BLACKMAN DEFEATS FATHER RYAN

[whatyousaid]

Sorry, didn't mean to single out your screen name. I'm just commenting on where this thread is going and you had the last comment. What I am saying is give Blackman the credit. FR is a strong program and has a strong team. We don't need to debate if it is stronger than a year before or if D2 is over rated. This thread takes away from. Blackman's victory. Didn't mean to sound mad.

 

 

Congratulations are in order to Blackman for their win over Ryan. However, the notion that somehow that win equates to D II wrestlers being sub par as compared to D I is simply not true. Please don't use your win over Ryan as a yard stick in which to measure yourself with against the rest of the D II ranked wrestlers/teams. There are good wrestlers on both sides of the aisle. To characterize your win over Ryan as anything other than a good night of wrestling is to diminish Blackman's accomplishment. But its certainly not because D II doesn't have its share of talented wrestlers!

[Sommers]

I got to jump in on this one as I look back over the past 35 years or so when Don Elsea was calling my matches /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

 

Baylor usually gets the top talent, McCallie has usually been close and Father Ryan third. I have been impressed with Pat and Gordon's taking their boys to a higher level many times over the years. If you saw what these coaches usually start off with and what they finally end up with - IT'S AMAZING!!

 

Now, with that said, my hat's off to the D-1 schools in Bradley Co. and of course SD. Funding has helped (as well as Alan Morris' blood, sweat and tears) over the past 15 years or so in feeding & reloading Bradley Co (Cleveland really jump started the sport though with Al Miller (and I know one other Blue Raider-pioneer vaguely LATE 60'S-MID 70'S- forgot name /blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blush:" border="0" alt="blush.gif" /> please forgive me coach!!) but...then... Turner Jackson, Steve L., but over the river there's SD's Steve H. who simply got behind it and kept things steady in Trojan land...

 

Growth and steadiness in Rutherford Co. has obviously benifited Blackman most... which has been brewing for some years now with Bill Kennedy, the Vaughns and their Sharpshooters.

 

Wow... this is a year or two sooner than expected for our young Blackman team to beat MBA, Ooltewah, and Ryan all in the same year.

 

Final word... The top 14 seeds of D-1 and D-2 our close IMHO - toss up year after year it seems. Skill may favor D-2 with some out of state talent and great traditions going back into the 60's.

 

I think we can all agree that D-1 pulls ahead after that, at least 3rd - 4th and so forth. It's a larger pool - logic tells us that.

 

The Soms /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

 

I was finally hitting the sack and remembered Jeff Jordan.. another of the great developers of young talent - he and Artie amazes me what they turn these young kids into.

[rocky11]

Hello Whirly Gig! If you had really read my post, you would not have had to spend all the time that you did to do your research and then the time to type your thesis of D1 and D2. However, I have nothing to argue with you on the results of your research. The facts are clear. D2 has some EXCELLENT teams, especially the top 4 or 5. The programs are strong and have been for a long time and I have enjoyed watching them wrestle over the years and have always come away impressed. This is also a tournament situation that you used and it is apples vs. oranges in light of my point. (see below) In addition, go back and read the post from Texas23. The tournament's you picked did not have the best D1 teams in them to even compare them fairly, so maybe i was wrong, your research was a little off. However, i can see where I gave you room to mis-understand my post with my last sentence in the post, "just a clear picture of the competitive distance between the two divisions". Again, this was meant in the context of placing at the state tournament as evidenced by my opening comment. I will own this mis-communication.

 

What I said in my post was, "THIS IS A CRYSTAL CLEAR EXAMPLE OF WHY PLACING AT A DII SCHOOL IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN PLACING AT D1". I stand by this and simply used the example of the FR vs. Blaze match to make my point. And, I only mentioned the 4 unranked guys from D1 that beat the 4 ranked guys from D2. I was not at the match, but simply used the information that the "tnko" guy put in his post. Although I am sure the 4 Blackman wrestlers have a bright future, odds are they will not place in the D1 tournament this year as sophomores and freshmen and yet the FR wresters that were beat will most certainly place and some may even win it.

 

Honestly, it really should not have surprised anyone that Blackman beat FR. The middle school team of the sharpshooters have been beating FR middle school for 3 or 4 years by pretty wide margins. For the most part, these are the same wrestlers wrestling each other just a few years older. If this did not happen this year or in the years to come, it would mean something was wrong at the high school level where Blackman's wrestlers were not getting what they needed to continue to get better (which they obviously are) and we all can agree that Mr. Simpson has a long and excellent track record of taking his wrestlers to the highest level.

[CharlieArrington33]

Where's little Patton?

