WrestlingLover

Agree with CBG here.  Posted in another thread are some of the individual rankings.  According to that post at 120 lbs there are 9 or more wrestlers ranked in the Top 4 of their State Classification.  Tourney looks to be loaded and not often that a Top 4 wrestler in the State doesn’t place in an individual tourney.  Can’t tell you which ones will be disappointed, only that there will be some strong competition and some of these great kids won't get to the podium.

One of the Patriarchs of Middle Tennessee wrestling has passed away.  Phillip Simpson - 92 raised beautiful daughters, and sons who have become some of Tennessee’s best high school coaches and wrestlers.  He loved the sport and until recently could always be found watching his sons and grandsons compete.  Visitation will be at Christ the King Church in Nashville on Sunday April 3rd 3:00 – 5:00 pm and again 7:00 – 8:30 pm.  Funeral Mass will be 10:00 am Monday April 4^th at Christ the King.  Please keep the Simpson family in your prayers.

If you are talking about D2, I think the first round is blank for the top seeds to make room for the winner of the “wrestle ins†that are new this year.  Hoping this qualifier in D2 is a one-and-done.

First congrats to Baylor on their Duals State Championship.  A great team and congratulations to all these young men.

I want to thank Coach Pat Simpson for his class and once again showing us why he is such a good leader and teacher.  Anyone who witnessed the HW match knows there was a mistake made by the referee, but it happens.  This mistake had a huge impact on the result, but instead of blaming the ref Coach Simpson chose to take the high road and is moving on to get the boys ready for the Individuals.  From the Tennessean this morning:

“That didn’t beat us,†Ryan coach Pat Simpson said of the call at 285. “We had our chances. We just didn’t perform where we needed to. We’ll go back to work Monday and see if we can win the individual tournament.â€

Thank you Coach for teaching young men to not only to be good wrestlers, but how to be good men.

MBA Coach Frank Simpson goes against brother Pat Simpson of Father Ryan on Saturday night at MBA.  Franks’s son Patrick coaches at MBA, and John Michael at Ryan and there is always some brotherly love during the match.  Add a couple more Simpson wrestlers at Ryan and there may not be any tickets left for those outside the family.  MBA is looking good but think the Irish take it again this year.

Damon Smith is a class guy who helped the Ryan program.  Even though he is doing well in real estate, my guess is he will be involved in in wrestling again at some point.  If Franklin then good for them

he** hath no fury like a "Ghouse" scorned.

No question strong feeder programs are a huge boost for for high school wrestling. First (2) programs in TN that come to mind for me are Nashville Catholic Wrestling and Wave Wrestling, as both have large numbers and strong coaching. What are some of the other programs that do a good job preparing boys for high school?

I'm sure the wrestling program would love to find a benifactor if that is what you are alluding to, but I am not sure where you are going with this.

Not sure either. Did you ever see the Andy Griffith episode where Goober grows a beard and suddenly is an expert on everything? This episode comes to mind when I read most of Sommers’ posts.

As for taking away a state championship from Mosley, what about his opponent? By not making the correct call, you where taking away the state championship from him. It was tied after the call, Mosley still had a chance to win.

What about HIS opponent? Are we talking about the same match? Moseley did nothing put push this kid the entire time. I never saw his opponent make one offensive move. Moseley is up 3-2 with 20 seconds or so left, takes a shot and gets hit for stalling. Give me a break. One of the worst calls I have seen in my life and this ref should be ashamed.

Individuals:

106- Oliver (CBHS)

113- Elsea (McC)

120- Ortale (MBA)

126- Watson (Baylor)

132- Westbrooks (McC)

138- Marchetti (FR)

145- Baker (CBHS)

152- Cate (Bay)

160- Moseley (FR)

170- Hooker (FR)

182- Holmes (FR)

195- Fisher (FR)

220- Mason (BA)

285- Youngblood (McC)

My guess is that there won’t be 20 points difference between the top three teams in DII. Father Ryan barely over Baylor with CBHS third.

Know these guys have already caught a few top teams in Independence, CBHS, and Cleveland but seem to be down a bit this year. They have always competed for the top with teams like Bradley, Soddy, Cleveland, Baylor, Father Ryan and CBHS. Is this a rebuilding year for them?

Does wrestling make you a better football player? The starting center for the Super Bowl champion Packers was a successful wrestler in Nashville, and this recent article about a new Titan points out what wrestlers all know. Pay special attention to where this rookie attributes his leverage.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110816/SPORTS01/308160037/Titans-rookie-Klug-plays-big-even-he-isn-t?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports Tennessee Titans

Father Ryan won but how did the other teams finsih? top 10?

