CORRYTON – A pair of Greeneville wrestlers left Gibbs High School with gold medals around their necks at the Section 1 A Tournament on Saturday night.
Greene Devil senior Gabriel Oakley stood on top of the podium at 120 lbs. and sophomore Brylan Rhodes captured the 126 lb. championship.
“Those two went out and got the job done today,” Greeneville coach Randy Shelton said. “They are section champs, both are returning state medalists and they have set themselves up to have really strong state tournaments. They will be seeded at state and that is big advantage.”
As a team Greeneville finished in second place and seven Greene Devils advanced to the state tournament. Two wrestlers from Chuckey-Doak also clinched state tournament berths.
For Oakley the path to his section championship was a tough one, but he battled to the buzzer to make sure he went into the state tournament seeded.
His day started with a 19-3 technical fall against Nick Breeden of South-Doyle.
In the semifinals things looked bleak for Oakley early as he found himself in a 12-4 hole to Jimmy Johnson of Sullivan East. Early in the final period he got a much need takedown and then things started to turn in his favor.
Still trailing 13-7 Oakley made his move with around 30 seconds on the clock, flipping Johnson and working four near-fall points. The match was stopped for blood time with Johnson on his back giving Oakley an extra point and a 15-13 lead with 18 seconds remaining. From there he held on for a 15-14 victory.
“Anytime you wrestle tough competition it is going to help you in the long run. 120 was a really tough weight class today. Quality competition will get you to your goals. Tough matches like that reveal who you are and what you are made of,” Shelton said.
In the championship match against Cayden Bowen of Volunteer Oakley got off to a much better start and led 9-3 after the first period. In the second period Bowen rallied but Oakley led 12-10.
Oakley started the third period with an escape and then worked out of pretzel-like tie up to gain the advantage on Bowen for a 16-10 lead. That was enough to allow him to finish the match leading 17-15.
“Gabe is a great kid and a great team captain. I really expect him to do great things at state,” Shelton said.
For Rhodes the path to his gold medal was less dramatic. He built big leads on each of his three opponents before pinning them to the mat.
The day started by taking a 14-1 lead on Daniel Eskew of Scott County before pinning him in 3:47. In the semifinals he needed just 50 seconds to pin Taylor Zoss of Sullivan East.
In the championship match Rhodes pushed around Keenan Ray of Gibbs before pinning him in 3:53. Now the Greeneville sophomore’s attention will turn to capturing his second state championship.
“He was clicking on all cylinders today. There are always technique things to clean up, but when you pin in the section finals you can’t really complain,” Shelton said.
Five other Greeneville wrestlers advanced to the finals on Saturday. Hunter Shelton (150) dropped an 8-4 decision to Pigeon Forge’s Max Cable. Mack Hall (157) fell to Duke Delozier of Seymour 13-8. Gideon Ellenburg (165) took a 19-3 tech fall to Ayden Hood of Pigeon Forge. Hayden Moore (190) had to forfeit due to injury. Hayden Matthews (215) was pinned by Zachary Brewer of Gibbs in 4:33.
All five settled for silver, but their seasons will continue into the state tournament. Now the focus over the next week will be on getting healthy and refining the little things to be in top form when they get on the big stage.
“We had some guys that didn’t do well in the finals and that can either make or break them. Sometimes that is the motivation they need, sometimes they hang their heads and it ends their season,” Coach Shelton said. “We’ll take Monday off to give them a chance to breathe. Conditioning is done. At this point it’s about the refining the things we do, and hoping we do them really, really well at state.”
In the team standings Greeneville finished in second place with 137.5 points. Pigeon Forge was first with 151.5 points and Anderson County was third with 124.5 points.
“Almost everybody out here would be happy with second at sectionals, but our goals are really high. I’m proud of second in the section, but we didn’t wrestle near our potential today,” Shelton said.
Two Chuckey-Doak wrestlers also earned state tournament berths, and both had to battle through the consolation bracket to get there.
Cayden Stills (106) earned a 14-2 major decision over Cocke County’s Shane Patterson in the blood round and then won his third-place match by forfeit.
Marcus Britt (175) earned a 12-3 major decision over Greeneville’s James Treptow to advance to the medal round. In the third-place match he dropped a 9-4 decision to Smith Jordan of Clinton.
On Friday at the Girls Section 1 Tournament at West Ridge Chuckey-Doak’s Lucy Hall (114) placed fourth and earned a state tournament berth.
The State Tournament will be held February 20-21 in Franklin at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center. Wrestling will begin at 9 a.m. central time on Friday.
