Cleveland Claims Region 3 Wrestling Title With Narrow Win Over Bradley Central

When the Bradley Central and Cleveland clash on the wrestling mat the one thing that can be counted on is a battle to the finish.

Thursday's Region 3 tournament finals was no exception. The Bears battled for 12 bouts before taking a two point lead over the Blue Raiders, but when the final second ticked off the clock, it was the Raiders who claimed their sixth consecutive championship by the narrowest of margins claiming a 31-30 victory in the final bout of the night.

“It was a great match. It had a lot of surprises, I think, on both sides” said a happy Blue Raiders head coach Joey Knox.

The Bears, who were defeated handily by the Raiders in their last meeting, threw everything they had at Cleveland, but missed out on crucial points that may have made the difference.

“I'm disappointed, I'm upset. Our guys wrestled hard. We threw everything we had at them to a certain extent. There's not many more moves we can do and they're still beating us. We've got to figure that out,” said Bears head coach Ben smith. “We've got a big test ahead of us Saturday. That (match was for) the No. 1 seed in the state tournament. We've still got to fight to get there. We're going to be stuck on the bottom side of the bracket, but that's what we did last year.

The Bears opened strong with a pin at 113 pounds by Bryson Terrell — who dropped down from 120 pounds — against No. 1 ranked Chase Walker. Cleveland countered with pins by Zac Bosken (No. 3 at 120) and Bentley Ellison (No. 2 at 126) to take a 12-6 lead. Kaden Rice battled to a 9-0 major decision at 132 to up the lead to 16-6.

The Bears chipped away at the Cleveland lead with major decisions by Ethan Lipsey at 138 and Luke Belcher, the state's No. 1-ranked 145-pounder. The Raiders came right back with a pin in one minute by No. 1-ranked Logan Fowler.

Bradley came back with decision with a win at 160 pounds by Gunner Taylor against the No. 4 160 pounder, Cy Fowler. The Bears earned another decision at 170 from wade Brooks to cut the Cleveland lead to 22-20.

The Raiders picked up back-to-back decisions from Lucas Szymborski (182) and Tyson Russel to open a 28-20 advantage.

The Bears fought back with a Hayden Nichols major decision at 220 and got six points with a pin by Manuel Flores at 285 giving the Bears their first lead of the night at 30-28 sending the outcome to the final bout of the night.

“Our 220 and 285 did a great job. Gunner Taylor beat a kid he's never beat before so I've got to highlight those guys,” said Smith. “But, I'd be lying if I said this didn't sting.”

Cleveland's Jose Cordero, ranked No. 1 at 106, fought to a 2-0 first period lead over No. 3-ranked Miguel Rincon. The second period ended with Cordero holding a 4-0 lead. Cordero picked up two more points in the final two minutes to give the Blue Raiders the region championship with a 6-1 win.

“At 132 pounds, that kid pinned us last time and we beat him this time. That was a big point changer for us. They went into the match at 160 and they won, that kid's good. We've beat them every time and they found a way to win,” said Knox.

“I think we were trying to do a little to much. I think we were too hyped up into the match. I think we learned a lot about ourselves. We had lots of fight, but we can't sleep on anybody.”

Odds are the Blue Raiders and Bears will meet again Saturday in sectional wrestling at Cleveland High School to determine with two teams will advance to next week's duals tournament in Franklin.

The Bears and Blue Raiders reached the championship match with semi-final wins over McMinn County and Walker Valley.

The Bears reached the championship match with a 57-18 win over Walker Valley in the semifinals.

Rincon, Lipsey, Belcher, Fox, Taylor and Payne all pinned for the Bears.

Christian Wilson (138) earned a pin for the Mustangs while Braden Taylor picked up a decision at 182.

Walker Valley will turn its focus to qualifying as many Mustangs as possible for the traditionals tournament set for the last week of February.

“We're a young team and it's a good experience to be here in this environment. Bradley is the No. 2-ranked team in the state and you could tell. Hopefully, we'll get to watch a good finals match, something that our younger guys can learn from. The future to me looks bright. We're going to take this as an experience we're going to try and make a positive out of,” said Mustangs head coach Al Morris

“We still have more to work for. We'll turn our focus to the individuals tournament. We've got a couple of weeks from competition. We'll keep fixing things and qualify as many wrestlers as we can.”

Championship

Cleveland 31, Bradley Central 30

(Match started at 113)

106 — Jose Cordero (C) dec. Miguel Rincon, 6-1; 113 — Bryson Terrel (BC) pinned Chase Walker, 4:50; 120 — Zac Bosken (C) pinned Kyler Groves, 2:49;

126 — Bentley Ellison (C) pinned Eijah McKenzie, 1:59; 132 — Kaden Rice (C) major dec. Tyee Crisp, 9-0; 138 — Ethan Lipsey (BC) major dec. Daniel Sims 17-7; 145 — Luke Belcher (BC) major dec. Tres Schuft, 13-1; 152 — Logan Fowler (C) pinned Jake Fox, 1:00; 160 — Gunner Taylor (BC) dec. Cy Fowler, 6-3; 170 — Wade Brooks (BC) dec. Dylan Harrold, 6-1; 182 — Luca Szymborski (C) dec. Knox Watson, 5-0; 195 — Tyson Russel (C) dec. Lane Hicks, 4-1; 220 — Hayden Nichols (BC) major dec. Felix Anders, 11-2; 285 — Will Brantley (C) pinned Manuel Flores, 2:25.

Semifinal

Bradley Central 57 Walker Valley 18

(Email Richard Roberts at richardvols55@yahoo.com)