ScottOsters

Basketball is not wrestling. The only place a wrestling mercy rule exists is in your posts. It does not exist in the federation rules nor the TSSAA guidelines. Stick to wrestling please.

Epic

Absolutely ridiculous to “blind draw” five spots and only seed based on previous year results. A three to five person seeding committee could do this right in under 30 minutes. There are only eight teams to seed. Cleveland, Summit and Brentwood all in top half of the bracket? If that is indeed how it shakes out, it’s a travesty. And an insult to the sport in this state.

Whatever it was that happened within the Baylor team or school is nobody’s business outside the program. High school kids sometimes make poor choices, for which there are consequences. Athletic participation is a privilege not a right, and that privilege is granted at the behest of the coach, the athletic department and the administration. Let’s leave this forum as what it should be. About the wrestling mat, not the commentary about how programs operate or recruit or don’t recruit. Focus on the mat.

Glad to hear that. Coach Pat would never tolerate a lack of sportsmanship. I personally saw it at the Brentwood match where the 120 and 157 pound Ryan wrestlers refused the traditional coach's handshake after each match. Thankful that has been corrected. Looking forward to some great wrestling here in middle TN. Four really strong teams with Ryan, Summit, Brentwood and Nolensville.

Early season result from last night The Brentwood High Bruins opened with two impressive victories.... Brentwood 51. Clarksville 29 Brentwood 54, James Clemens (AL) 27. And the Bruins look forward to getting the football playing wrestlers back next week, hoping to crack back into the rankings!!

Congratulations are in order to Brentwood wrestler Skylar Coffey on being ranked #7 nationally by FloWrestling. Skylar has moved up from the 220 weight class to heavyweight this season. He had a great showing at Super 32, finishing 4th with a victory over the #5 kid in the nation at the time. According to Coach Smith, many of the top college wrestling programs are calling. Wishing Skylar a great season!!!

Great post and perspective. Thanks for sharing. And congrats to Mason. And sorry, dad, but I do not know who Jim Morgan is. All the best to you and your son in the future.

AMEN!!!!

What happened after the Reiniche match was shameful. On the mat the match was a bit chippy. The Father Ryan wrestler was called for a head butt, and both wrestlers were very aggressive up high. Reiniche won the hard fought match handily with takedowns, and the championship was well deserved. His actions and reactions after the match were well below championship caliber, and should have been addressed right there on the mat. The sportsmanship was abhorrent. He made a veiled attempt to shake the opposing coaches hands by forcefully slapping at their forearms. A proper handshake was never offered whatsoever. Baylor coach Nelson corrected him...he turned back, offered a half-hearted handshake, then turned and taunted opposing fans and alumni near the mat exit. I wish him all the best and continued success at Cornell, including some lessons in discipline, respect and decorum. I'm sure he's a better man than evidenced by last night's post-match display.

Some random thoughts from the finals.... Putting AAA on the end is prudent. But TSSAA picked THE WRONG END. Putting the mats where the most fans could sit would be smart. Duh. The announcer was conspicuously silent all through the finals. In the past we would hear about returning state medalists and champions as they wrestled. This year that was done to some extent in the semis on Friday night but went quiet on Saturday. Wrestling is a great sport. These kids deserve better.

That’s the chalk for sure. A healthy Baylor will be a tough tough out. But the young Irish will have a little something for the Big B from the Big C. Coach Simpson and his staff have a special group of young men and will be looking to capture lightning in a bottle on Friday night. Should be some good matches Friday at 7 at the Cow Palace. Hopefully all the wrestlers avoid the flu this week and can compete at their best and at full strength. Good luck to all and stay safe.

Not sure about who all should be on this list, but there appears to be one glaring omission. Skylar Coffey.. Brentwood 220. 40 something and 1 with all but 3 being pins.

Thanks for the perspective pantheon. While I do not personally agree with it, I respect it and support your son's right to do it his way, especially if it is not a rule. Some of the vitriol I see on this board over the years has soured my desire to post somewhat. So to have these types of discussions without personal attacks is very fruitful for me, in light of my own history of over thirty years a HS basketball official. I recall my last series of posts having to do with McCallie and the officials' lack of understanding a couple years ago after one of your wrestlers won his match to clinch a team win over rival Baylor, jumping into his coaches arms in a spontaneous fit of glee, only to be hit with an unsportsmanlike team penalty which ultimately cost McCallie the match. I thought that was an outrage. So to understand your son's perspective, and for you to do so in the congratulatory spirit you framed it in, is laudable. Best of luck to your son in the state individuals. But if he wrestles a Ryan boy, not so much. :) These kids work so incredibly hard, and I tip my hat to each and every one of them for their dedication to wrestling at this level. I would have sent this in a PM, but could not figure out how to do it! LOL. Scott

