here thinking this was a winnable match for us,” Higgins began shortly after the last match ended.
“We wrestled well in spots, but we paid the price in those matches we didn’t wrestle well. They won more matches than we did and they got more bonus points. Normally teams that do that win the match, but we can’t wait to see them again.
“We didn’t wrestle as well as we needed to, but I think we proved that we’re capable of wrestling with anyone,” he concluded.
Each team traded wins in the first eight matches with neither team able to string any wins together.
Perhaps the best match of the evening came at 145 pounds in the opening battle where Soddy Daisy’s top-ranked Tony Wilson was facing Cleveland’s second-ranked Cody Mathews.
Wilson had a 6-4 lead after the first period before Mathews knotted the score at 8-8 after two.
Wilson appeared to be tiring in the third period as it was still anybody’s match in the final minute before Wilson threw Mathews to his back and got the pin call from referee Jake Sewell with 10 seconds left.
Hayden Maynor had a major decision at 160, Bryce Settles had a second-period pin at 182 and Ty Boeck won by technical fall at 220.
Cleveland countered with a regular decision from Cael Laxton at 152, a technical fall from Dylan Jones at 170 and a major decision from Logan Strickland at 195 before a first-minute pin from Titus Swafford at 285 got the Blue Raiders within three at 21-18.
Trae McDaniel then gave the Blue Raiders their first lead of the night with a pin at 106 while Jackson Bradford extended the difference to 30-21 with a pin at 113.
Jacob Pratt posted an 11-5 decision at 120 to keep Soddy Daisy in contention before Bryce Pond, Jayce Mullin and Logan Whiteside all prevailed with a pin, a regular decision and a major decision, respectively.
Cleveland ended the match with nine wins in 14 matches, including four pins, one technical fall and two majors while Soddy Daisy had two pins, one technical fall and one major decision.
Soddy Daisy will be in action this weekend at the Father Ryan Invitational while Cleveland returns to action next Thursday with a big match against arch-rival Bradley at the Jim Smiddy Arena.
BRADLEY GOT FOUR pins on Thursday night en route to a 46-19 victory at Walker Valley.
Glen O’Daniel, Ian Marchesa, Andy Robinson and D.J. Gibson had pins for the Bears while Brenden Hooker and Tyler King had pins for Walker Valley.
CLEVELAND 43, SODDY DAISY 24
(Match Began At 145 Pounds)
106 – Trae McDaniel (Cl) pinned Jacob Allen, 3:51;
113 – Jackson Bradford (Cl) pinned Cole Prestwood, 2:52;
120 – Jacob Pratt (SD) dec. Burns Meagher, 11-5;
126 – Bryce Pond (Cl) pinned Briston Hatfield, 3:22;
132 – Jayce Mullin (Cl) dec. Jacob Kilgore, 3-0;
138 – Logan Whiteside (Cl) major dec. Landon Lewis, 16-6;
145 – Tony Wilson (SD) pinned Cody Mathews, 5:50;
152 – Cael Laxton (Cl) dec. Bobby Vincent, 10-3;
160 – Hayden Maynor (SD) major dec. Zach Brezna, 13-2;
170 – Dylan Jones (Cl) won by technical fall over Thomas Faires, 4:57;
182 – Bryce Settles (SD) pinned Jack Hicks, 3:00;
195 – Logan Strickland (Cl) major dec. Brent Settles, 17-9;
220 – Ty Boeck (SD) won by technical fall over Wilson Benefield, 4:20;
285 – Titus Swafford (Cl) pinned Addison Roberts, :34.
BRADLEY 46, WALKER VALLEY 19
(Match Began At 220 Pounds)
106 – Glen O’Daniel (BC) pinned Karson Huff, 4:00;
113 – Chandler Davis (WV) major dec. Wes Devaney, 10-2;
120 – Daniel Mroz (BC) major dec. James Jur, 11-0;
126 – Gaven Hughes (BC) major dec. Conner Fay, 17-4;
132 – Tyler King (WV) pinned Alex Dees, 5:19;
138 – Ian Marchesa (BC) pinned Chris Johnson, 2:40;
145 – Andy Robinson (BC) pinned Zeth Haynie, 1:06;
152 – Skyler Bradley (BC) dec. Joey Vecchione, 8-4;
160 – Seth Gerena (BC) dec. Heath Tanksley, 10-7;
170 – Henley Headrick (BC) won by technical fall over Kalum Lowe, 5:57;
182 – Larry Johnson (BC) dec. Tristan Mason, 4-2 in overtime;
195 – D.J. Gibson (BC) pinned Cody Duggan, 4:58;
220 – Stephen Hurley (WV) dec. Kevin Gentry, 7-6;
285 – Brenden Hooker (WV) pinned Gavin Sewell, 3:53.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)