Soddy-Daisy Trojans No. 1 in Tennessee coaches' poll

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Fresh from a 3-0 weekend at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Old-Timers Duals, Soddy-Daisy is ranked No. 1 in the first Tennessee high school wrestling coaches' poll for 2011-12.

The Trojans are followed by Cleveland, Christian Brothers, Father Ryan and Baylor. Bradley Central came in at No. 6 and McCallie at No. 10. Other area teams receiving votes were Central, Ooltewah and Walker Valley.

At the Old-Timers duals, Soddy-Daisy defeated Thompson, Ala., and two teams from Georgia, Ringgold and Woodland. The only other unbeaten for the day was Heritage, which lost 45-20 to Soddy-Daisy last Thursday. Heritage was able to count Cleveland among its three wins.

The Trojans (5-0) have two big home meets this week -- against Walker Valley tonight and Christian Brothers on Friday -- before participating in the Cleveland Duals at Cleveland High on Saturday.

The tournament will be without a defending team champion as Collins Hill opted to go to a tournament in Ohio this year. In addition to Soddy-Daisy and Christian Brothers, the event will include the host Blue Raiders, Franklin, Father Ryan, Baylor, Gordon Lee, Independence, Science Hill, McCallie, Thompson and Marietta Pope.

Army visits Voytik

Members of the 2012 U.S. Army All-American Bowl selection committee will be in Cleveland on Wednesday to announce officially that Cleveland quarterback Chad Voytik has been selected to play in the high school all-star game.

A University of Pittsburgh commitment, Voytik passed for 1,145 yards and rushed for 451 in nine games.

East-West all-stars

Seventeen area football players will be participating in the Toyota East-West all-star game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Carson-Newman.

Area players on the East roster are quarterback Mattthew Oellerich, lineman Barrett Gouger and kicker Henrique Ribeiro from Baylor; running back Chase Reed and defensive back Kyle Thomas of Boyd-Buchanan; receiver Justin Houston, lineman Patrick Benson and defensive back Rue Goldston of Bradley Central; lineman Henry McClendon from Cleveland; lineman Tye Youngblood and linebacker Hayden Cronan of McCallie; lineman Austin Fults of Grundy County; lineman James Stone of Ooltewah; defensive back Deres Benn from Red Bank; and receivers Will Queen and Jon Patton and linebacker Zack Bowman from Signal Mountain.

Central takes title

Central's wrestling team won the 30-team Knoxville Catholic Invitational with 226.5 points and just one champion, heavyweight Zach Calhoun.

Calhoun knocked off No. 1 seed C.T. Leavell of Farragut in the semifinals and pinned No. 2 seed Marc Nolan of Austin-East in the championship match.

The 7-1 Purple Pounders' medalists were Cody Bowman (106, 2nd), Bryson Lemons (113, 3rd), Cody Stacks (126, 6th), Logan Duckett (132, 6th), Logan Griffith (138, 3rd), Zac Fordhaam (145, 2nd), Michael Frazy (152, 5th), James Hughes (170, 5th), Sam Sledge (195, 4th) and Trumond Martin (220, 5th).

The defending A/AA state duals champions will wrestle Thursday at Bradley Central.

Hixson seventh

Led by 220-pound champion Christian Varner, Hixson finished seventh in the Blackhorse Invitational in Memphis. The Wildcats' other medalists were third-place finishers Giovani Palacio (138) and Justin Mathieson (160), fourth-place finishers Isaiah Hawthorne (126) and Aaron Alemany (152), fifth-place Ameer Jibrin (132) and seventh-place Austin Payne (106).

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.

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