In Hoc Signo Vinces

As intimidating as Ryan's lineup seems this year (btw Duff will be a starter in the upper-weights somewhere), there are still maladies that seemingly plague the Irish in certain contexts, they certainly are far from invincible. A collective group of upperclassmen need to step up to the plate if they will fulfill this team's potential. This 2013-14 team, consisting of a sophmore class that rivals the 2008 group in terms of talent, although the latter ultimately, possess a greater deal of common sense and general intelligence (a Michael Goodrum just kills the average, but could snowball into a juggernaught of multiple state championships, as the parochial NCW pipeline seems be pumping a better product into Pat Simpson's wrestling room. What these upperclassmen need to recognize is the their ability to improve individual teammates by pushing their peers ina way the staff can't properly convey.

Anyone that counts Ryan out does so at their own peril. Wilson Central will never reach their team's full potential in that regard, nor will that feat be exercised in an ind. tourney. Year after year they dodge the best mid tn has to offer (they don't wrestle Ryan in a head on dual, while not sending a full varsity line up to the Ryan tourney). When your kids don't see the best competition until the end of the yr at the dual (like the wildcats did last yr) then you tend to garner results that are similar to the one last yr at the dual meet. Ryan tends to always avoid the dilemma of a weak schedule

This is one camp that is always worth more than the initial investment. Coach Gannon puts on a substantially well run camp

Well to play off your redneck comedy motif, obviously you can't fix stupid!

As a wrestler, I never forgot to shake a coach's hand, after a few dozen let alone hundreds of matches Baker has wrestled you would think it would have been ingrained into hims, but hey I am sure that the CBHS pin record is more emotional and rewarding than winning an NCAA championship where such a breach in sportsmanship wouldnt be tolerated.

106: Trey Chalifoux-FR 113: Elijah Oliver- CBHS 120: Eckhart- FR 126: Fisher-FR 132: Brunner-BAY 138: Holloway-BAY 145Marchetti-FR 152: Baker-CBHS 160: Popp-BAY 170: Clement-BAY/Walthall-CBHS 182: Clement-BAY/Hoodenpyle-McC 195: McColgan-CBHS 220: Mason-BA HWT: Armstrong-CBHS

I suppose they were too pre-occupied with the notion of "getting paid" to abide by any standard of proper etiquette. These trivial individuals displayed a great deal of disrespect for both a legend, coach Simpson and the program in general. You think people of such means wouldnt act like a bunch of commoners from Frayser, I am more than confident Ryan's kids wouldnt.

Sweet quip RL, since DI is so deep this year, right! I dont know how it is in Georgia (I am sure you wouldnt hesitate to tell) but the top team in the state is a DII institution

Anyone want to throw out predictions team and otherwise? Team score could be very interesting

Just to make it interesting predictions: 106: Ryan-6 113: Ryan-6 120: Ryan-6 126:Ryan_4 132: Ryan-6 138:Ryan-6 145:Ryan-6 152: Ryan-4 160: Ryan-3 170: Ryan-6 182: Ryan-4 195: MBA-6 220:MBA-6 285: MBA-6 Ryan57 MBA18

Bearcat my command of the English language has significantly improved as a result of forfeiting my usual proximity next to the keg while residing on Rocky Top, while descending to the realm of mere mortals......the working world. Well Tex, sustaining that role does have its significant financial advantages (the most prominent being not scraping up every tangible resource available at the end of the month to make payment on the astronomical interest I owe as a result of being a customer to Cleveland' s finest entrepreneur). But hey we all have our own unique perceptions I suppose

First and foremost I construed the final line of your post as being completely inappropriate for the atmosphere fostered on this forum; and is every amount indicative of the caliber of individual I hypothesized you to be by your previous participation on this stratus. Even if I didn't possess any discernible degree of common sense, I severely doubt your ability to physically instill that characteristic in me! Secondly, my initial and eventually correct assumption that your an inept moron was only formulated by reading your posts (yes in their entirety, unlike you I don't wander around coacht like a meandering idiot posting my sentiments in an unbecoming manner unfit for anyone said to have any degree of intelligence or maturity). You seem (as exemplified by your statements on the 220 lb. topic) to have a a blatant disrespect for TN wrestling and instead have something protruding under your belt for Georgia wrestling. Thirdly, I wasn't aware that your invitation was a prerequisite for participating on this website. Your outspoken disposition on this website, compounded by your ignorance of subject-matter regarding the issues and people on it (I don't regard Sommers as a buddy and am not his cohort with any collaboration or sympathies towards his opinions) leads me to conclude that you could benefit from a little bit more discretion and a lot more intelligence.

