ArtusCimber

The 171 from Science Hill is Steven Fair. Big win tonight!

Bo Usary will be dropping to 125 for state. Our regional tournament team will be better with Bo at 125 and Drish at 130. And before anybody starts trying to stir the pot, it was MY decision.

I hope Greeneville and Ooltewah are pretty good. I think they are.

Matt Lettner of Soddy-Daisy beat Henley 5-2, Reveiz beat Lettner 3-1 in the final. The Murray/Vandergriff score was 7-1. Damien wrestled Mansen as tough as anybody I've seen, but Mansen is so savvy. He is easily the best in this state. He will figure out a way to beat you. And he's such a classy individual. Ben's preparation for this week was radically different from the week leading up to the Fandetti. Maybe now he will see what can happen if he commits to preparation.

So that some folk's erroneous posts don't fester into fact... TOP FIVE TEAMS Baylor 215 Soddy Daisy 205.5 Science Hill 136 Greeneville 124 Red Bank 85.5 Bo Usary (130) and Ben Murray (275) won titles for the Toppers, Caleb Myers(112) for the Devils. I was especially proud of Damien Buchanan for his hard fought 6-4 loss to Corey Manson. Region One acquited themselves well I think.

Mocco didn't fight too much when he hit his back...hmmm.

Damien Buchanan is without a doubt the most improved wrestler on my team. He was always a brawler/scrambler, but over the summer he added technique to that mix. I have great wishes and hopes for him at Chattanooga. He is thirty something and two, with thirty some pins. He lost to Hussein 11-10 on a last second takedown. His other loss is a 6-4 decision to Patrick Macintosh of Bandys, NC, ranked #1 in NC 1A/2A. Damien is possibly the most tenacious kid I've ever coached. Bo has won a couple of best wrestler awards this year and was surprised that he got it over Damien because Damien had pinned his way through each of them. Last night was great for him I'm sure. But more important than that, he is one of the finest kids I've ever coached. He is a superior human being. Guys like Damien make coaching worth it. Pleas keep an eye out for him. You won't be sorry.

Science Hill won, Ooltewah was second, High Point Glenn was third. Damien Buchanan of SHHS was light weight OW, Chip Reed of High Point Glenn in the uppers. I'll make a detailed post tomorrow after I get a hard copy of the results, which I forgot to get last night. Grant Mitchell (119), Matt Drish (125), Bo Usary (130), Damien Buchanan (135) won for Science Hill. Good tournament. Lots of fun.

Science Hill won the Scott Fandetti Brawl today. Ooltewah was second, Glenn NC was third, Kingston fourth. SHHS Champs were Grant Mitchell at 119, Matt Drish at 125, Bo Usary at 130, and Damien Buchanan at 135. Damien was outstanding wrestler in the lower weights, Chip Reed of Glenn in the upper weights. Ooltewah is tough. A good time was had by all. Science Hill won the Scott Fandetti Brawl today. Ooltewah was second, Glenn NC was third, Kingston fourth. SHHS Champs were Grant Mitchell at 119, Matt Drish at 125, Bo Usary at 130, and Damien Buchanan at 135. Damien was outstanding wrestler in the lower weights, Chip Reed of Glenn in the upper weights. Ooltewah is tough. A good time was had by all.

Science Hill won the K.T. Feldspar Duals at Mitchell County. Ten duals over two days. We wrestled Asheville High, Anson County, Madison, Chase, and Hopewell on Thursday. We wrestled Robbinsville, Gibbs, Pigeon Forge and received a forfeit from Bishop-England SC in Friday's preliminaries. We wrestled Charlotte Latin in the championship match. Started at 125. Grant, Goldstein, and Drish got us started with three pins, so we ran out to a 32-0 lead by 171. Seeing that there were forfeits coming at 112 and 119, the match was over before they got on the board. We pinned on out except for 103, making the final score 62-9. They had five guys who are ranked in NC's independent schools. Two of them, the 215 and 275, are ranked first. Ethan and Ben pinned them both. Grant (125), Damien (145), and David (160) beat the other three. It was an interesting two days. All the teams we wrestled had good wrestlers but they were all matched up against our good guys so we came out of it pretty well. Unbeaten for the tournament were Brett Usary (112), Grant Mitchell (125), Bo Usary (135), Damien Buchanan (140), David Williamson (152), Ethan Henley (215), Ben Murray (275), Michael Goldstein (130), and Aushon Hale (145). Fun tournament. Good time. It was held at an executive center so we were able to just walk from the motel to the wrestling. I think this will become a permanent addition to our schedule. And the hospitality room was very good as well. Maybe Coach Shelton can give more detailed results later if anybody even cares. Happy holidays to everybody.

