Bradley Totally Dominates Ooltewah Invitational

Ringgold Finishes Distant Second In Prep Wrestling Tournament

  • Saturday, December 3, 2016
  • John Hunt

We’re just now through the second week of the high school wrestling season, but the Bradley Bears appear to already be in mid-season form.

The Bears, defending state champs for the duals and the traditional tournament, won the Heritage Duals last weekend and they added the Ooltewah Invitational this week as they claimed 10 champions and won going away with 268.5 points.

The Ringgold Tigers were second with 169 points and two champs while Red Bank was third with 76, Lawrence County fourth with 69 and Hardin Valley fifth with 67.5.

Bradley’s T.J. Hicks, who is a two-time defending state champ, was one of eight wrestlers in the championship finals who posted a pin, but his was the quickest in just 19 seconds and he was an obvious choice for the Outstanding Wrestler award.

Best Match went to the 120-pound final where Bradley’s Trey Hicks, T.J.’s triplet, posted a tense 9-8 decision over Lawrence County’s Luke Dezember.

Other champions for Bradley included Wesley Devaney at 106, Ethan Anderson at 126, Ryan McElhaney at 132, Knox Fuller at 145, Austin Mathews at 152, Will Kaylor at 160, Henley Headrick at 172 and Trey Johnson at 182.

Other individual winners included Ringgold teammates Trevor Milling at 138 and heavyweight Enrique Maravilla.  Brentwood’s C.J. Grissim was first at 195 while Ooltewah’s Victor Bednarski was the winner at 220.

There were 14 teams involved in Saturday’s competition and there were two weight classes – 106 and 220 – where there was a round robin format and no matches for first and third place.

While Bradley had 10 champions, Andy Robinson and Kevin Gentry were runner-ups at 138 and 195, respectively, while D.J. Gibson was third at 220.

Bradley coach Ben Smith works around the clock finding ways to make his team better.  He knows from past experience that his team is always the team to beat and his Bears are the top target for most teams, but it’s all a process of getting ready for the season-ending tournaments in Franklin and that’s where the biggest awards are presented.

“It’s been a pretty good day for us as we came down here and won another tournament,” Smith said after the last Bear had competed for the day.

“We picked it up in the later rounds when we faced some tougher kids, but we have some new guys in the lineup and I really wanted to see how they would perform.  I wanted to see how we would respond under pressure.

“We’re just now starting to get warmed up.  We’ll find out just where we are on Tuesday afternoon,” he said, referring to his team’s next dual meet at Baylor.

Ringgold coach David Moss also some some positives for such an early-season tournament.  The Tigers have already won the Cartersville Duals and the Tri-State Classic at Ringgold, so he was happy to take home the runner-up award.

“I like where we’re headed, but it’s early December and we have a long way to go,” he said shortly after Maravilla claimed Ringgold’s second individual title.

“We always enjoy coming up here and seeing some good competition from these Tennessee teams.  I feel like we’re behind where we need to be at this point, but we’re getting there,” he added.

LEGEND AND FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1. Bradley (Brad) 268.5; 2. Ringgold (Ring) 169; 3. Red Bank (RB) 76; 4. Lawrence County (LC) 69; 5. Hardin Valley (HV) 67.5; 6. Brentwood (Brent) 65.5; 7. Farragut (Far) 48; 8. Chattanooga Central (Cen) 37; 9. Signal Mountain (SM) 36.5; 10. Ooltewah (O) 33.5; 11. Brainerd (Brain) 16; 12. Chattanooga Christian (CCS) 0.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

106 – Wesley Devaney (Brad) first and Daniel Uhorchuk (SM) second;

113 – T.J. Hicks (Brad) pinned Jeffrey Skeen (Ring), :19;

120 – Trey Hicks (Brad) dec. Luke Dezember (LC), 9-8;

126 – Ethan Anderson (Brad) pinned Jacob Haney (LC), 5:49;

132 – Ryan McElhaney (Brad) pinned Graham Brothers (Brent), 2:59;

138 – Trevor Milling (Ring) pinned Andy Robinson (Brad), 3:12;

145 – Knox Fuller (Brad) pinned Jonah Bird (RB), 1:16;

152 – Austin Mathews (Brad) dec. Griffin Green (Ring), 7-4;

160 – Will Kaylor (Brad) pinned Brett Ford (LC), 2:56;

170 – Henley Headrick (Brad) pinned Malachi Parker (Ring), 5:05;

182 – Trey Johnson (Brad) dec. Donte McClendon (Ring), 6-1;

195 – C.J. Grissim (Brent) dec. Kevin Gentry (Brad), 9-4;

220 – Victor Bednarski (O) was first and Keenan Sloan (HV) second;

285 – Enrique Maravilla (Ring) pinned Jeremiah Welch (RB), 1:37.

CONSOLATION FINALS

106 – Cabrin Vios (Far) was third;

 113 – Tyler McKeefery (Far) pinned Isaac Tate (SM), 3:18;

120 – Caden Cline (RB) pinned Paul Pitcher (HV), 2:54;

126 – Evan McDaniel (Cen) dec. Zachary Gee (RB), 8-3;

132 – Tyler Henry (HV) pinned Holden Moss (Ring), 1:23;

138 – Devin Martin (Far) pinned Tucker Passons (O), :44;

145 – Joey Collins (Ring) dec. Isaac Asselih (Brent), 6-4;

152 – Isaac Coffman (Cen) dec. Josh Pietarila (HV), 4-2;

160 – Colby Finch (Brent) dec. Will Davis (SM) 14-12 in overtime;

170 – Jackson Hash (RB) pinned Marshall Murphey (HV), 1:27;

182 – Zach Broemmel (HV) pinned Jacob Dubberly (LC), 5:34;

195 – Noah Keaton (Ring) pinned Damion Gray (LC), :50;

220 – D.J. Gibson (Brad) was third and Devon Suddeth (RB) fourth;

285 – Jamichael Wilson (Brain) pinned Charles Jones (Cen), 4:52.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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