Ya I agree Sommers when a parent starts to use plural verbiage on this forum he/she needs to take a breath and step back. There is no "we" on the the mat, there is just "him" the wrestler. I guess they don't teach the rules regarding English singularity/plurality where you're originally from before you came to Bradley County. I am confident however, that you won't pick up utility of the proper grammar living Bradley County, just a pair of dentures. In all seriousness, I am always completely turned off when parents try to talk as if their kids are a am absolute extension of themselves...

Lattimer from SBA, a stud......? Hahahahaha you are far too kind with your post, that kid was nothing more than a kid with a body type that resembled a 65 year old state worker, that had a bad attitude and horrible sense of sportsmanship. And no there is nothing more to St. Benedict than their lack of that kid with his over-inflated ego and sense of entitlement, they is exactly why they were at this tournament. Why does Arab AL waste their time and money with this tournament?

I realize that this thread might be somewhat redundant, but who is going to be there and what are some potentially exciting match ups that we can anticipate?

As a prequel to the dual tourney these two teams have done this meet the last few years, predictions?

Bruce Lussier's employment at Father Ryan was a monumental milestone for the that athletic department because it finally opened the proverbial door for the head coaching position to an outsider, with little or no connections to that community. This was a profound event because it allows an objective person to walk into a program, that most would agree has been in a constant trend of decline relative to its history for the past decade, and make decisions without the purple goggles blurring the coach's vision. That said Lussier has failed to improve the plight of the program while allotting himself to mediocre results posted annually by team that seems to be constantly out coached and under prepared. Father Ryan's new athletic facility lends the administration a considerable tool in which to utilize for the recruitment of a new coach. The possibilities are potentially endless, there could and should be a regional search for a coach! In my own opinion I would stay closer to home, what is Jeff Rutledge doing?

I want to laud wrestlinggod for this ambitious enterprise that he he is undertaking! One of the biggest detrimental obstacles obstructing the sustained growth of wrestling in the state and the amount of exposure our top wrestlers get nationally is just that lack of exposure. I would strongly recommend that coaches either entertain this proposition or begin to stream their important matches online.

These guys def. deserve recognition for their hard work, especially in the off-season. But I do think WIN did potentially snub some TN guys. Campbell Lewis, Turbo Smith, Mark Marchetti, Cole Mosely, Kaleb Baker, Tate Robinson, Elijah Oliver, among others.

Will the Brothers from Memphis be able to proverbially double dip and go 2 for 2 this year. I don't think so, though Christian Brothers is by far the best dual team this year in the state I think they will barely be able to edge out EBE for third. Team Places: 1. Father Ryan 7 finalists 2. Baylor 6 finalists 3. CBHS 6 finalist 4. EBE 4 finalists 5. MBA 2 finalists Finals Match ups: 106: CBHS v Ryan 113: McCallie v Ryan 120: McCallie v CBHS 126: Baylor v. CBHS 132: Baylor v. CBHS 138: McCallie v Ryan 145: Baylor v. CBHS 152: Baylor v. MBA 160: CBHS v. Ryan 170: Baylor v. Ryan 182: Baylor v. Ryan 195: SBA v. Ryan 220: BA v. MBA HWT: McCallie v. CBHS

I agree, BCB, though often crude and unrefined at times, is still a valuable member of this forum for the insight and history that he provides in his commentary. I have never seen him take shots at individual kids only teams as a whole, coaches, or refs. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but it will have to be another way on this board.

You are correct, MBA has done fairly well for their standards especially after having seen how they fared at the SE Prep Slam, but to state it bluntly, the only possible shot that the Big Red have of upsetting Ryan is if the Ingram's and Davis' pooled their money together and got Blair on the quickest chartered flight from Blairstown to Nashville. Ryan is simply way out of MBA's league this year; and if the success that NCW has had against MBA's middle school team in recent years seems to suggest that this will likely be a trend for the better part of 4-5 yrs.

