Dominant Cleveland Wins AAA State Wrestling Again

Blue Raiders Win Fourth Straight Title With Six Champions And 10 Medalists

  • Friday, February 26, 2021
  • John Hunt
Cleveland's Trae McDaniel moves against Bradley Central's Luke Belcher.
Cleveland's Trae McDaniel moves against Bradley Central's Luke Belcher.
photo by M.A. Locke

The Cleveland Blue Raider wrestling team could have taken Friday night off and still won the AAA Traditional state tournament at the Chattanooga Trade & Convention Center, but they decided to show up anyway.

Displaying one of the most dominant performances in recent state tournament memory, the Blue Raiders won their fourth straight AAA state crown with six champions and 241 points.

The Wilson Central Wildcats finished a distant second again after trailing the Blue Raiders all day.  The difference was 19 points after the quarterfinals, 77.5 after the consolation semis and 93.5 at the end as the competitors from Lebanon finished with 147.5 points.

Bradley was third with 131.5 while Dobyns-Bennett and Summit were fourth and fifth with 98.5 and 96 points, respectively.

Youthful Joey Knox has been the Cleveland coach for the past four years and has NEVER not won a state title, now with four in a row for the traditional gathering after claiming his fourth in the State Duals three weeks ago.

Knox is a very humble gentleman and takes very little credit for his team’s success, always pointing to the job his assistant coaches do and the willingness of his kids to go the extra mile and do things the right way to achieve the highest level of success.

“We had an amazing tournament today as we had nine in the finals and claimed six champions.  I know that’s a record for Cleveland and may be for the state as well, but the key was doing all the right things as we prepared for this event,” Knox said with a smile on his face.

“Even in the matches we lost, I thought we all wrestled hard, but we got on a roll in the finals and it just took over from there.  I hate to say that one team is better than another, but this is a special group of young men.

“We’ll get back to work on Monday, but I’m headed to Florida tomorrow to do some off-shore fishing and they can make it without me for a few days,” he added.  

Wilson Central coach John Kramer has had some outstanding teams in recent years, but they can’t seem to get over the hump when it comes to competing with Cleveland.  Despite finishing second again, Kramer liked what he saw from his kids.

“Not a bad day for us as we brought nine and eight are going home with medals,” he said shortly after his team’s final match at 132 pounds.

“It’s hard to win when a team like Cleveland puts nine in the finals, but we did pretty good and we have a bunch of good ones coming back, so we look forward to next season,” Kramer added.

Bradley coach Ben Smith was equally as proud of his Bears for finishing third.

“It’s hard to compete with Cleveland when they put nine in the finals, but I want to congratulate them on another outstanding season,” Smith said right off the top.

“Last year, we finished fourth and I felt like we underachieved a little bit, but I don’t feel that way today.  We just ran out of bullets in the final round, but Wilson Central is just a little better than we are right now.  But we did what we were supposed to do and I’m proud of that,” he nodded.

Cleveland’s six champions included Logan Fowler at 106, Jackson Bradford at 132, Trae McDaniel at 138, Cody Chittum at 145, Tetoe Boyd at 182 and Ashton Davis at 220. 

Bentley Ellison (113), Arlo Laxton (120) and Blake Randall (120) all finished second while Cael Laxton was third at 152.  

Dobyns-Bennett had two champs in Jackson Hurst at 152 and Tre Morrisette at 160 while Trey Bates and Mason Smith won titles for Beech at 126 and 170, respectively.

The remaining champs included Blackman’s Justin Bradford at 113, Wilson Central’s Thomas Borders at 120, Green Hill’s Dominic Love at 195 and Anderson County’s Joshua Cummins at 285.

Fowler, who had lost to Bradley’s Bryson Terrell two of the three times they had wrestled this year, including by a major decision in the region final, beat Terrell for the 106-pound title and these two young men were honored with the Best Match award.

The score was tied 2-2 after the first period before Fowler took a 6-3 lead with two minutes remaining.  Terrell made a late rally, but Fowler was more than up for the challenge as he evened the score with the biggest win of the season.

Dobyns-Bennett’s Morrisette, who won the 160-pound crown for the second straight year and won this year’s title with a first-period pin, was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Eight of Friday’s champions now have more than one state title, including Borders and McDaniel with three each.  Hurst, Morrisette, Chittum, Smith, Davis and Jackson Bradford now have two apiece.

While Terrell finished second for Bradley, teammate Luke Belcher was also a runner-up at 138.  Other medalists for the Bears included third-place finishes for Ethan Lipsey at 113, Easton Lipsey at 126 and Austin McClure at 285.  Austin Lynn was fourth at 145 while Daniel James was fifth at 120.

Walker Valley's Jadon Langford wins the Almost Award after finishing second at 285 for the third straight year.  Teammate Heath Tanksley was fifth at 182.  McMinn County's Austin Cooley was fifth at 170 pounds while East Hamilton's Jason Brumlow was also fifth at 195.

