FRANKLIN, Tenn. – There were some interesting matches on the first day of the TSSAA Traditional State wrestling tournament here at the Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Center and it’s still a pretty close fight for the overall lead.
Two-time defending AAA champ Cleveland, who was knocked off in the Region 4-AAA last Saturday, came back strong and has the lead after the first day with 88 points.
Region champ Bradley is second with 74 points while Wilson Central is a close third with 73.
Dobyns-Bennett and Blackman complete the top five with 60.5 and 57 points, respectively.
Other Region 4-AAA teams include Soddy Daisy in 18th with 33.5, East Hamilton 28th with 23, Walker Valley 30th with 21, McMinn County 47th with 13, Ooltewah 57th with eight and Rhea County 69th with four.
Cleveland has eight individuals alive in the championship round while Bradley has seven and Wilson Central six.
“We still have eight alive in the championship rounds and 13 of 14 still battling for a medal, but we just want to give ourselves a chance to win again,” said Cleveland coach Joey Knox while the consolation rounds were still going on.
“This is always a tough tournament, but we just want to keep doing our best. We feel like we’re capable of winning every match, but this is the state and upsets happen from time to time.
“Arlo Laxton lost a tough match at 113 as that one could have gone either way, but it’s a long tournament and we just have to keep doing what we’re capable of doing,” Knox added.
Bradley coach Ben Smith felt like his team got upset a couple of times in the opening round, but they’ve done a nice job of bouncing back. The Bears won nine of 14 matches in the first round and seven of nine in the second. The Bears still have 11 individuals in the hunt.
“We lost two in the opening round that I wasn’t expecting, but we’re not far off from what I was expecting. There is always an upset or two in this tournament, but we have seven in the quarters and I was hoping for nine,” Smith nodded between matches.
“Things haven’t exactly gone perfectly for us, but we’ll man up and wrestle with some pride and see what happens. We’re a team that needs to have things go our way to be successful, so we’ll find out just how tough we are tomorrow.
“I feel like we’ve had pretty good first day, but that first round is the one we have to recover from,” Smith added.
Walker Valley had five who qualified and three are still alive, including two in the championship round. Coach Alan Morris is just glad his young team can get big-time tournament experience like this.
“Heath (Tanksley) avenged an earlier loss in his first match and that was big for him. And Jadon Langford finished second at 285 last year, so he knows what he has to do. We’ll just take one match at a time and see what happens, but I’ve seen some positives so far today. We’ll be alright,” he concluded with a smile.
Cleveland’s eight who won both of their matches on Thursday included Bentley Ellison at 106, Jackson Bradford at 120, Trae McDaniel at 126, Cael Laxton at 152, Nate Schilling at 160, Zach Brezna at 170, Tetoe Boyd at 182 and Ashton Davis at 220.
Bradford had the toughest first day of anyone as the defending state champ at 113 beat Wilson Central’s Grant Fetters in the first round and Collierville’s Andrew Artiles in the second. Both are returning medalists as Fetters was fourth at 106 a year ago while Artiles was runner-up at 120. Bradford won the first by a technical fall while the second was a much closer 13-9 decision.
Other Blue Raiders still alive in the consolation brackets include Arlo Laxton at 113, Blake Randall at 132, Burns Meagher at 138, Garrett Stevenson at 145 and Riley Harris at 195.
Bradley’s seven in the championship bracket include Ethan Wilson at 106, Easton Lipsey at 113, Luke Belcher at 120, Taron Patterson at 126, Gavin Hughes at 132, Tyrone McDonald at 182 and Gavin Sewell at 220.
Others still battling for a medal include Seth Gregory at 138, Anthony Lynn at 152, Caleb Jeffers at 170 and Austin McClure at 285.
Two championship reps for East Hamilton include Cade Meeks at 170 and Jason Brumlow at 195. Heavyweight Javarrius Dunnigan, who won his first match with a pin before losing his second, is still alive in the consolation bracket after posting a major decision in the second round.
Soddy Daisy’s two reps in the championship round include Landon Lewis at 160 and Hayden Maynora t 182 while Walker Valley’s two include Tanksley at 182 and Langford at 285.
McMinn County’s Kyle Cooley won both of his matches in the 145-pound class while Ooltewah’s Dennis Pedigo is still alive in the consolations at 220.
The A-AA and Division II teams join the action on Friday. The all-important championship semifinals are set in all divisions in the first evening session.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)