Christopher James

Here’s a quick look at the five remaining area challengers in the state wrestling tournament:
Greenback
Jeremy Miller, 145 pounds: The junior captured Greenback’s only individual wrestling state title as an eighth grader (103 pounds in 2007) but has finished second (135 in 2009) and third (119 in 2008) the last two years. His 3-2 loss in the state final last year was probably the match of the tournament.
Tyler Dailey, 285 pounds: The senior has never made it this far, losing in the first round the last two years. He’s been money this season, though, losing just once to Bradley Central’s Patrick Benson. Benson is also through to the quarters, but the pair wouldn’t meet until the championship match.
Heritage
Keagan Matlock, 152 pounds: The freshman is through to the second day of championship play in his first appearance for the Mountaineers. The rookie shouldn’t look like on today, though. Matlock was 65-9 as an eighth grader for Heritage Middle last year, winning the Tennessee State AAU title at 145 pounds.
Nathaniel Molina, 135 pounds: Molina went out in the first round last year at this weight, so it’s new territory for the junior. He gets a familiar face in Seymour’s Michael Raimondi this morning. Seymour defeated Heritage, 54-22, in the Region 3-AAA duals earlier this season
Maryville
Tyler Wilson, 215 pounds: Wilson fell in the second round last year. Not an easy draw today, as he gets Hendersonville’s Brett Jaeckel who was sixth at this weight last year.

FRANKLIN — Both Maryville and Greenback seem comfortably bound for the second round of consolations here inside the mammoth Williamson County Expo Center.

And what a place it is. Ten mats on the arena floor make for plenty of space and lots of simultaneous action during the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s state dual wrestling tournament. Last night, Rebels coach Mark Humphrey told me moving the tournament from Clarksville High School was a good decision.

Wrestlers go at it in the TSSAA state dual wrestling tournament in Franklin

“There’s so much more space here,” Humphrey said. “In Clarksville we had to run from gym to gym. They got a lot of space. … The view is as good as Clarksville. I don’t think the seats are quite as good as Chattanooga just because they don’t go up very steep.
“It’s a little hard to see everything. There’s so much space. I’d say this arena is 100 yards long.”

That appears to be the general sentiment with the only complaints concerning some viewing angles. The sheer size of the arena makes it difficult to keep track of mats that aren’t adjacent. That will come into play more during the individual tournament, slated to start here in two weeks, which moved from UT-Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena.

For now, this place has the feel of a wrestling festival.

Lady Rebels win their second straight county title, unbeaten in this event for the second straight year.

Maryville now the only unbeaten. A win over Heritage clinches another BC title.

The second round matchup with Maryville and Alcoa could decide things.

Alcoa pulls out another come from behind win. Grace Stubblefield provides the power with a sky spike and some slick serves.

Maryville dominating Game 2.

M breaks open a 15-all first game to take it. Alcoa rebounds from 20-17 down behind strong spikes and serves by Abigail Walker.

Heading over to Heritage here in a minute for the Blount County volleyball tourney. Tonight’s matches, scheduled for 5, 6 and 7 p.m., have been moved from Alcoa after a fire in the gym last night.
Here’s how this shindig works: It’s a round robin format, so each of the four teams plays everyone else once. Best record wins. Games count in a team’s overall record, but not as district matches.
Maryville won this event last year, going unbeaten in three matches to edge past the Lady Tornadoes, who finished 2-1.
You can follow along here with standings on the Big Board. I’ll also try to keep you posted on matches in progress. It all starts up at 5 p.m.

Completed Matches: Maryville def. WB, 25-16, 25-8. Alcoa def. Heritage 25-21, 25-22. Maryville def. Alcoa 25-16, 25-17. Heritage def. WB 25-18, 25-23.

