Cleveland and Baylor continued the Chattanooga area’s wrestling dominance at Saturday’s TSSAA State Duals, the Blue Raiders by winning their fourth straight title in the AAA class and the Red Raiders by their third straight Division II championship .
All three Cleveland wins on Saturday were at Independence High School at Thompson’s Station. The Blue Raiders defeated Wilson Central 39:28 in the final after a 41:37 semi-final win over Summit and a 55:15 win over Dobyns-Bennett.
The Blue Raiders (15-0), the state’s top team at all levels, were led by Logan Fowler (106 pounds), Benjamin Gray (195) and Army Signer Trae McDaniel (138)who won all three games by pin. Tetoe Boyd (185), Cody Chittum (145), Ashton Davis (220) and Bentley Ellison (113) also went 3-0 for Cleveland.
“It was special, especially for Trae McDaniel, Jackson Bradford and Cael Laxton, who have been with me since I started four years ago,” said coach Joey Knox. “Ben Gray is a senior and has been a tremendous addition to our lineup. Jackson convinced him to come out to wrestle with us and finish his senior year with us. These guys are all part of the story.”
Baylor, 4-0 under first year head coach Rex Kendle, continued his title bout with a 48-21 win over Christian Brothers in the final after winning four decisions with two or less points while telling Father Ryan at 55 : 9 throttled semifinals in D-II competition at Middle Creek Middle School in Nolensville.
Ronald Garriques (182) won both games with a pin and he was supported by his teammates Omaury Alvarez (170), Jackson Bond (126), Nick Corday (113), Garrison Dendy (145) and David Harper 2-0 (195 ), Kade Hartline (106) and Elijah Turner (132).
“All the boys are excited to win another state championship,” said Kendle. “It was a very strange season and we didn’t get a lot of matches, but we were just happy to be wrestling.” You can’t just point at one person; Our cast has so many great wrestlers, and they all played a huge role today. “
In the Class A / AA state duals at Nolensville High School, Signal Mountain beat Hixson 47-32 in the game for third place. In the semifinals of the four-team event, Signal Mountain lost 42:33 to Pigeon Forge, which ended three consecutive defeats against Fairview. Hixson lost 44-31 to Fairview in the semifinals.
With 26:24 in the game for third place, the Eagles (9: 2) stormed back with a technical fall from Ethan Uhorchuk (106) and pins from Caleb Uhorchuk (113) and Noah Shriner (120) in front of the three-time national champion Daniel Uhorchuks (126 ) second lost victory of the day.
Signal Mountain’s Kevin Muschel (182) had two pins on Saturday when Brock Shipley (145) was 2-0 with one pin.
For Hixson (12-2), the trio of senior captains Trevor Lewis (126), Caleb Miller (132) and Parrish Pacetti (220) were all 2-0, Pacetti with two pins, Miller with one pin and an important decision and Lewis with a needle and decays.
Bradley Central lost 37-33 in a Class AAA quarterfinals to Wilson Central but won his fifth match 59-20 against Collierville. Luke Belcher (145) won both games for the Bears (11: 4), one of them 17: 0.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Cleveland’s Trae McDaniel pin all three of his games on Saturday to help the Blue Raiders win a fourth consecutive TSSAA Class AAA State Duals championship.
The Georgia High School Association wrestlers began their traditional postseason with tournaments in the region and in the region. Since there were no sections this year, the top three individual placements were required to advance to next week’s state tournaments.
7-A at Darlington: Trion won the team title with 215 points on Armuchees 106, and the Bulldogs will send all 14 of their wrestlers to the state. Trion’s individual champions were Daegan Vaughn (106), Seth Huskins (120), Bryce James (132), Logan Eller (160), Bladyn Bowman (182), Zach Sharp (195) and Brantley Willbanks (220). Gordon Lee finished third with 102 points and will send 10 to the state, led by champion Montgomery Kephart (170).
7-AA in Chattooga: The Area Duals Champion Dade County won the traditional title with 188 points, well ahead of the second-placed model (148.5). The Wolverines have 11 state qualifiers led by Area Champions Jake Gatlin (106), Garrett Dunn (120), Cayden Cooper (145), Zac Smith (152), Cody Williams (182) and Landon Williams (195). Gordon Central finished fourth with 83 points and has three state qualifiers, including area champion Shane Davis (126). Chattooga, the reigning traditional state champion who has been hard hit by COVID-19, has five qualifying games including area champions Rowan Burdick, 160, and Ty Veatch, 220.
