The Soddy Daisy Trojans have had some great wrestling teams in the past, but the current group may be the best ever.
It’s been a totally dominating season for coach Ulric Winesburgh and his Trojans as they went undefeated in dual meets and thoroughly dominated two weeks ago in winning the State Duals title. And now after the first day of the traditional tournament at the Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Center in Franklin, that team title is all but wrapped up too after the guys in navy blue scored 191 points and advanced eight individuals to Saturday night’s championship finals.
Tullahoma is currently in second place with 94.5 points and four in the finals while Signal Mountain is third with 79 points and three finalists. Pigeon Forge and Eagleville round out the top five teams with 54.5 and 53 points, respectively.
Soddy Daisy, Tullahoma and Signal Mountain are the only teams with more than one championship contender while 13 other teams all have one each.
Winesburgh felt like he had the team to make a run as they were the only team in any classification to qualify all 14 wrestlers. The Trojans got off to a great start by winning 12 of 14 matches in the first round before winning 10 of 12 in the quarterfinals. And then to advance eight of 10 to the finals was almost unheard of, but Winesburgh is just happy that his kids are being rewarded for a season of hard work.
“It’s been a great day for Soddy Daisy wrestling as we totally showed up and wrestled really well,” he said shortly after junior Jonathan Davis became the last finalist with a third-period pin at 285.
“I’m so happy for these guys. I told them that now is the time to experience the dream of a lifetime and to not let anyone else spoil it. We’ve had an unbelievable first day, but we just want to finish strong tomorrow. I had high hopes of getting seven to the finals, but to get eight is just awesome. I know that Steve Henry had some really good teams in his day, but this is probably the best Soddy Daisy has ever done at this level.
“I’m kind of speechless right now,” he added.
Soddy Daisy’s finalists include Luke Myhan at 106, Ayden Jenkins at 113, Tyson Flavin at 120, Drew Lewis at 138, Boogie Cosper at 144, Elijah Turner at 157, Logan Rawlinson at 175 and Davis at 285.
Signal Mountain had a really good day as well as the Uhorchuk brothers – JoJo and Ethan – were joined by Jackson Davis at 175 as championship hopefuls. JoJo is a sophomore who is shooting for his second state title after winning at 113 last year while Ethan is looking for his fourth state title and is only a junior.
Coach Houston Clement knows that it’s a race for the runner-up trophy as his Eagles will be battling Tullahoma, Pigeon Forge and Eagleville, but he too was extremely proud of the job his kids did on the first day.
“I thought we wrestled really well today and it’s been about as close to perfect as we could have hoped,” Clement said after Davis earned his spot in the finals with a pin at 175.
“We just got a big win at 175 and the whole team is so happy for him, but it will be a lot of fun battling for second tomorrow. Soddy Daisy just absolutely dominated everything today and my hat’s off to them, but we still have a lot to wrestle for and I’m totally confident that we will finish strong tomorrow night,” he added.
TEAM SCORES FOLLOWING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS AND FIRST ROUND OF CONSOLATIONS: 1. Soddy Daisy 191; 2. Tullahoma 94.5; 3. Signal Mountain 79; 4. Pigeon Forge 54.5; 5. Eagleville 53; 6. Millington Central 45; 7. Station Camp 37; 8. Sycamore 34; 9. Anderson County and Seymour tied with 33.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
106 – Luke Myhan (Soddy Daisy) dec. John Haney (Upperman), 6-0; Dalton Lopez (Millington Central) pinned Deter Thompson (David Crockett), 1:14;
113 – Samuel Comes (Seymour) pinned Mason Shrum (Marion Co.), 4:42; Ayden Jenkins (Soddy Daisy) dec. Nathaniel Graham (Station Camp), 7-2;
120 – JoJo Uhorchuk (Signal Mountain) pinned Gunnar Tompkins (Watertown), 1:24; Tyson Flavin (Soddy Daisy) pinned Logan Bridges (Munford), 3:58;
126 – Carson Dupill (Greeneville) pinned Colton Relation (Samuel Everett School of Innovation), :44; Landon Turner (Harpeth) pinned Zander Duncan (Soddy Daisy), 5:52;
132 – Ethan Uhorchuk (Signal Mountain) won by technical fall over Trey Moreland (Sycamore) 17-2 in 2:19; Andres Hamilton (Tullahoma) pinned Craig Sudderth (Montgomery Central), 2:10;
138 – Drew Lewis (Soddy Daisy) dec. Walter Rutland Harris (Hume-Fogg), 9-2; Riley Napier (Heritage) dec. Jacob Pennington (Eagleville), 7-4;
144 – Boogie Cosper (Soddy Daisy) pinned Seth McCoy (Forrest), 1:55; Caiden Mears (Tullahoma) pinned Peyton Mitchell (Fairview), 1:30.
150 – Brody McLemore (Eagleville) major dec. Sam Frank (Fairview), 12-0; Corbin Avans (Tullahoma) pinned Ayden Hood (Pigeon Forge), 3:50;
157 – Elijah Turner (Soddy Daisy) pinned Brayden Couch (White House Heritage), 5:25; Dylan Davenport (Sycamore) won by technical fall over Thomas Solomon (Eagleville), 17-2 in 5:57;
165 – Wyatt Howard (Pigeon Forge) dec. Quenston Davis (Munford), 11-4; Joshua Bingham (Anderson Co.) dec. Deameion Leavell (Clinton), 8-2;
175 – Jackson Davis (Signal Mountain) pinned Calvin Rickard (Station Camp), 4:11; Logan Rawlinson (Soddy Daisy) dec. Jaden Jones (Pigeon Forge), 5-2;
190 – Isaac Chapa (Cascade) dec. Darius Sudderth (Alcoa), 3-1 in overtime; Connor Avans (Tullahoma) pinned Fletcher Beck (Station Camp), 1:26;
215 – Rob Atwood (Trousdale Co.) pinned Tyson Click (Samuel Everett School of Innovation), 5:31; John Geist (Livingston Academy) dec. Pete Laxton (Soddy Daisy), 6-2 in overtime;
285 – Jonathan Davis (Soddy Daisy) pinned Malik Boiling (East Nashville), 4:54; Cristopher Flockhart (Cocke Co.) major dec. Eli Bratton (Anderson Co.), 12-2.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)