Top-Ranked Baylor Wrestlers Whip McCallie, 50-16

Red Raiders Get Seven Pins, One Technical Fall In Nine Matches Won

  • Friday, January 24, 2020
  • John Hunt
McCallie's James Howard woks for a takedown against Baylor's Sammy Christensen during their 285-pound match at McCallie on Friday.  Howard won this match by a 6-0 decision, but Baylor prevailed overall by a 50-16 final.
McCallie's James Howard woks for a takedown against Baylor's Sammy Christensen during their 285-pound match at McCallie on Friday. Howard won this match by a 6-0 decision, but Baylor prevailed overall by a 50-16 final.
photo by Lawson Whitaker

Baylor beat McCallie for the Division II State Duals wrestling title last year in Franklin, the Red Raiders winning a close match by a 36-32 final score.

Apparently, those Baylor wrestlers haven’t forgotten just how close it was, so their goal when they entered McCallie’s Sports and Activities Center Friday night was to prove these two teams aren’t quite as close as some folks would like to believe.

Consider Baylor’s mission accomplished in a big way with a couple of exclamation points on the end for good measure.

Baylor, which beat that same McCallie team by some 19 points in the traditional tournament two weeks later last February, has been the top-ranked team in the state ever since.  Their only three losses this season have come in out-of-state tournaments against some nationally-ranked opponents.

They have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are the best team in Tennessee and Friday’s 50-16 victory over the host Blue Tornado is just proof of it.

The match began at 160 pounds where McCallie’s three-time defending state champ Alex Whitworth had to have a reverse with 13 seconds left to beat Omaury Alvarez in a 6-4 decision.

Gavin Cagle followed with a 9-5 decision over Ronald Garriques at 170 for a 6-0 McCallie lead.

Connor Duffy, David Harper and Barrett Chambers followed with three straight pins – two in the first period – to give Baylor an 18-6 lead.

It never got any closer.

For the day, Baylor won nine of the 14 matches with bonus points in eight of them.  Those included seven pins, one technical fall and an 11-5 decision by Anthony Mannella in the final match when the outcome had long been determined.

McCallie countered with five wins, including four by regular decisions and the other a 16-3 major by Jack Braman at 120 pounds.

“That was a great team win for us today,” said Baylor coach Ben Nelson as he addressed his team following the lopsided match.

“We never quit in one single match and even the matches we lost, we battled for six minutes and gave up a minimal amount of bonus points.  Last year’s state duals final was close, but we came over here today with the intent of widening the gap.

“I think we showed up ready to wrestle and put up a nice team score as we got a lot of bonus points.  It’s always important in a dual meet like this to not give up bonus points and we did a good job of that.  We can be about as good as we want to be when our heads are on straight.

“We’re happy right now, but not satisfied as we still have three weeks of hard work as we attempt to achieve our goals for the season,” added Nelson, who has never lost to McCallie in a dual meet during the 12 years he’s been the Baylor coach.

McCallie coach Jake Yost knows that Baylor is the better team right now, but he also knows there’s plenty of time to close the gap in the next few weeks.

“You look at the final score and it looks like a one-sided match, but there were some really close matches.  The bottom line is we didn’t take care of the bonus points like they did.  We had a few bright spots and I’m hoping we can learn from this.

“We grade our kids on effort, attitude and hustle.  Today we could have used more effort in places, but we definitely have some areas to grow.  This match is always a good measuring stick for our team and I hope we aren’t ready for the post-season tournaments.  If so, we’re in a lot of trouble.

“But Baylor took care of bonus points today and we didn’t,” Yost said after his team’s dual-meet record dropped to 5-2.

While Duffy, Harper and Chambers got Baylor’s first three pins, Jackson Bond, Noah Horst, Garrison Dendy and Chase Radpour had pins as well.  Duffy had the first one in 55 seconds, which turned out to be the quickest of the match.

Nick Cordey added a win by technical fall at 106 while Mannella’s decision at 152 wrapped up Baylor’s scoring.

Braman had McCallie’s only major decision at 120 while Emory Taylor (126), Whitworth, Cagle and James Howard (285) had McCallie’s other wins.

Baylor’s latest win locks up the top seed for the state duals, which will be in Franklin on Feb. 7-8.

BAYLOR 50, McCALLIE 16

(Match Began At 160 Pounds)

106 – Nick Cordey (Bay) won by technical fall over Ellis Haney, 5:47;

113 – Jackson Bond (Bay) pinned Nicholas Ridings, 1:45;

120 – Jack Braman (McC) major dec. Kade Hartline, 16-3;

126 – Emory Taylor (McC) dec. Ryan Tisdale, 7-4;

132 – Noah Horst (Bay) pinned Ian Herring, 3:53;

138 – Garrison Dendy (Bay) pinned Lance Ward, 1:24;

145 – Chase Radpour (Bay) pinned Rand Holtzclaw, 4:43;

152 – Anthony Mannella (Bay) dec. Frankie Zahrobsky, 11-5;

160 – Alex Whitworth (McC) dec. Omaury Alvarez, 6-4;

170 – Gavin Cagle (McC) dec. Ronald Garriques, 9-5;

182 – Connor Duffy (Bay) pinned Chase Looper, :55;

195 – David Harper (Bay) pinned Coen Campbell, 1:20;

220 – Barrett Chambers (Bay) pinned Adam Smith, 2:21;

285 – James Howard (McC) dec. Sammy Christensen, 6-0.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Prep Sports
PREP SCHEDULES
  • 4/30/2024

Prep Schedules for Week of: March 25th All times are local to the event (Coaches/ADs: Please send any schedule corrections or addititions to Dennis Norwood, Prep Sports Editor, at ... more

East Hamilton Tennis Takes The Measure Of Bradley Central
  • 3/27/2024

On Wednesday at Standifer Gap Park, the East Hamilton tennis team took on Bradley Central in a Region 3 show down. The East Hamilton boys led by senior William Harden took the Bears down in a ... more

BASEBALL ROUND-UP: Tuesday, March 26th
  • 3/27/2024

Baseball Round-Up: Tuesday, March 26th BASEBALL Baylor 4, Archbishop McCarthy (FL) 0 (IMG National Classic) Notable: Baylor’s Jack Shuman went 2-4 with an RBI, Amari Jefferson had a ... more