A great tournament performance from a deserving group of young men. They kept grinding all season and it paid off for them with big wins vs Baylor Friday night and McCallie Saturday night. That ride home over the mountain with a Purple Haze in the mind had to be tough. I must say I was a bit discouraged by a group of wrestlers from McCallie choosing not to shake hands with opposing coach(es) after their respective matches, as I understand is customary. Certainly hope it was just an oversight in the heat of the match and not a purposeful tactic. Sportsmanship should never take a back seat in this most difficult of sports. But I digress..... Coach Simpson did a Belichek-like job this year with this team. They struggled early and just kept working hard. The coaching staff at Ryan deserves a great deal of credit. These young men were a different team with a different mindset in February, when it matters most. Kudos to a great team effort. Individuals should be a blast!!! Let's keep it rolling.....make it a double!!

The Tuesday double dual at Father Ryan has been communicated to start at 4:30 Central..Please confirm with your program or school. Father Ryan will wrestle Baylor and McCallie MBA will do the same Matches to be held at Father Ryan. 700 Norwood Dr. Nashville Come see arguably four of the top five teams in the state tune up for their team and individual state championship runs!! These student athletes work so incredibly hard and deserve a full gym. Let us all do our best to give it to them.

Where does one find these rankings this early in the season? Or anytime for that matter?

As with most disagreements, there are always two sides. The truth usually is found somewhere in the middle. Whatever the circumstances of this match, both teams involved should have communicated whatever their differences were well in advance of when they did. These are two fine and traditional wrestling programs and should find a way to get together each and every year. Good luck to both teams this season.

I continue to be amazed by the ignorance of some of the people who hide behind pseudonyms to post on this forum what they claim to be facts, yet are clueless as to what a fact is. Fact: Father Ryan had every intention to wrestle CBHS in Memphis on Sunday at 2 pm Fact: Reservations were made and confirmed at Hampton Inn Memphis-Poplar for Saturday night after wrestling Arlington. Fact: CBHS canceled the Sunday match, for reasons unknown to me. Fact: FRHS had to scramble to cancel hotel for team and parents on Thanksgiving night and Friday so as to avoid cancellation fees. All on this board are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Keep it real people.

Thanks YouthCoach and Pantheon for the updates. Much appreciated.

While it is quite understandable to use the regional tournaments to determine qualifiers for state, what sense does it make to have a tournament at all where the top one or two seeds draw byes into the semifinals? My idea is this....I would encourage all the DII coaches to wrestle each kid to the point they qualify, then forfeit out the rest. Send a message to the TSSAA that these two regional tournaments, held in opposite ends of the state, is a colossal waste of time and energy for what is an obvious money grab. Gamesmanship is a choice....simply trying to win without cheating. It is not to be confused with sportsmanship, which is defined by action. There is a great deal of strategy related to the bracketing and seeding process for the individual state tournament. Likely more than we as average fans know. Just eliminate the DII regional altogether. Let each state bracket have 16 entries. Would make for a much better state tournament environment. Seedlings could be argued, but the facts are that to win the title you have to wrestle all the seeds sooner or later anyways. Off my soapbox, but interested in thoughts from all parts of the state. And I still am interested in why two of the potential highlighted finals matches at this regional were forfeits. 138 and 182.

Does anyone know the circumstances behind either of the regional final forfeits? Dendy forfeits the title to Murphy at 138 Holloway forfeits the title to Euverard at 182 Injury? Protection from injury? Gamesmanship? And what happened to McCallie's 106 8th grader (Thomas Sell) who made his debut in the Baylor match?

Congrats to Cleveland and to Baylor. Special mention to both Wilson Central and Father Ryan for making the finals in both AAA and DII close, exciting matches. Father Ryan and Baylor wrestled three times this year. Baylor won by 7, then by 5, then by 2 last night. Kudos to both programs. Wilson Central really took steps forward with an impressive showing and more than atoned for last year's final. This year's rematch with Cleveland had ebbs and flows, with both teams having leads throughout. I thought the atmosphere at the Cow Palace was better than expected, but I still would like to see it moved to a facility more favorable to wrestlers. If health and safety are actually important, as they should be, then having finals all day when the closest showers are literally miles away is just crazy. It won't happen, but still.......

Is this the same Wilson Central that lost 13 of 14 matches in last year's final? Good program, fine coaches, upwardly moving......but state champs this year? Somebody scream.

Congratulations to Michael!!!! Winning the tournament.....$1500 Steak dinner reward..........$45 Wearing his 20 year old Wheaties hat all night........priceless.