[tnko]

What I said in my post was, "THIS IS A CRYSTAL CLEAR EXAMPLE OF WHY PLACING AT A DII SCHOOL IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN PLACING AT D1". I stand by this and simply used the example of the FR vs. Blaze match to make my point. And, I only mentioned the 4 unranked guys from D1 that beat the 4 ranked guys from D2. I was not at the match, but simply used the information that the "tnko" guy put in his post. Although I am sure the 4 Blackman wrestlers have a bright future, odds are they will not place in the D1 tournament this year as sophomores and freshmen and yet the FR wresters that were beat will most certainly place and some may even win it.

 

Honestly, it really should not have surprised anyone that Blackman beat FR. The middle school team of the sharpshooters have been beating FR middle school for 3 or 4 years by pretty wide margins. For the most part, these are the same wrestlers wrestling each other just a few years older. If this did not happen this year or in the years to come, it would mean something was wrong at the high school level where Blackman's wrestlers were not getting what they needed to continue to get better (which they obviously are) and we all can agree that Mr. Simpson has a long and excellent track record of taking his wrestlers to the highest level.

 

Now I do completely agree with ROCKY11's views here. /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" />

[tnko]

Where's little Patton?

 

which one? theres a sophomore sitting out this year with an injury (Jess)

and a middle schooler with the sharpshooters still alive and kickin (Jay) 113Lber

[Olerestler]

Why don't we arrange for the week following the state championships, to have the top 4 wrestlers from D1 vs D2? And push all the BS aside? Hold it in Middle TN, maybe downtown Nashville; to have easy access for everyone to come and advertise the event?

[rigger101]

Why don't we arrange for the week following the state championships, to have the top 4 wrestlers from D1 vs D2? And push all the BS aside? Hold it in Middle TN, maybe downtown Nashville; to have easy access for everyone to come and advertise the event?

 

I would pay to see that.

[StarRaider]

I would pay to see that.

 

 

 

And I would let rigger pay for me to see that too.

[CharlieArrington33]

which one? theres a sophomore sitting out this year with an injury (Jess)

and a middle schooler with the sharpshooters still alive and kickin (Jay) 113Lber

 

Jess...didn't he get hurt last year too?

[pattonboysdad]

Jess...didn't he get hurt last year too?

 

 

hey charlie...hope you are well...always one of my favorites...alot of us dad's miss you being around the tournaments...hope you show up at the state tourney...

 

in a nutshell...jess is my sophomore who went 24-3 last year filling in for kennedy at 171lbs as a freshman when mike broke his wrist early in the year...but jess re-injured his back at the G.P. West tournament last january and has his first back surgery for a L5-S1 fusion...the fusion did not take completely (80%) and therefore had to have another back surgery this past November...The condition he has is called a "pars defect" where the L5 gets a stress fracture in it...

 

bottom line is...he will never wrestle again...both he and our family have been very sad from this but he's doing great and we have to think about his future in life...he's doing well though...he's no doubt the best nautral athlete in our family (takes after mom) ... /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" /> ... and a great kid to boot...so we are hopeful for a full recovery and we'll see if he can do another sport...

[Eaglez22]

hey charlie...hope you are well...always one of my favorites...alot of us dad's miss you being around the tournaments...hope you show up at the state tourney...

 

in a nutshell...jess is my sophomore who went 24-3 last year filling in for kennedy at 171lbs as a freshman when mike broke his wrist early in the year...but jess re-injured his back at the G.P. West tournament last january and has his first back surgery for a L5-S1 fusion...the fusion did not take completely (80%) and therefore had to have another back surgery this past November...The condition he has is called a "pars defect" where the L5 gets a stress fracture in it...

 

bottom line is...he will never wrestle again...both he and our family have been very sad from this but he's doing great and we have to think about his future in life...he's doing well though...he's no doubt the best nautral athlete in our family (takes after mom) ... /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" /> ... and a great kid to boot...so we are hopeful for a full recovery and we'll see if he can do another sport...

 

My heart was tugged upon reading your post. My senior son had this exact injury and had titanium rods surgically installed this past Spring and missed all sports because of this injury during his junior year. He was fortunate to sign a scholarship to play baseball on the strength of his sophomore season, but he loves wrestling. He tried to come back this past November and his back did not feel right, so he had to walk off the mat for good. The doctor said, "I fixed you for baseball - not wrestling".

 

My younger son wrestled horribly last season as freshmen with this same injury. We thought it was a strained muscle that he could not heal because wrestling kept aggravating. He had placed in the state as an 8th grader (DII - I know..I know), but looked terrible as a freshmen. So, we know what wrestling a season with a broken back looks like. I am surprised they fused your son, because they will not operate on my, now, sophomore son because of the active growth at this age.

 

Good luck to Jess!