Most of the Cleveland High School wrestlers are familiar, but many of them are showing up in lower weight classes than in the Blue Raiders' pre-Christmas lineup.
Cleveland pretty much dropped a weight class from 132 pounds down for Saturday's Soddy-Daisy Showdown, opening a spot at 132 pounds for Chris Debien, who is coming off summer surgery to repair a torn ACL.
"We're not sure if everybody will remain where he is right now. I think we have everybody pretty much in the lineup that's going to be in the lineup. I'm just not sure yet about who's going to be where," Cleveland coach Jake Yost said. "We're still working through it."
Soddy-Daisy's Tucker Russo, left, drives Cleveland's Ezra Taylor into the mat in their championship 145-lb class Soddy-Daisy Invitational wrestling bout Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, at Soddy-Daisy High School in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. Taylor went on to win the bout to take first place in his class.Joining Debien in a 2014-15 season debut for the Blue Raiders was heavyweight Koran Kennedy. They combined to contribute 60 points to Cleveland's first-place 199-point total and were among seven Cleveland semifinal winners as the Blue Raiders broke away from Soddy-Daisy and Wilson Central.
"We took five or six days off during Christmas break, and I thought we were knocking off a little bit of rust from that break," Yost said. "Some of the younger guys, though, didn't respond as well to that break as I would have liked. In the thick of it we lost by one or two in some matches, but maybe we as a coaching staff haven't emphasized some situations as much as we should."
Wilson Central slipped ahead of Soddy-Daisy in the medal rounds to finish second with 132 points, two more than the Trojans.
"I'm fairly pleased. We battled, but there is a lot to improve on. I don't like finishing behind Wilson Central. We would have liked to score at least that No. 2 spot," Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins said. "I absolutely thought the tournament strength was good with Cleveland and Wilson Central and Pigeon Forge and Hewitt-Trussville, Suwannee, Pigeon Forge, Dobyns-Bennett; several teams had several good individuals."
Pigeon Forge was the highest-finishing Class A/AA team and scored 129 points to place fourth. Hewitt-Trussville of Alabama was fifth with 120. Those were the only teams to break the century mark.
Individual champions in addition to Debien and Kennedy were Soddy-Daisy's Charles Wheaton (106) and Emory Holcomb (138); Pigeon Forge's Gavin Hutchens (113); Cleveland's Colton Landers (120), Ezra Taylor (145) and John Gaither (220); Tullahoma's Devan Cyree (126); Wilson Central's Mike Binns (152) and Perry Baltz (195); Hewitt-Trussville's Davis Perry (160); Cookeville's Austin Hammons (170); and Signal Mountain's Cale Shelton (182),
"Outstanding wrestler" awards went to Cleveland's Debien and Hewitt-Trussville's Perry. "Best match" honors went to 145-pound finals participants Tucker Russo of Soddy-Daisy and Cleveland's Taylor.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.