It seems to me that the state of TN has progressed at an exponential rate in the past 5 or 6 years, evolving from teams that might have one or two studs that could competitively compete against top tier teams immediately outside the state while the rest of the team gave up at least 4 to 6 points, ending up with very uncompetitive dual scores. Now it seems that the historically good teams of the state are finally breaking through, Father Ryan- had a few lopsided losses to Collins Hill Georgia and Mater Dei Indiana in the mid 2000's, but are now able to compete against the best in Georgia and found success this past season up in Ohio at the Moeller Duals. CBHS- Used to be in a dog fight with Brother Martin New Orleans for the early Blackhorse, but now win that tourney with ease. Has gone out to a tough national tourney this past year giving their kids great exposure with a lot of their studs obtaining a lot of individual success, while also finding dual success against a top 35 ranked team. their national ranking is hopefully the tip of the iceberg for TN. Soddy Daisy- has been outshown since their last uberly successful season in 2006 w/ Roberson and Lettner recently by Bradley Cty, and has a good enough dual team to beat a good but not full Father Ryan line up and to trade wins against a now nationally ranked Christian Borthers. This year they could could push most of the better teams in the southeast in dual and traditionally ran tourneys. Cleveland- has seen success and money come their way this decade and seen both their high school and middle school programs achieve success. The palace that Jones built for wrestling at his alma mater serves two purposes for that program. it practically allows that team to have large numbers in a state of the art facility, while serving as a recruiting tool for the high school to pick up the better wrestlers that would have traditionally chosen to attend Bradley Central in the past since it is an "open" county. With all of this success in the past decade, the quality of TN wrestling in general has and will continue to improve. My question however, is whether the rest of the nation (and those areas in particular which wrestling is most popular) and those that keep track of the rankings will notice this improvement in these teams and recognize it?

Ironman,this current thread along with all of your other past activity on this board has given me an adequate degree of material to observe two things about you. First, your a Ryan hater plain and simple; and second you have no idea what your talking about when it pertains to middle tn wrestling, because as a fan of wrestling in middle tn one doesn't have to like the Irish, but one must respect what the program has done and will continue to due in the future to promote the growth and quality of wrestling in both the mid-state and the whole state in general (which I think was illustrated in their victory over soddy daisy in the the Fandetti Richardson Brawl, a tournament which was arguably tougher then McCallie this year). Despite the stupid nature of this thread and the likely failure on my part to persuade you from your original stupid logic, I will attempt to answer the question. The Father Ryan tournament has always been and was this year better then the Brentwood Tourney. The tournament draws higher quality teams and is always very diverse. I admit this year the tourney was down a little bit, but only due to the fact that the Brothers of Memphis are showing their poker face to the rest of D-II, which is evident in their absence at both the ryan tourney and the fandetti richardson brawl.

103-Jonah Smith(SD) vs Cole Holloway(Bay)- Holloway, dec. 0-3 112-Alex Kaferle(Tull) vs Tate Robinson(CBHS)- Robinson, maj dec.0-7 119-Tanner Bates(Mt.J) vs Brandon Brunner(Bay)- Bates, dec.3-7 125-Eric Feuerbacher(Blk) vs Zack Watson(Bay)- Watson, maj dec.3-11 130-Campbell Lewis(SD) vs Alex Manley(Bay)- Lewis, dec.6-11 135-Marvin Lopez(Cleve) vs Kaleb Baker(CBHS)- Baker, maj dec.6-15 140-Aaron Lopez(Cleve) vs Stuart Doster(Bay)- Doster, dec.6-18 145-Josue Brown(HL) vs Michael Hooker(Mc)- Brown, dec.9-18 152-Bradley Colbaugh(Brad) vs Chris Agnew(Ryan- Colbaugh, dec.12-18 160-McCoy Newberg(Ind) vs TJ Duncan(Mc)- Duncan, dec.12-21 171-Holden Schay(Hou) vs Chase Martino(Mc)- Schay, maj dec.16-21 189-Cody Davis(Pf) vs T.J. Holmes(Ryan)- Davis, maj dec.20-21 215-Tucker Bolton(Brad) vs Amos Mason (BA)- Bolton, pin26-21 heavy-Patrick Benson(Brad) vs Barrett Gauger(Bay)- Benson, pin32-21