Central's heavyweight Sam Stephenson tapes his shoestrings before action in the 2-A/AA wrestling tournament at Signal Mountain High School on Friday, Feb. 6 2015.If the coaches' work earlier this week at the Region 2-A/AA seeding meeting holds to expectations, heavyweights Brody Gregory of Hixson and Sam Stephenson of Central should meet in this afternoon's championship finals.
It would be the rubber match between the two. Stephenson won by a pin early in the season at the Hixson duals and Gregory responded with a 1-0 decision at the Bradley Central Invitational to hand the Purple Pounders senior his only loss of the season.
Stephenson has won four championships -- the Ringgold Tri-State Classic, Ooltewah's Air Force Invitational, the Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett tournament and the Pounders' own Central Invitational. He finished second at Bradley. He has a shot at two more titles before he graduates -- one today in the region and another next week at the state.
The region tournament resumes at 10 this morning at Signal Mountain with championship semifinals. The all-important consolation semifinals finals should follow shortly, those matches determining which two wrestlers in each weight class will advance to next week's state tournament in Franklin.
The team title race is as tight as expected. With 51.5 points, Hixson is 1.5 ahead of Red Bank. Central is third with 47, followed by Notre Dame with 45. Signal Mountain is fifth with 32 and is followed by East Ridge (30.5), Whitwell (28), Boyd-Buchanan (23), Chattanooga Christian (11.5) and Howard 11. Sequatchie County has nine points, Sale Creek seven, Tyner six and Brainerd three.
Stephenson surrendered a starting defensive tackle spot on Central's football team this year, opting to concentrate on wrestling.
"I felt I was lacking a lot of technique in wrestling and football wasn't helping me with wrestling," he said. "When I played football, the only thing it really helped was strength and agility. I was able to take those exercises and do them on my own, but I wanted to venture out to camps to improve technique and put more moves in my arsenal."
He's hopeful of parlaying the move into a college wrestling scholarship. He'd love if it the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga welcomed him aboard.
"It would be nice -- good program and it's at home," said the 6-foot-2, 265-pounder.
The Mocs reportedly inquired about his interest. If they did, it would be with good reason, according to Pounders coach John Lennon.
"I'm pretty sure he's 40-1," the coach said. "He's a great kid. He cares about his teammates and his family, and he works really hard."
The senior's 36 pins are unspoken evidence.
"I like him because he doesn't wrestle like a heavyweight. He does arm drags and the like, more like moves you'd see in a 119-pounder," Lennon said. "He doesn't get out there and hang on. He gets after it."
Would he fit in at UTC? Lennon said Stephenson's hard work wasn't limited to athletics. He carries better than a 3.0 grade point average, is taking ACT prep courses and works part-time at Papa John's on Highway 58.
"He's one of those kids that whatever he got he got himself," the coach said. "That goes back to working hard."
Stephenson also finds time for family.
When asked about hobbies, he replied, "I really like to exercise -- maybe go for a run -- and hang out with my brother and play games, and I like to roll around wrestling."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.