The Greeneville wrestling team is on top of District 2-A once again after capturing the league’s duals tournament title on Tuesday night on its home mats.
The Greene Devils started the day with a 74-6 win over Chuckey-Doak, they followed that with a 75-0 win over West Greene and finished with a 65-18 win over Cocke County.
“I think we wrestled really well today. We talk about tradition never graduating, and its great to carry on that legacy,” Greeneville head coach Randy Shelton said. “When I look in the stands and there are wrestlers from back in the 80s and our first wrestling from 1979 was here. There were all kinds of kids that have wrestled for me in the past here tonight cheering these guys on. To see these guys win a district championship with guys who have won district and region championship in the stands I think says a lot about our program. Those guys names are the wall, and you don’t want to let them down.”
Greeneville now moves on to next week’s Region 1-A Tournament, which will also be held at Greeneville High. Chuckey-Doak, who placed second on Tuesday, is also moving on to the regional.
Shelton knows that the competition will only get tougher as his squad tries to fight its way to the state tournament which will be held January 31 in Franklin.
“As exciting as tonight is, this is step one of four,” Shelton said. “We have regions, sections and state in front of us. Our goal is always to get to state duals and make some noise down there. We have to work on our conditioning, and there is some technique stuff we need to clean up, but we wrestled really well today. At this point in the year its about keeping your mind ready and your legs fresh.”
The Greene Devils’ 74-6 win over Chuckey-Doak got started with Christian Tomas-Padilla (113) earning a forfeit win. Gabe Oakley (120) picked up a 17-2 technical fall over Ayden Hollifield. Greg Tester (132) pinned Landon Brown in 1:28.
Sonny Pryor (138) pinned Kaleb Mattsberger in 3:21. After falling behind 4-3 Greeneville’s Cameron Sneed (144) pinned Jayden Britt in 3:28. James Treptow (175) then earned a 9-4 win over Marcus Britt.
Greeneville’s Bentley Starnes (190) pinned Parker McMurray in 3:15. Hayden Matthews (215) pinned Christian Turberville in 56 seconds, and Doug Blake (285) pinned Colt Shull in 1:25.
Chuckey-Doak’s Cayden Stills (106) won by forfeit.
Against West Greene Greeneville’s Greg Tester (138) earned a 12-9 decision over Andrew Freshour. Mack Hall(157) pinned Easly Anderson in 20 seconds.
In a 65-18 win over Cocke County Oakley got things started by earning a 15-0 technical fall over Jackson Jewell.
Shelton was particularly pleased with how Oakley, one of two Greeneville seniors, performed on Tuesday as he helped the team claim the district championship.
“I think Gabe Oakley’s match against the Cocke County kid is probably a region finals match. That is very good wrestler he went against. Gabe really stepped up today,” Shelton said.
Brylan Rhodes pinned Wyatt O’Brian in 1:03. Tester pinned Skylar Kaylor in 1:39. Hall pinned Andrew Jones in 1:56, and Gideon Ellenburg (165) pinned Brodie Wilson in 1:08.
Greeneville’s James Treptow pinned Tanner Mantooth in 1:25. Avery Murphy pinned Christopher Fields in 44 seconds. Doug Blake pinned Eian Caldwell in 2:13.
Cocke County’s Micah Williams pinned Tomas-Padilla in 1:36.
Chuckey-Doak placed second as a team and is also moving on to the Region 1-A Tournament.
The decisive match for the Black Knights came against Cocke County and finished in a 42-42 tie. Chuckey-Doak was awarded the win after consulting tiebreaking procedures with the referees and scorekeepers. On the fifth tie-breaking criteria, most pins, Chuckey-Doak prevailed.
Chuckey-Doak’s Landon Brown (132) pinned Skyler Kyker in 4:20. Marcus Britt (175) pinned Tanner Mantooth in 4:38. Christian Tuberville(215) pinned Cris Fields in 1:32.
Chuckey-Doak beat West Greene 54-12. All matches were decided by forfeit.
Cocke County defeated West Greene 54-5. West Greene’s Andrew Freshour (138) earned an 18-1 technical fall over Skylar Kyker for the Buffaloes five points.
There were two girls exhibition matches on Tuesday. Chuckey-Doak’s Lucy Hall pinned Jeni Martinez in 2:00. Chuckey-Doak’s Cihanna Nelson then pinned Martinez in 2:30.
