Five Team Champions Will Be Crowned In Franklin Saturday Night

• Friday, February 2, 2024
• John Hunt

All the hard work has been done and it’s almost time to celebrate.

That’s always the case when the TSSAA State Duals wrestling tournament gathers in Franklin at the spacious Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Center to crown five teams as state champions.

Chattanooga has been the most dominant area in high school wrestling for a long, long time and it appears that trend will continue on Saturday.

Cleveland and Boyd Buchanan are defending champions while Bradley, Signal Mountain and Baylor all finished second a year ago. And don’t forget the Cleveland girls as they were the best in their division last February as well.Soddy Daisy and Signal Mountain are the two local entries in Division I, Class A while Cleveland and Bradley will be battling in D-I-AA. Boyd Buchanan is the early favorite in D-II, Class A-AA while Baylor and McCallie will be among the hunters in D-II, Class AAA.

It all begins on Saturday at 9 a.m. local time with the quarterfinal rounds in both of the public school brackets. The first round of consolation follows at 11 before the championship semis are held for the public schools at 1. The private schools will have their semfinal matches at 3 while all of the championship matches will begin at 7.

DIVISION I, CLASS A: The Soddy Daisy Trojans last won a state duals title back in 2012 and they appear to be the early favorite as their top-ranked in their division and enter the tournament with a perfect 31-0 record. The Trojans face Munford in their first match.

The Signal Mountain Eagles finished as runner-up last year. They lost some key members from last year’s team and took a pretty good beating from Soddy Daisy in the region duals, but the Eagles are fully capable of making it back to the finals. They will face Tullahoma in their first match.

Soddy Daisy coach Ulric Winesburgh knows just how hard his kids have worked this season, including early morning workouts on Saturday to get used to early morning matches. He knows that his team is fully capable of winning a state title, but they can’t afford to look past anyone.

“We’re good to go. We’ve had some really intense practices lately, but they’ve been shorter. We just want to be prepared for the big moments, but we’re not taking anyone for granted,” Winesburgh said earlier this week.

“We just want to keep doing what we’ve doing and I’m fully confident that we can get the job done. We’ve won a bunch of matches this season, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet. Signal Mountain and Pigeon Forge have both won more titles than we have, so we just have to be ready,” he added.

Signal Mountain enters the Saturday action with a record of 21-3, the only losses to MBA, Baylor and SD. Coach Houston Clement knows that the hardest matches are yet to be wrestled, but he also knows that a state title is one of his team’s goals and he’s anxious to get started.

“We’re getting close as it’s almost crunch time,” he said earlier this week.

“I knew that Soddy Daisy had a good team, but didn’t know just how good until they whipped us. But I was super proud of how we bounced back with that sectional win on the road. We responded in a most positive way.

“All of these teams are really good, so all the small stuff line coin flips will be so important. Soddy Daisy is definitely the best team, but we’re going up there with nothing to lose. There is no pressure on us. Anything is possible at this point. Our studs have to get the maximum bonus points and the others will have to step up too.

“Our goals have not changed. We’re going to Franklin this weekend with the intention of winning a state title,” Clement concluded on a positive note.

DIVISION I, CLASS AA: It hasn’t been that long ago where the Bradley Bears were the most dominant high school team in the state with countless state titles to show for it. That honor now belongs to the Cleveland Blue Raiders, who have won the past six duals and traditional titles.

Cleveland won all 16 of its dual meets this season and currently has an unbelievable streak of 135 straight dual victories.

Cleveland will face its toughest test in Saturday’s first match when they face Summit.

The Spartans are currently ranked third in the state mat poll and are coached by former Cleveland standout Pete Miller.

Bradley qualified by beating Blackman in the sectional round and will face Dobyns-Bennett in its first match.

“We’re all good and ready to get started,” said Cleveland coach Joey Knox.

“I’m a little bit surprised with our draw, but it is what it is and we’ll just have to take care of business as usual. We beat Summit by 19 points earlier in the season, but their lineup has changed. This tournament is ours to lose, so we just don’t want to do anything to mess it up.

“We’re going up there with a job to do. We need to get bonus points every chance we can and limit what we let the other guys have. I’m just hoping we can do a little celebrating later Saturday night,” Knox added.