6-AAA in Sonoraville: Host Phoenix, who scored 196 points for winning the title, will send 13 of their 14 wrestlers to the state, including eight area champions: Logan Moore, 126, Eli Knight (132) and Davin O’Neal (145) ), Colt Weaver (160), Gavin Harper (182), Jebb Knight (195), Draven Peppers (220) and Jaxx Knight (285). Coahulla Creek finished second with 134 points and will send 11 wrestlers to Macon, led by champion Levi Sandoval (170). Third place, LaFayette (125), has nine qualifiers and three area champions: Jacob Hamilton (106), Levi Ledford (138) and Karson Ledford (152). Ringgold had two area champions in Gage Kenner (113) and Hudson Moss (120) and will advance six more, while LFO has three qualifiers.
5-AAA at Gilmer: The hosts dominated with 239 points and finished with 12 area champions and two runners-up. North Murray had the other two champions in Herman Hernandez (132) and Devin Hunte (195) in its eleven state qualifiers, with Murray County advancing eight.
7-AAAA in Pickens: Northwest Whitfield took a close second place with 162 to 154 points ahead of Central-Carroll and will have eight competitors, including four area champions: Eli Johnson (106), Victor Pineda (113) and Alex Robinson (138) and Manny Barreiro (145). Southeast Whitfield was second and will advance seven to the state, while Heritage had two champions in Cayman Hughey (132) and Zach Brown (220) among his six qualifiers and Ridgeland had two area champions in Aidan Raymer (152) and Tommy Lamb (285).
6-AAAAA in Cass: Calhoun finished fourth behind Woodland-Bartow, Cass and Cartersville, and five yellow jackets were led by 145 pound champion Isaac Green.
5-AAAAAA at Alexander: Dalton finished fourth and had four state qualifiers, led by champions Hunter Noland (145) and David Garcia (170).
BOY’S BASKET BALL
North Murray 58, Rockmart 55: Seth Griffin and Dante Tidwell each had 18 points, and JaN’youis Ross added 12 to the win for the climbers (9-11, 4-9 Region 6-AAA).
Calhoun 62, Blessed Trinity 45: Dylan Faulker scored 20 points, Peyton Law 17 and Christopher Lewis 13 for the Yellow Jackets (11-10, 5-4 Region 6-AAAAA).
Bledsoe County 62, Marion County 53: Gunner Sweatt scored 20 points for Bledsoe, Garrett Tharpe 16 and Cody Lankford 11. Marion was led by Jamykah Battle’s 20 and Zeken Ballard’s 15.
East Hamilton 53, Walker Valley 51, OT: Senior Marcus Long scored 21 points to lead the sixth-placed Hurricanes (14-3, 9-2, District 5-AAA) to a home win in overtime on Friday when Darwin Randolph 16 Points and four steals.
Marion County 80, South Pittsburg 72: The Warriors ended their rival’s season on Friday with Jamykah Battle, who scored 26 points, Zeken Ballard 19 and Alex Nunez 11. The Pirates were led by Colby Coopers 26, Rico Frazier’s, 18 and Reggie Hunter 11.
GIRLS BASKET BALL
Cleveland 76, Soddy-Daisy 44: Grant Hurst had 18 points, Kley McGowan 14 and Rodney Broadnax 12 for the Blue Raiders (14-6, 9-1 District 5-AAA). Soddy-Daisy’s Logan Ricketts was also 18.
Ringgold 61, LaFayette 31: The Lady Tigers (14-8, 8-6, Region 6-AAA) won when point guard Rachel Lopez added 20 points and added eight assists while Riley Nayadley had 15 points and 11 rebounds. McKeria Johnson from LaFayette had 12 points.
Marion County 53, Bledsoe County 28: The Lady Warriors (13-7) scored the first 11 points of the game and crossed when Lorence Bradford scored 19 points, including five 3-point points while Sara Muir added 12 points and Kyndal Meloncan Scored 10 points.
Tyner 66, Brainerd 60: Tamyra Long had 20 points, Kianna Ratliff 19 and Kaleigh Chubb 11 for the Lady Rams, who scored 25 points in the fourth quarter of Friday’s 6AA home win. In the double-digit range for Brainerd were LeNiya Mason (14), Raijeria Bell (13), Tyliyah Ward (13) and Arteya Scott (12).
SOCCER
Two local players whose college football goals have been announced since national signing day on Wednesday are Desmon Drake (University of the Cumberlands) of East Ridge and Kannon Hall (Tusculum) of Bradley Central.
Compiled by Patrick MacCoon and Lindsey Young. Contact MacCoon at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ PMacCoon. Contact Young at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ youngsports22.
