Timothy Lawson of Bradley Central wrestles McGavock's Lawrence Shelton in a first round match in the AAA division. Shelton won by decision.
photo by Dennis Norwood
FRANKLIN – The Hixson Wildcats have finished third in the TSSAA Class A-AA State Duals wrestling tournament for the past four years, but they won’t have to worry about that monkey any longer as they won two matches here at the Williamson County Agricultural Expo Center Friday night and will face defending champ Pigeon Forge for the top prize Saturday night.
The Wildcats, improving to 29-4 overall, were never really challenged as they cakewalked past Forrest by a 57-21 final in the first match before steamrolling Greeneville in the semifinals, 57-14.
Pigeon Forge was equally impressive with an 83-0 shutout over Martin Luther King in the opener before defeating Alcoa, 44-28, in the semifinals.
Alcoa had advanced with an impressive 46-23 win over Notre Dame.
Hixson lost to the Greene Devils two years ago and Wildcat coach Garrick Hall made sure that his kids didn’t forget it. Only four current Wildcats were part of that loss two years ago, but the veteran coach got his point across in all capital letters and they responded accordingly.
“I felt like we owed them from two years ago and I surely didn’t want the same thing to happen,” Hall said while taking a deep breath shortly after the second match had ended.
“I had to remind them of what happened, but they were fired up and ready to go. There are times when it’s hard to tell what they’ll do as they’re still so young, but at least we won’t finish third again.
“I’m pretty serious most of the time, but we played dodgeball Thursday afternoon to relax a little. But I’m really proud of these guys as they wrestled hard tonight. I’m not satisfied yet, but I’m tired of finishing third,” he added.
Chris Nicholson, Dylan Bargerstock, Brody Gregory, Jacob Newman, Konnor Ziegler, Isaac Yates, Cederick Harris, Jonas Shackleford and Landon Goforth all had pins in the win over Forrest while Truman Ross and Ryan Turner joined teammates Gregory, Newman and Yates with pins against Greeneville.
Alcoa jumped on Notre Dame from the start, winning the first four matches and five of the first six to lead 28-6 after the match at 113 pounds.
Grant Speer had a pin at 106 and Luke Mullin won with a technical fall at 120, but by the time Alcoa forfeited to Packy Mullin and Noah Bankston, it was already decided.
Notre Dame coach felt like his kids somewhat panicked with Alcoa’s fast start.
“They built some good momentum early and it kind of snowballed from there,” Mullin said after a post-match talk with his kids.
“It may have been a better match had it been a little closer early, but they executed and we didn’t. Alcoa has a solid team and I’m sure that we’re better than what we showed tonight. I just hope we can come back and do a little better tomorrow,” the veteran coach added.
The Fighting Irish face Martin Luther King in the first match at 9 a.m.
with the winner facing Greeneville in the consolation semis.
Notre Dame is certainly no stranger to this tournament as they finished runner-up to Hixson in 2009 after winning it all the previous three years.
Saturday’s championship match will begin at 7 p.m. (CST).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)
Baylor's Cooper Reiniche (left) defeated MBA's D'On Coofer by a 4-3 decision in a quarter final heavyweight match in the AAA division.
photo by Dennis Norwood