It may be near impossible for a Blount County golfer to find a way into this year’s class AAA state tournament.
All three county teams struggled Tuesday at the District 4 tournament, played on Heritage’s home course at Lambert Acres Golf Club. Consider for a moment that the six individual qualifiers for the region tournament Sept. 22 at Tennessee National in Loudon is less than half the 14 Blount County sent to the same round a year ago. Last year’s haul included three teams and a district championship for the William Blount girls.
The WB boys dropped from third in the District, and a spot in the regionals, last year to eighth this season. The top County boys squad was Maryville, who finished sixth and failed to qualify an individual golfer.
“I can’t tell you (what happened),” Govs first-year coach Jason Rowe said. “We’ve played this course and our scores were higher than usual. Maybe it was, some of our younger players aren’t used to walking 18 holes. They’re used to walking nine at a time.”
Whatever the reason, Rowe saw just two WB golfers make the next round, senior Alaura Brogdon and freshman Kinsley Vincent. They’ll be joined by the Lady Rebels’ Cassie McCracken and Angela Long. Only two male golfers made it from the County: Heritage’s Logan Vaughn and Travis Nichols.

Inconsistent greens were the biggest complaint Tuesday, but what McCracken described as “links-style” bunkers will make the Region tournament a real challenge.
Just ask Maryville coaches Tom Stinnett and Mike Driver.

I don’t cover Maryville football much, just because of the way our resources work out, so it was fun to find myself at Rebels’ practice a couple times this week. Aside from the Jamboree, I hadn’t even spoken to coach George Quarles in a football capacity since the BlueCross Bowl, a 10-7 loss to Hillsboro. I wondered how that loss weighed compared to Maryville’s 20-13 win over Alcoa.

There seemed to be some debate over which mattered more.
Quarles said the annual rivalry matchup actually means more now that the postseason tiebreaker is overall record. Although that seems unlikely to be a problem if you win the other nine games. The Tornadoes have made a habit of doing just that.
Quarterback Philip Juhlin was less concerned. He said district games, such as the Rebels Sept. 4 tango with West, with their direct playoff implications mean more in a big-picture sense. Oh, but those bragging rights are still nice.
“There’s none on the schedule quite like it,” Quarles said of the Alcoa game. “It’s not a state championship, but it’s close.”
So, Philip, which would you rather win?

Some notes from Egwani Farms Thursday:

• Alcoa’s Lindy McGuire may have just shot even-par, but the junior hit an amazing 8-of-9 greens in regulation. McGuire said she missed a couple five-foot putts for birdie that seemed to cost her. It may have been the difference in a match that ended in a one-stroke win for Maryville. She said she shot a 32 on the back nine at Pine Lakes in practice the other day and her strong start has been thanks in large part to work on “hinging” on her down swing. (Hear McGuire explain how she’s worked on her swing)
• Maryville’s Nick Bridgman appears to have surprised all his teammates this season, but not his coach. Rebels coach Tom Stinnett said he knew the freshman would be plenty competitive this season.
  “Nick’s played a lot of summer golf and stuff,” Stinnett said. “He’s a great golfer.”
  (Hear Stinnett on Bridgman)
• Former Farragut coach Mike Driver is now an assistant with the Rebels. Stinnett was bragging on his new helper inside the clubhouse, hinting that Driver could be poised to take over Maryville when Stinnett does step down. Driver coached Ole Miss junior Jillian Brodd, the 2008 and 2009 Knox Area Women’s Golf Association Champ, and Mercer junior Carolyn Levy at Farragut. The Lady Admirals were Class AAA State Champs in 2004 and finished second in 2005.
• Heritage’s Brittney Endsley shot a 49 in her first action in more than a week. Endsley, who finished third in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s Division I bowling tournament as a sophomore last winter, is also a motocross rider and was on the bike instead of the course last week.”She’s just a really good athlete,” Lady Mountaineers’ coach Chris Clift said.  “She’s a competitive person and she wants to get better. So, I hope she sticks with it and puts some time in. She could be very competitive if she worked on it.”