Found this on the Ryan website. Here are the top ten:

1. Father Ryan - 228

2. Christian Brothers - 220

3. MBA - 186.50

4. Franklin - 160

5. Mt. Juliet - 140.50

6. Brentwood Academy - 125

7. Benjamin Russell - 110.50

8. Dickson County - 108.50

9. Signal Mountain - 94

10. Hendersonville - 93

I have heard about the Ryan invitational for years but had never gone to it. I thought that I would go and share my experience with coacht. As I arrived at the tournament, I was first greeted by Bear Cat Brown. I asked what he was doing and he told me that he didn’t have time to talk that he needed a pen and paper. I obliged him and proceeded to follow him into the hospitality room. I saw him trading recipes and phone numbers with the purple mommies (only the divorced ones). After a few minutes, I asked if he was going to stay and he said no that he had gotten all he needed and had to get back to C town because he was going to dinner with an old friend. I asked him who he was having dinner with and he told me he didn’t know his name only his phone number. It seems that this old friend only communicates with BCB by texting. I also asked him how the adoption of Jack by Moseley and Marchetti was going and he said great that he should be wrestling for the purple Irish next year. As I told BCB goodbye, I noticed a Sheriff’s Department truck out back. I thought at first it was to escort some of the Ryan fans out of the gym but noticed some sharp shooters mats on the truck. I asked the deputy what was up and he told me that they were going to store them here. I thought that strange until he explained that he knew the mats would be safe here because the Sharp Shooters or Kennedy would never come here to wrestle on them. I then saw Dan McGugin ( MBA’s football coach) and Ricky Bowers (Ensworth’s football coach). I asked if they were here to see the wrestling and they responded absolutely not! We are here to make sure none of our football players are wrestling. I proceeded to tell Ricky that Ensworth is not in the tournament and he said that he wanted to make sure that they were not watching the matches because he doesn’t want to even think about wrestling. I next saw the CBHS crowd in the stands. In the middle of them I saw a frozen cake that said congratulations champions. I thought it was odd until I remembered that I saw that same cake at last year’s state duals. It was behind the CBHS cheering section. At that time, I thought to myself wonder what they will do with this cake if they don’t win state. Well my question was answered when I saw it at the Ryan tournament. I guess they will have to put it back on ice until the state tournament again. Well, that just about sums up my observations at the Ryan tournament and I saw some great matches and I look forward to going back next year.

So many potshots I had to read it twice as I missed some the first time. Very nice observations Nick and glad to see you are still here with us. BTW how is ToJo?

Since the DI - DII split at the start of the 1997-1998 season, Baylor has been the leader.

 

 

.................................Total DII 1998 - 2010

 

.......................State..............Individual...............Individual

.......................Duals.................Team...................Champs

.......................Champs............Champs

 

Baylor..................6......................8 1/2......................49

 

F. Ryan.................5......................4 1/2.....................41

 

 

One of my all-time favorites - Opie Taylor says to his Dad, "I've never seen half a boy!" So I checked the TSSAA website and sure enough Opie was right - Neither Baylor or Ryan own half a State Championship.

You never know, I remember quite vividly the heavyweight champion from Father Ryan (believe Zach Hermann was his name) was on the juice.. has extreme anger problems to this day. Rumor has it that he is over 7 ft 400 pounds now.. he is going to wrestle for the WWE. I doubt Mr. Allen is guilty of this though

Yes he's kidding, as protein shakes were his thing. He did love that weight room though and it showed in his matches. Saw him takedown the big boys by lifting them completely off the mat numerous times.

My prediction is the DII State Duals will be a barn burner, and the Semi's will be as good as the finals. Any one of these four can be on top - Baylor, Christian Brothers, Father Ryan, and McCallie. Should be great.

 

I suppose to keep that seeding or ranking, who knows. I don't anticipate we'll see that tomorrow at 119 when Ryan and BA face-off.

If the implication here is that the Ryan 119 might not be wrestling, I will be shocked if he doesn’t. Don’t recall this coach ever dodging anyone. He certainly wouldn’t wrestle Mater Dei, Collins Hill, Brandon, and good programs outside TN to make his team better if he was trying to protect his record. I think if a wrestler or coach decides to dodge someone to protect his standing, he has to be thinking there was a good possibility he would lose the match. Now there’s a confidence builder for the one being dodged! Know this goes on, but don’t think you’ll see it from the Ryan coach.

According to the Father Ryan website:

FRHS Invitational

The schedule for the Father Ryan Wrestling Tournament is as follows, subject to length of the matches and the weather:

Friday, January 8

Weigh-ins 3:00 pm

Wrestling 4:00 pm (if seeding is completed)

Saturday, January 9

Weigh-ins 8:00 am

Wrestling 9:00 am

Finals 7:00 pm

The competition has declined, over the years, at this tournament. Why? Where are all the good out-of-town teams?

Toss up this year between Father Ryan, Christian Brothers and McCallie.

As for good competition, according to the latest rankings these teams alone make up 3 of the top 5 teams in the State. Hoping next year your team gets an invitation so you won't be so bitter.

Brandon and Collins Hill are in a different league than the TN teams. Congrats to Baylor on the two wins against Brandon, and to Father Ryan for placing 3rd behind two well deserved nationally ranked teams.

So very sorry for them and cannot begin to imagine their pain. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.

CH...was lucky last year......graduated a bunch of talent.....they're still looking for 14 fill the lineup!

Nice try RMC, but we all know CH doesn't need to look for someone to fill the roster. They will just be reloading this year The backups at CH probably would have placed at State if given the chance. Nice position to be in and they've got a good program going. Looking forward to doing my last minute Christmas shopping in Atlanta after some good wrestling.