It’s McCallie-Baylor Week, UTC hosts a strong team in The Citadel on Sunday and East Ridge is one win away from returning to the state duals for the first time in 20 years.
While there are some important matches on tap, there will also be time to honor a couple of legends in the sport.
Schaack Van Deusen – longtime Baylor assistant coach will be honored Friday prior to the McCallie-Baylor match (6 p.m.
at Baylor) as the school will unveil a bust of Van Deusen created by Cessna Decosimo.
Van Deusen retired from Baylor last spring, but still stays close to the program and is at nearly every match taking notes and cheering on the Red Raiders.
Jim Morgan – Coach Morgan will be recognized Sunday at the UTC-The Citadel Southern Conference match at Maclellan Gym at 2 p.m.
It’s Legends Weekend for the Mocs wrestling program as national champions and All-Americans from the Jim Morgan Era (1969-1984) will be introduced.
Key Matches This Week:
* Hixson at East Ridge … Tuesday 6 p.m. … an A-AA non-region match that should be exciting … Hixson clinched the Region 5 title last week and East Ridge is the favorite to win Region 4 later this week.
* Cleveland at Walker Valley … Wednesday, 7 p.m. … this region match will help determine the order of finish in Region 4
* AAA Region 4 Duals … Thursday at Cleveland … four quality teams in Soddy-Daisy, Cleveland, Bradley Central and Walker Valley go at it with only the top two teams advancing to the AAA state duals in Franklin, Feb. 1-2
* East Hamilton at Notre Dame … Thursday at 6 p.m. in an A-AA Region 4 match at the home of the Irish … Notre Dame needs a win to stay in contention for the region crown.
* McCallie at Baylor ... Friday 6 p.m. … an important D-II match, this series goes back to the 1940s … The expected standing room-only crowd will be on hand as Baylor is the favorite …
* Father Ryan (2-0) hosts Brentwood Academy (Wed. 1/23) and MBA (Sat. 1/26) as the five teams in the D-II East/Middle Region fight for placement in the upcoming state duals in Franklin ... Father Ryan is 2-0 with wins against McCallie and Baylor on Jan. 2 … Baylor and McCallie are 1-1, MBA is 1-2 and BA is 0-1 ...
* Notre Dame at East Ridge … Friday at 6 p.m. … The Pioneers of coach Brad Laxton need this win to clinch a spot in the A-AA state duals for the first time in 20 years when the Orange and White placed fifth in 1993 … The Pioneer program has six state traditional titles and one state duals championship (1991) ... First place East Ridge beat two-time defending A-AA state duals champion Chattanooga Central in a region match earlier this season … Notre Dame won three straight A-AA state duals titles, 2006-07-08 and won three straight traditional state titles, 1963-64-65.
* UTC vs. The Citadel ... Sunday 2 p.m. at Maclellan Gym … The two-time defending SoCon champs UTC hosts The Citadel (2-0) … The Citadel beat App. State on the road to snap the Mountaineers 11-match SoCon win streak.
Legends Weekend … large turnout is expected from UTC wrestling alums as greats from the past will be introduced …
National Record, 84-0… Walker Valley and Cleveland posted 84-0 wins recently to tie a national record with numerous other schools for points in a match…
Southern Scuffle 2014 … Stanford has agreed to a three-year commitment to the Scuffle, 2014-2016 …
UTC coach Heath Eslinger said that 400 wrestlers is the maximum number that can participate … In the upcoming years, he would like to have at least one school from each wrestling conference.
2013 Teams
ACC – Duke, Virginia, UNC, N.C. State
Big 10 – Minnesota, Penn State
Big 12 – Oklahoma State
Big Sky – Northern Colorado
Colonial Athletic Assoc. – Boston U., Old Dominion
EWIA- American, Army, Cornell, Navy, Cleveland State
Mid-American Conference - Ohio
PAC-12 – Arizona State
Southern Conference – UTC, The Citadel, App State, Campbell
Southeastern Conference - Missouri
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net