BRAD JACKSON wrestled at Tyner back in the 80s and had a best finish of third in 1984 for the Rams.  He later coached at Tyner for four years before leading East Ridge for 16 years.  He’s now the Campus Support Specialist for Hamilton County schools, which means he does a little bit of everything involving prep sports. 

He served as the Master of Ceremonies for the three state tournaments this week and did an outstanding job keeping everyone abreast of what was happening next.    

LEGEND AND FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1. Cleveland (Clev) 241; 2. Wilson Central (WC) 147.5; 3. Bradley (Brad) 131.5; 4. Dobyns-Bennett (DB) 98.5; 5. Summit (Sum) 96; 6. Blackman (Black) 85.5; 7. Beech (Bee) 75.5; 8. Jefferson County (JC) 67; 9. Arlington (Arl) 54; 10. Halls (Halls) 41; 14. Walker Valley (WV) 35.5; 30. McMinn Co. (McCo) 21.5; 35. East Hamilton (EH) 12.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

106 – Logan Fowler (Clev) dec. Bryson Terrell (Brad), 10-8;

113 – Justin Bradford (Black) dec. Bentley Ellison (Clev), 6-3;

120 – Thomas Borders (WC) dec. Arlo Laxton (Clev), 3-2;

126 – Trey Bates (Bee) dec. Blake Randall (Clev), 9-3;

132 – Jackson Bradford (Clev) dec. Brennan Watkins (DB), 7-2;

138 – Trae McDaniel (Clev) dec. Luke Belcher (Brad), 10-3;

145 – Cody Chittum (Clev) pinned Landon Fisher (JC), 3:34;

152 – Jackson Hurst (DB) dec. Aidan Brenot (Clarksville), 10-5;

160 – Tre Morrisette (DB) pinned Logan Fisher (JC), 1:38;

170 – Mason Smith (Bee) dec. Matheson Meade (Bearden), 3-2;

182 – Tetoe Boyd (Clev) dec. Owen Zuckerman (Houston), 7-2;

195 – Dominic Love (Green Hill) pinned Donovan Rich (Bee), 3:57;

220 – Ashton Davis (Clev) pinned Noah Todd (WC), 5:12;

285 – Joshua Cummins (Anderson Co.) dec. Jadon Langford (WV), 3-1 in overtime.

CONSOLATION FINALS FOR THIRD PLACE

106 – Russell Ford (Independence) pinned Colby Baltz (Houston), 1:30;

113 – Ethan Lipsey (Brad) major dec. Chas Stokes (Oakland), 12-2;

120 – Jackson Masters (Sum) dec. Steven Dindl (Bartlett), 6-4;

126 – Easton Lipsey (Brad) dec. Wemawamungu Moktani (Munford), 7-2;

132 – Samuel Shires (Rossview) pinned Riley Fort (WC), 4:19;

138 – Alan Fort (WC) dec. Ethan Hylton (David Crockett), 6-2;

145 – Steven Fisak (WC) pinned Austin Lynn (Brad), 1:00;

152 – Cael Laxton (Clev) dec. Eli Clemmons (Lebanon), 4-2;

160 – Dylan Cockman (Arl) dec. Justin Brown (Black), 6-2;

170 – Anthony Pyron (Mt. Juliet) dec. Clint Morrisette (DB), 13-8;

182 – Wyatt Lankford (Collierville) dec. Zachary Duessler (Rossview), 5-4;

195 – Thomas Stadel (Maryville) pinned Connor Milhorn (Siegel), 2:29;

220 – Ryver Shelton (JC) dec. Isaac Jordan (Arl), 3-1 in overtime;

285 – Austin McClure (Brad) dec. Samuel Harness (Cookeville), 2-1.

CONSOLATION FINALS FOR FIFTH PLACE

106 – Trenton Houston (Cookeville) pinned Zach Ordonez (Brentwood), 1:00;

113 – Nicholas Mercante (WC) dec. Owen Gobel (Franklin), 6-0;

120 – Daniel James (Brad) pinned Jeremy Peters (Halls), 2:02;

126 – Mason Sells (Black) dec. Justin Noll (Sum), 10-3;

132 – Hunter Davis (Heritage) dec. Landon Desselle (Sum), 5-3;

138 – Austin Noll (Sum) pinned Jonathan Kiser (Halls), 3:20;

145 – Alex Rose (Black) dec. Cameron Cook (Collierville), 2-1;

152 – Elijah Cowan (Tullahoma) dec. Finley Jameson (Sum), 4-0;

160 – Brady Jarvis (WC) dec. Ryan Wood (Lebanon), 4-0;

170 – Austin Cooley (McCo) pinned Luke Justice (Sum), 1:39;

182 – Heath Tanksley (WV) pinned Colby Sinclair (Maryville), 2:03;

195 – Jason Brumlow (EH) major dec. Issac Gillentine (Warren Co.), 8-0;

220 – Mitchell Lambert (Page) pinned Jacob King (Cocke Co.), :53;

285 – Graham Keating (Oakland) dec. Jesse Richardson (WC), 2-1.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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