Red Bank wrestling head coach Shane Turner pumps his fist in celebration of a Lion win on the mat Saturday morning at Hixson Middle School. Turner had much to be pleased with as Red Bank took the Region 2-A/AA tournament with a team score of 239 points, advancing 13 of 14 wrestlers to next week's state tourney in Franklin.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Shane Turner has been waiting a long time for this year's wrestling season to get here.
He took over the head coaching job at Red Bank four years ago and his Lions have taken their share of whippings during that time.
Turner kept preaching to his kids to stay faithful to the program and to keep working hard and that eventually, good things would come their way.
They're starting to see the fruits of their labor.
The Lions put on a show this weekend at Hixson Middle School as they completely dominated the 14-team field in the Region 2-A/AA tournament by advancing 13 of 14 individuals to next week's traditional state tournament while winning with ease with 239 points.
Defending champ Hixson was a distant second with 138 while Notre Dame, East Ridge and Signal Mountain completed the top five teams with 95, 90 and 80 points, respectively.
Red Bank was impressive from the start of the tournament on Friday when nobody wearing a Lion singlet lost a match.
They were almost as strong in the semifinals Saturday morning when they won nine of 14, but it all ended on a positive note with five individual champs, four who finished second, three who claimed third and one in fourth.
"It was a good day for Red Bank as 13 of 14 advanced to the state, so we're having a little celebration dinner right now at Rib and Loin," Turner said by phone after the tournament had wrapped up and all the awards distributed.
"We only lost two matches I thought we should have won, but we separated ourselves from the rest of the field in the championship semis and that was the key for us. We made a statement by sending nine to the finals.
"Jonah Bird's win at 132 was huge. Nobody other than Red Bank supporters gave him a shot, but he's just sophomore and he beat the top-seeded defending region champ who is a senior. And I can't say enough about Hixson's Landon Goforth as he's legitimate. He's the best Hixson wrestler I've seen in a long time," he praised the Wildcats' 145-pound champ who remained unbeaten and beat Red Bank's top-seeded Gabe McDuffie for the title.
"It was just another total team effort with everybody doing their job. We set four teams goals at the start and we've accomplished three so far. We set our goals pretty high and I felt like we would be good enough to sweep it all. I hope we're on our way," Turner added.
Red Bank led the way five five individual champions while Notre Dame, East Ridge and Signal Mountain all had two each. Hixson, Central and Boyd-Buchanan had one apiece.
Red Bank's winners, in addition to Bird, included Blake Reichel at 113, Devin Crawl at 195, Devon Suddeth at 220 and Anthony Ottinger at 285.
Notre Dame's two included Cade Holloway at 106 and Luke Mullin at 126 while East Ridge had Kashawn Cosey at 120 and Darian Smith at 170. Signal Mountain's two winners included Daniel Dawson at 138 and Seth Petarra at 182.
Alonzo Heyward won for Central at 152 while Zane Williams was the champ for Boyd-Buchanan at 160 and Hixson's Goforth at 145.
While Hixson's Goforth was a natural choice as the Outstanding Wrestler, the championship match at 132 where Red Bank's Bird nipped Hixson's Isaac Yates by a 3-1 decision was voted by the referees as the Best Match.
Hixson coach Garrick Hall did an incredible job of running the tournament as everything unfolded without a hitch and on schedule.
"I feel like it all went pretty well, but right now I'm mentally drained," he said after most of the work had been done.
"I couldn't have done what we did without the outstanding group of parents we have as they do most of the work. As far as our team is concerned, I felt like we had a dropoff from Friday and I don't know how to explain that. We have nine going next week and I was hoping for 10, so I'm happy for the kids who advanced.
"I was really proud of Landon Goforth for the tournament he had. When he's on, he's tough to beat and he was a man on a mission today. And I thought that Bubba Palacio had a great tournament at 285. The 132-pound final was the best match and I hated that we lost at the very end, but that's just the way it is sometimes," Hall added.
While Red Bank leads the number of qualifiers with 13 followed by Hixson with nine, Notre Dame and Tyner have five apiece. East Ridge, Signal Mountain and Boyd-Buchanan will all be sending four while Central, Sequatchie County and Whitwell will all have three individuals. Chattanooga Christian will have two reps while Howard will have one.
LEGEND AND FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1.
Red Bank (RB) 239; 2. Hixson (Hix) 138; 3. Notre Dame (ND) 95; 4. East Ridge (ER) 90; 5. Signal Mountain (SM) 80; 6. Central (Cen) 68; 7. Boyd-Buchanan (BB) 67; 8. Tyner (T) 59.5; 9. Whitwell (W) 43; 10. Sequatchie County (Seq) 41; 11. Chattanooga Christian (CCS) 32; 12. Howard (How) 27; 13. Brainerd (Bra) 3; 14. Sale Creek (SC) 0.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
106 – Cade Holloway (ND) dec. Isaac Tate (SM), 5-0;
113 – Blake Reichel (RB) dec. Scott Weaver (BB), 10-4;
120 – Keshawn Cosey (ER) pinned Jordan Lewis (Hix), 1:55;
126 – Luke Mullin (ND) pinned Trent Comeaux (RB), 1:11;
132 – Jonah Bird (RB) dec. Isaac Yates (Hix), 3-1;
138 – Daniel Dawson (SM) dec. Isaac Coffman (Cen), 7-6;
145 – Landon Goforth (Hix) pinned Gabe McDuffie (EB), 3:09;
152 – Alonzo Heyward (Cen) major dec. Kaine Kell (RB), 15-5;
160 – Zane Williams (BB) dec. Niejel Billingsley (How), 7-5;
170 – Darian Smith (ER) dec. David Johnson (RB), 7-6;
182 – Seth Petarra (SM) dec. Dylan Bargerstock (Hix), 2-1;
195 – Devin Crawl (RB) dec. Brian Sledge (Cen), 2-1;
220 – Devon Suddeth (RB) pinned Deontae Tyson (T), 2:19;
285 – Anthony Ottinger (RB) pinned Guillano Palacio (Hix), 2:36.
CONSOLATION FINALS
106 – Zack Gee (RB) pinned Rylie Hart (Hix), 1:45;
113 – Jacob Newman (Hix) dec. Grant Speer (ND), 8-4;
120 – Gage Evans (RB) dec. Camden Dickens (ND), 9-2;
126 – Jay Brock (Seq) pinned Konnor Zeigler (Hix), 4:34;
132 – Ned Warwick (ND) pinned Logan McDonald (ER), 2:45;
138 – Cameron Weaver (Seq) dec. Jonas Shackleford (Hix), 3-2;
145 – Justin Wheeler (CCS) dec. Hunt Drennan (SM), 6-5;
152 – Chaysen Patrick (T) dec. Jarred Keener (Seq), 8-2;
160 – Avery Shrum (W) pinned Jackson Hash, 1:38;
170 – Juan Camacho (T) dec. Daniel Mikel (W), 13-6;
182 – Robert Perry (RB) pinned William Carter (W), 2:19;
195 – Kevin Cortes (T) dec. Kell Stott (BB), 9-2;
220 – Will Watkins (BB) pinned Michael Nelson (CCS), :46;
285 – Christian Castro (ER) pinned Kevin Thomas (T), :49.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
East Ridge's Keshawn Cosey takes Camden Dickens of Notre Dame high in the air for a takedown in their 120-pound semifinal match. Cosey won the bout by a fall at the 2:30 mark and went on to take the championship in his weight class, qualifying for next week's state tournament in Franklin.
photo by Dennis Norwood