Noise Makers for '13 & 14 - All Divisions...

[Sommers]

Robinson's doin the blasting, which tells me Connell was not losing last night, knee or whatever. Great he could compete!

[Sommers]

Ryan may need a pin at 145 to pull this one out

 

Dog fight! 22-21

[Sommers]

Hagey pinned? Robinson gets the game ball!

[Tronado]

Hagey pinned? Robinson gets the game ball!

I think Blake Sutherland should get the dang game ball. Gratz Baylor and Cleveland, some really great wrestlers.

[Taxman]

Eli King who has been hurt then sick with the flu sure wrestled to his potential tonight. 

[Sommers]

Congrats to Cleveland for another Fine Dual Season finish!!  Congrats to Wilson Central, Ryan and Ravenwood for stepping up and making Middle Tn Proud!!

 

Individuals should be another Fun One to See!!!

[Sommers]

Congrats to Pigeon Forge and Greeneville for another fine finish in duals.... and YOUNG HIXSON!!!!  Good finish for Soddy to take forth.

 

Also, Congrats to Baylor for proving me wrong this time & getting first over Ryan!!  Again, Individuals will be a real barn burner!!

[greendoor]

Maybe the radishes will be bigger and better in two weeks. It is, after all, further into Feb. Congrats to all tonight's winners.

[Sommers]

And one that definitely cannot be overlooked is The Bros getting 3rd over a very strong Chattanooga team with one of their weakest regular season teams they've had in recent years. Congrats Papa Bear... Huge Accomplishment and actually one of yours & your assistent's best ever IMO,,, One of the Greatest Coaching & Peaking performances in recent times - All things considered!

Edited February 2, 2014 by Sommers

[Sommers]

1 A-AA had three Far East teams finish in the top four, and one Chattanooga area team. Chattanooga had two of the four in the 1AAA & Privates. Middle & West filled the remaining spots which is showing greater growth and parity around the state. Chattanooga continues to push the pace...

 

Cleveland, Baylor win state wrestling duals titles

by Ward Gossett

 

 

Cleveland 285-pounder John Gaither, right, pinned Christian Frans of Wilson County on Saturday.

 

Photo: Lynnae Roberts

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — It's hard to say which was bigger — Cleveland's second straight pounding of Wilson Central to win the Class AAA state wrestling duals title or Baylor coming from behind to secure its first Division II crown since 2011.

 

For the better part of a year Wilson Central has lived with the humility of a 74-point loss and worked to get back to the championship finals. The Wildcats' motivation was either revenge or redemption or both. They thumped Soddy-Daisy in a semifinal to get their chance. But Cleveland, a finalist in each of the past three years, took the Wildcats to school again.

 

It was 50-9 when Cleveland forfeited the last match to make the final score 50-15.

 

"Ethan West did his job and then Koran Kennedy (220) really got us going," Cleveland coach Jake Yost said. "Most people probably didn't think we were capable of winning that match."

 

Kennedy won 3-2 and the race was on, the Blue Raiders reeling off 11 victories.

 

 

"We tend to get on a roll. It's unreal. It's unbelievable how our kids continue to impress me," Yost added.

 

For Baylor, it was surviving the nip and coming up with the appropriate tuck in avenging a loss to the Purple Irish earlier this year for a 36-25 win.

 

"We had some huge swings from that last time. It started with [Jon] Schmissrauter and kept rolling," Baylor coach Ben Nelson said. "The boys really wanted this. We had reminders on the wall about how we dropped the ball in that dual meet."

 

The Red Raiders won eight of the 14 matches and got bonus points from Ryan Parker, Will Thomas, Michael Murphy, Tate Robinson and Bryson Popp. No win might have been bigger than that from heavyweight Thomas, who fought off his back in the first period and came back with a pin.

 

Pigeon Forge defeated Greeneville 43-25 for the A/AA championship.

 

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

[Sommers]

I can see a similar mix for the upcoming state tournament.

[Sommers]

This began years ago! Congrats on the sacrifice and foresight!

 

PIGEON FORGE FINALLY WINS ELUSIVE STATE DUALS WRESTLING TITLE

 

By Phil Sweetland sports@knoxnews.com

Published Saturday, February 1, 2014

FRANKLIN — After three years of coming heartbreakingly close, Pigeon Forge finally reached the goal the Tigers and their fiercely loyal fans have dreamt of for so long Saturday night.