Science Hill won the Rocket duals at AC Reynolds High School in Asheville Saturday. Scores were something like this: Pool Matches SHHS 59, West Henderson 18 SHHS over TC Roberson by roughly the same score SHHS over Newton Conover 45-31 Semifinals SHHS 63, East Henderson 15 Finals SHHS 35, Enka 31 Both Newton Conover and Enka had some really tough wrestlers. Enka is tough AND young. Enka has great lightweights (103-125) and a really tough 189 and 215. The Enka match was classic. You don't want to do it every day, but matches like that one are what it's all about. 215 was the last match, and pitted Ethan Henley against Zack Klutz of Enka, 5th in NC 3A last year. Score was 32-31 at the time. Ethan pulled out a 17-10 win to take us to the house. We did well. The team really stepped up and competed. Good job.

Science Hill, Crockett, and Cocke County are at Crockett.

We went to the Twin Cities Rumble in Winston-Salem. Many tough teams there. Check the NC Mat site to see who was there and draw your own conclusions. We wrestled very well and placed second. Team scores were something like this: Davie County 186 SHHS 183.5 Mount Tabor 179 Watauga 157 Bandys 147 Four and five may be reversed. I know Bandys was the A/AA champion in 2004 and 2005. It was a pool tournament like the GIT but with no 7th place match. Resluts were as follows: 1st Place-Bo Usary (135), Ethan Henley (215), Ben Murray (275) 2nd Place-Damien Buchanan (140), David Williamson (152) 4th Place-Grant Mitchell (125) 5th Place-Luke Williams (145) Brett Usary (112), Richard Tapia (119), and Michael Goldstein (130) cleared their pools. I was as good a day as I remember having. It is really fun to come to the wire in a tournament of this scope. Congratualtions to the Toppers, to Greeneville, and to Jeff County. I like the new name for the Devil Chellenge.

I'm flattered that we have such an avid fan in trashcanman, but I don't want any controversy fueled here. To begin with, nobody should take anyone's word but mine or TDArtist's as to who is wrestling what at SHHS. Second, we really respect Nic Bundy as a competitor and welcome any chances to better ourselves. This is great for the sport, and for these two kids. Bo can wrestle 125, but it is highly unlikely he will. I might drop him down for selected regional matches, but probably not. I like the 125 I have, and anybody in region one who'd rather wrestle him than Bo might find out it's not like they think. Finally, the views of trashcanman do not reflect those of myself, my coaches, my wrestlers, or good old Science Hill High School. Still, I won't try to squelch his rabid enthusiasm. It makes me laugh a little. Only one week-I'm so excited... Price

Seth, you're welcome at our place anytime...don't even ask, just show up. Bring friends.

I knew somebody was going to ask the question, so here goes... My 112 pounder from last season is not a member of the wrestling team at Science Hill this year. His reasons are his own and change with each new person who asks. This is my take on it, conclusions reached after much thought. He was a young man with an incredible amount of wrestling skill. I would even go so far as to say it was a gift. A God-given gift. The best one he had. As I saw it, it was his ticket to a better life and his chance to give back to the MANY people who had given to him. Sadly, he does not see it this way and has chosen to burn the sacrifice of the future on the altar of the immediate. It is the greatest, most disappointing waste of talent I have personally witnessed in any wrestling program with which I have been involved. He is a disgrace to the sport which gave so much to him and an insult to all those with half his talent who will be at practices all over the state today. There's the answer. I would ask as a personal favor that he not be not be mentioned on anymore region 1 posts. And Drish will be at 125, Mitchell at 119.