MURFREESBORO — The TSSAA’s Spring Fling took the Alcoa soccer team for a wild ride last night during the evening session at Richard Siegel Park in Murfreesboro. The Tornadoes advanced to tonight’s class A/AA semifinal on the strength of a 6-5 penalty kick win after 110 minutes of soccer left the score tied at 1-1.
This morning, Maryville’s doubles team of Ryota Yoshida and Lucas Kelley advanced to the class AAA semis with a 6-1, 6-2 win over DeMarion Turner and Nathan Tempco of Germantown. The Rebels took the win on the very same court where they lost the state championship a year ago on a code default.
Maryville begins semifinal play at 4 p.m. this afternoon back at MTSU. The Alcoa soccer team faces Hume-Fogg at 8 p.m. back at Siegel Park.

It’s been a busy week with teams in action from Sevierville to Harriman in the district basketball tournaments. Some thoughts as we move to the region openers.

Greenback: I saw both the Cherokees and Lady Cherokees drop games to Harriman this week. In both cases, coach Ed McCollum seemed confident Greenback would’ve won had suspended point guards Sarah Walker and Chris Sabo been in those games. Sabo will be back Saturday night at Oliver Springs but McCollum said Wednesday he hadn’t decided if Walker’s suspension would include Friday’s region opener with Coalfield at Greenback High School.

Heritage: The Lady Mountaineers will have to go the rest of the way without forward Lanie Brimer, whose out for the season after going down with a fractured tibia in the district semis, as they welcome Clinton to town Friday. Heritage won that semifinal against Farragut despite a sluggish start. I would expect to see Kat Morris and particularly freshman Miranda Maples asked to step up and fill that void.

Other Games: Maryville girls travel to Powell Friday; Rebels host Central Saturday; Alcoa travels to Stone Memorial Saturday.

I’ll be in Oliver Springs Saturday to see Greenback.

Wrestling season is now officially over in Blount County, and Blake Ridenour finally has that state championship for Maryville. The senior dominated Chris Sinsheimer of Independence, taking him down early and often en route to an 8-0 major decision in the 152 pound final.
The win means the Rebels’ top wrestler went the entire season without allowing a takedown, Maryville coach Mark Humphrey said. Ridenour’s next challenge will be surgery after suffering that hernia early this week. As you’ll be able to read in Saturday’s recap, Ridenour won despite a couple injury issues that caused him breathing problems, a hernia being one. Humphrey said the senior told him “I feel like crap” after every round in Chattanooga.
Ridenour wasn’t feeling so bad tonight though. He is now the first Blount County champ since Everett’s Doug Overly in 1964 and Ron Wilson in 1961. (Hear Ridenour moments after his win)

Jacob Holley almost joined Ridenour on top of the podium, but a shoulder injury originally suffered at this tournament last year was his undoing. The William Blount senior said he has almost no cartilage or ligaments in his right shoulder now. When it popped out in the 125 pound final, he couldn’t recover.

Finally, Greenback goes home with three medals, two for third and a second place finish for Jeremy Miller. The Cherokees finish eighth overall and first among A/AA schools. 

Tennessee Wrestlers now enter an offseason which has become as important as ever. Ridenour announced Friday he’ll wrestle on a full ride at Carson Newman. For the area underclassmen, Humphrey said Ridenour showed them what it takes to be a state champ.

“Wrestle a lot,” Humphrey said.

CHATTANOOGA — Ridenour def. Sinsheimer, MD 8-0
Blake Ridenour wins Maryville’s first state wrestling title, 8-0.

Graham def. Miller, 3-2
Jeremy Miller loses a narrow 3-2 decision at 135 pounds, leaving Blake Ridenour as the only area shot for a state title.
The Greenback sophomore locks horns with Bradley Central’s David Graham for five minutes, keeping the match scoreless. With 53 seconds to go, Miller gets caught and rolled over, registering a near fall before a quick reversal pulls him within one. Stuck on top of Graham, Miller can’t get the turn and loses the state championship by a point.

Lewis pins Holley, 0:34
Jacob Holley gets pinned 34 seconds into the 125 pound championship match. Soddy Daisy freshman Campbell Lewis takes down the William Blount senior for the state title, rolling Holley on his back 15 seconds into the match before getting the final pin.
Govs’ coach Matt Talley said Holley’s right shoulder popped out on impact, sinking his chances. Holley has dealt with shoulder problems all year, Talley said.