FRANKLIN – All seven wrestlers Greeneville brought to the Class A State Tournament on Friday are still in medal contention after one day of action at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center.
“All seven of our guys are still alive and I feel like we are in a good place to collect some medals tomorrow,” Greeneville coach Randy Shelton said. “I hate that we aren’t going to have anyone in the finals, but we have seven strong wrestlers here. They all have an opportunity to come back tomorrow and fight for third place.”
None of the Greene Devils are still in the state championship hunt, but they all won at least one match on Friday, and will now try to march through the consolation bracket on Saturday to earn a state medal.
“These guys have to decide tonight if they want to have a great ending to their season,” Shelton said. “There are kids all throughout this arena that want a state medal, but they don’t want to put in the work to achieve that. I think our guys have put in that work. State medals are won in September when nobody is watching, and now these guys have to come back and finish that work.”
Two Greene Devils have already advanced far enough to get on to the medal stand. Gabriel Oakley (120) and Brylan Rhodes advanced to the semifinals on Friday, but came up short of advancing to the championship match.
Oakley started the day by pinning Say’vion Surles of Tullahoma in his first match of the day. Then in the quarterfinals he found himself in a big hole, down 12-1, but he created the right leverage late in the second period and pulled off a pin of Oliver Green from Signal Mountain in 3:31.
In the semifinals Oakley fell to Jay Hill of Station Camp in a 23-5 technical fall.
Rhodes started his day by earning a 16-1 technical fall of Polk County’s Damian King. He then advanced with a 14-9 decision over Brodie Jaeckel from Station Camp.
In the semifinals Rhodes could not get on top of Ian McCallie from Signal Mountain and dropped a 6-3 decision.
“We talk a lot about how state medalists come in pairs. Gabe and Brylan are two workout partners that have pushed each other all year. They have worked hard and its great to know that they are going to get a state medal no matter what happens tomorrow,” Shelton said.
Six of Greeneville’s seven wrestlers won their first-round match on Friday. Hunter Shelton (150) pinned Matthew Wald of Fairview in 1:41. Gideon Ellenburg (165) earned a 14-5 major decision over Montgomery Central’s Wyatt Koffer. Hayden Moore (190) pinned Brighton’s Gabriel Pullen in 1:09. Hayden Matthews (215) won a 13-10 decision over Knox Grimes of Tullahoma.
Shelton, Ellenburg, Moore and Matthews all dropped their quarterfinal matches on Friday.
Mack Hall (157) was pinned by Jake Laxton of Soddy-Daisy late in the third period of his opening match. He then came back and earned a 17-6 major decision over Memphis McCullough from Station Camp to advance to Saturday’s action.
“On this stage you are going to run into kids that are incredibly tough,” coach Shelton said. “You are going to see a quality opponent from Memphis, Nashville or Chattanooga. A lot of times the consolation bracket comes down to your attitude after that tough match. The goal for these guys now is to comeback and get two more wins and take third.”
The consolation rounds of the Class A State Tournament will get underway on Saturday at 9 AM central time.
This will be the first year since 2015 that Greeneville will not have an individual state champion.
Chuckey-Doak brought three wrestlers to the state tournament on Friday, but Cayden Stills (106) Marcus Britt (175) and Lucy Hall (114) each dropped their first two matches and were eliminated.
