Ooltewah, Cleveland Part of AAA Field
by John Hunt
posted February 1, 2008
It's no secret that the Bradley Bears will be in the hunt when the State Duals wrestling tournament convenes at Clarksville High School late Friday afternoon.
Bradley is the top-ranked public-school team that enters the weekend competition with a perfect 19-0 record and championship trophies from all four tournaments they've entered this season.
The Bears are the top-seeded team in the AAA bracket, but there are two other local teams that would like to have a say in which team gets to celebrate the most late Saturday night.
Cleveland and Ooltewah are the other two entries. Ooltewah gained an automatic berth by winning the Region 4 title while Cleveland earned a wildcard spot by defeating Soddy Daisy, the defending State Duals champion, last Saturday.
Friday's action will feature two championship rounds and the first round of consolations. The ever-important championship semis are set for 2 p.m. (EST) on Saturday with the championship match slated to begin about 8:30, Chattanooga time.
Bradley will be on the mat for the opening round at 4:30 against the Northwest Vikings. Hendersonville and Antioch battle for the right to meet the Bradley-Northwest winner in the second round.
Cleveland and Ooltewah will get involved in the second session at 6:30 with Cleveland facing William Blount and Ooltewah being challenged by the Overton Bobcats. Should Cleveland win, they would face the winner of the Clarksville-Science Hill match in the second round while Ooltewah potentially would face the winner of Arlington and Blackman.
Bradley has a Bear paw on the back of its singlets, but it may as well be a giant bulls-eye because everyone in the state is gunning for them. That comes as no surprise to anyone as Bradley has been the dominant team in this competition for the last 15 years.
The Bears have been in the finals 13 times and they have eight state titles to their credit. They finished as the runner-up to Soddy Daisy last year after winning in 2006. Bradley coach Steve Logsdon will be satisfied with nothing less than another appearance in Saturday night's finals.
"The Bears are feeling good and we're ready to wrestle," Logsdon said earlier in the week.
"It seems like a good draw, but we know that people are gunning for us. All we want to do is continue the tradition we've started. We don't see these teams very often as most of our tournament competition is out of state, but I can promise you we're not overlooking anyone," Logsdon continued.
"What we do is prepare to wrestle Bradley-style and try to force that on our opponents. If we can do that, the results will take care of themselves. This is a unique tournament where team effort means everything. You have to be well-rounded where the little things play a big role.
"But it's always nice to have a State Duals title in your pocket. It seems to take the pressure off the rest of the way, but both mean a lot. Our intent is to keep winning this weekend," he added.
Senior Dean Pavlou is Bradley's only unbeaten wrestler and he's penciled in at 145 pounds. He's also a defending state champion. Junior David Graham is also a defending state champ who is set at 135 while 119-pound Logan Biddy finished third at 119 a year ago.
Ooltewah enters with a 16-2 record, the losses being against Cleveland early and Baylor on Jan. 10. Coach Wendell Weathers has his team in peak condition and the Owls would like nothing less than to win their first title this weekend after finishing third a year ago.
"We're as good as we're going to get," Weathers explained.
"We're glad that Bradley is on the other side of the bracket, but we can't afford to overlook anyone. We have a tough match with Overton right off the bat. We beat them earlier, but it's tough to beat the same team twice in the same year.
"We've had some great practices in recent weeks and these guys appear to be focused. They've turned it up a notch and are driven to succeed. Our kids are going to Clarksville expecting to win and we want nothing less, but it will be tough," Weathers continued.
"I marvel at the machine Bradley has developed in recent years. What's amazing is the fact they've been able to sustain that kind of success for a long time. We want to experience some of the same success," the coach added.
Ooltewah has two unbeaten individuals in 130-pound Cody Hood (35-0) and heavyweight Cody Sliger, who is perfect in 15 matches. He sustained a major gash in his leg in late November and basically missed the entire month of December. He is a defending state champ and he's already committed to the UTC Mocs, so he knows what it's like on this level.
Jake Young is Ooltewah's other defending state champ who has lost just once at 171 pounds.
The Cleveland Blue Raiders may be the dark horse in the race, but coach Heath Eslinger is just thrilled to be part of the 16-team field.
"Everyone has the same record at this point. We've been winning the close matches all year, so hopefully we can win a few more this weekend. We're just an average team that's been overachieving all year long. That excites me as their coach.
"We know we have to get past William Blount and then possibly Clarksville and that would be a fun match in their gym. What we really want is a third shot at Bradley. It really doesn't matter what our record is. They only present banners for weekends like this. We'll give it our best shot and see what happens," Eslinger added.
Senior Josh Jadoobirsingh hasn't been in the lineup for the past few weeks while he got his weight down, but he's set to go at 112 and he's the leader of the team as its only defending state champion.
Harold Gage is another senior who is 27-2 at 160 with both losses to nationally-ranked opponents. Junior Bryan Alvarado is set at 103 pounds and he could make a difference.
Cleveland enters with a 22-5 worksheet, including two wins over Soddy Daisy and one over Father Ryan, which was top-ranked fat the time. Collins Hill, Christiansburg and Baylor have all claimed one win over the Blue Raiders while Bradley has prevailed twice.
This is the first trip to the State Duals for Cleveland since finishing second in the small-school division in 1994. The Blue Raiders were champions in '92 and '93 in the small division.
Hixson and Notre Dame are local entrants in the A-AA division while Baylor and McCallie will be battling for honors in D-II at Father Ryan in Nashville.
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