It’s been a rebuilding year for Bradley coach Bryant Blackman, who is in his first year as the Papa Bear. Bradley has 11 starters in the lineup for the first time ever, so it’s been a learning process from then until now.

“Us beating Blackman in the sectional on the road was huge as that was a major hurdle for us to clear,” Blackman said earlier in the week.

“I like our draw. We’ll have to show up ready to compete, but it’s always been like that. The only pressure on our team comes from us. We have 11 new starters, so we knew it would be interesting. Our focus is to just keep getting better every day. We all know that nothing matters until February, so for us to get back to the state duals is a big deal,” Blackman nodded.

DIVISION II, CLASS A-AA: Boyd Buchanan won their first state duals title a year ago and should be considered a favorite to do it again. They face BGA in Saturday’s first match with the winner taking on the Brentwood Academy-Lakeway Christian winner for the championship.

The Bucs got a later start than normal after their football team advanced to the state finals. They are still burdened by several open spots in their lineup as forfeits have been their toughest opponent, but Boyd Buchanan beat Lakeway just last week, so coach Michael Sutherland is confident that his kids can do it again.

“Our dual meet record isn’t that good as forfeits have killed us, but I feel good about where we are at this point,” Sutherland said during phone conversation.

“It should be another barn-burner where everything depends on the coin flip. It’s nice to be the defending champion, but it’s also a burden as we can’t afford to get complacent. We just have to stay hungry. It won’t be easy and anything can happen, but I can promise you that we’ll be prepared when the first whistle blows,” he said.

DIVISION II, CLASS AAA: Father Ryan beat Baylor in last year’s final, snapping a five-year winning streak for the Red Raiders, who have been nationally ranked most of the season. Baylor had a tough week last week when two defending state champions were dismissed from school and the Baylor team didn’t respond very well in a tough loss at McCallie.

As a result, McCallie is now ranked second in the state behind Cleveland while Baylor is currently fourth behind Summit.

Baylor will face Father Ryan in its first match while McCallie will take on Christian Brothers.

“We’re excited about the possibilities and we’ve put that other stuff behind us,” said Baylor coach Rex Kendle.

“We beat Father Ryan by 13 points earlier in the season, so we know we can beat them. We’ve been wrestling teams better than us all season, so I guess we have a losing record, but we’ve rallied the troops and we’ll be ready on Saturday afternoon.

“We know that we’re fully capable of winning again and our program is much bigger than the two kids we lost. We are totally embracing the challenge and know that every member of our team has to step up and do their part,” Kendle said.

McCallie hasn’t been among the state contenders in recent years, but coach Jake Yost has done an outstanding job of rebuilding a once-proud program. They enter Saturday’s action with a record of 9-1, the only loss early before the football players had joined the team.

“Beating Baylor was certainly a big deal for us, but my guys have been working really hard all season and I feel like we have a good chance to beat Christian Brothers. We just have to compete hard and continue doing what we’ve been doing. It doesn’t really matter who we face as we just need to stay focused on us.

“There’s quite a bit of parity in this division this year, but I feel like we’re definitely in the picture. I know that it will be a tough day, but we just have to show up ready to battle,” Yost said matter of factly.

THE CLEVELAND GIRLS are also heavy favorites to win after taking their first title a year ago. The Lady Blue Raiders face Northwest in their first match while the Bradley Bearettes take on Clarksville in the other girls’ semifinal.

HERE IS A LIST OF FIRST-ROUND MATCHES:

D-I, CLASS A

Soddy Daisy vs. Munford

Station Camp vs. Anderson Co.

Millington vs. Pigeon Forge

Signal Mountain vs. Tullahoma

D-I, CLASS AA

Cleveland vs. Summit

Arlington vs. Brentwood

Dobyns-Bennett vs. Bradley Central

Bartlett vs. Knoxville Halls.

D-II, CLASS A-AA

Brentwood Academy vs. Lakeway Christian

Battleground Academy vs. Boyd Buchanan

D-II, CLASS AAA

Father Ryan vs. Baylor

Christian Brothers vs. McCallie

GIRLS

Cleveland vs. Northwest

Bradley Central vs. Clarksville.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)