Coach Junior Foreman will be hosting a clinic at his place on 8 October. The clinic will run from 8:00 to 5:00 and will be led by Andy Medders, the new head coach at Cumberland (KY). Pre-registration (before 9/23) is $40.00 and includes lunch and a UC T-Shirt. Walk up registration is $50.00 and includes lunch but no T-shirt. Registration may be mailed to: Greg Foreman, Jr. Pigeon Forge High School 414 Tiger Drive Pigeon Forge, TN 37863 Make checks payable to Wolfpack Wrestling For more info call 865-577-1950 or eamil sfore1@excite.com

Hey, Some important NWCA stuff to know: First, we have to pay for our memberships this year, and we have to be members for weight control, so if you haven't submitted those, please do so. Second, we now have an NWCA email address. It is tnmatrats@gmail.com If you need anything from me, contact me there. Third, I need a state contact list for NWCA. Please send to the email address your name, school, email address, and pertinent phone numbers. Fourth, you may submit your own career wins awards by filling out the forms on the website. Let me know if you need anything. Jeff Price NWCA Rep

Congratulations to the 2005 NWCA awards winners: Wrestler of the Year-Corey Manson, Baylor Assistant Coach of the Year-Sandy Cody, Science Hill Head Coach of the Year-Chad Laxton, Bradley Central Good Job! Jeff Price NWCA State Rep

The AAU Freestyle tournament that was scheduled this weekend has been cancelled. We still need all wrestlers interested in trying out for the Region 1&2 TNT Duals team to be here next Tuesday for tryouts. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at topperwrestling@hotmail.com.

Science Hill will be hosting a camp June 20-23. The camp will be conducted by the coaching staff at the University of Virginia. Lead instructors will be Assistant Coach Jom Harshaw, an NCAA All-American at UVA, and Pat McNamara, NCAA All-American at Michigan State. We used to go to the UVA team camp but it moved into the dead period, so they're coming to us. These guys do a great job and have a good grasp of the total picture. Cost will be $180 dollars for the four days, which includes lunch and a camp T-shirt. Coaches will receive $5 for each wrestler they bring. For details contact Jeff Price at fngclydesdale@triathlete.com

Coach Delgado, Thanks for reminding us all of Michael Spencer. Talk about a human wrecking machine. That was my first year at Jefferson County. My best wrestler at the time, Lee Brooks, had the dubious distinction of being the only kid to go six minutes with him (actually he was teched at the six minute mark). I'm going to have to go back and try to see if I can remember anybody who dominated a weight class like he did then. Maybe Keller or Quinn Gibson; Kyle James was slicker but not as brutal. Justin Knox, Reveiz, and Meredith were all impressively physical, but Spencer just punished everybody. His was truly a display of physical and technical dominance. If anybody has time, post all the OWs from 1993 on and we can compare notes. I think Ryan Konz will be a three timer. What a tough kid. The last 1:40 of Bo's match and the overtime was really a cool thing to coach. I was never scared, or frustrated, or anxious. I was just there. I wish I could feel that way every time I sat down in a corner. It showed me what it was all about. But I digress. I'll shutup now.

Coach Adams has done a great job at Kingston as well. And Marty Carpenter has always been one of my favcrite people in wrestling, even if he didn't come to my tournament this year. Marc Taylor is a great guy and it's good to see that his team has a chance now to stand out after living in the shadows of all those big schools on Franklin Road. I'm excited about the small schools thing, because it looks like it's going to motivate several more teams in our state. That will only make Tennessee wrestling better.

Anybody who's trying to get a young program off the ground, especially in East Tennessee, needs to talk to Coach Ridge and the guys at Greenback and see what they're doing, because it's working. We had them in the Fandetti this year and they were a great addition to our tournament. Their kids are gutty and excited about the team. They had a fan base that's enthusiastic about the program. They stepped up their schedule a little this year and that's helping. I'm excited about their making it to Clarksville, and we'll be hoping that they do well. Congratulations to the guys over there. Enjoy yourselves this weekend and represent this part of the state.

I've probably missed something, but where was Jake Yost?