FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- If you're going to duel someone, it might as well be with someone you know.
Teams from Cleveland controlled the top two spots in the TSSAA Class AAA state wrestling tournament after the first night, and the battle may remain another nip-and-tuck tussle until the final match Saturday night.
"I anticipate it being like this through the finals. It could be three teams, but hopefully just two," said coach Ben Smith of first-place Bradley Central.
Team Scores (top 15)
1. Bradley Central 72; 2. Cleveland 63.5; 3. Wilson Central 54.5; 4. Knoxville Halls 52; 5. Soddy-Daisy 50; 6. Beech 46.5; 7. Summit 42; 8. Ravenwood 41.5; 9. Tennessee 40; 10. Jefferson County 39; 11. Heritage 38; 12. Walker Valley 37; 13. Arlington 36.5; Tullahoma 36.5; 15. Cookeville 35.Area QuarterfinalistsBradley Central: T.J. Hicks (106), Toribio Navarro (113), Ryan McElhaney (120), Knox Fuller (126), Donnie Beyer (145), Brett Brown (182), David Adams (285).Cleveland: Cody Mathews (106), Tristian Blansit (120), Colton Landers (126), Chris DeBien (132), Ezra Taylor (138), Aaron Oliver (160), John Gaither (220), Koran Kennedy (285).Soddy-Daisy: Chase Payne (113), Austin Houser (132), Tucker Russo (145), John Williamson (170).Ooltewah: Tyler Reid (170).Walker Valley: Joseph Munoz (132), Ric Kennett (220).
Class AAA teams opened competition Thursday night at the Williamson County Agricultural Expo, wrestling two championship rounds and two rounds of consolations. The Division II, A/AA and girls' tournaments begin today with all competitors shooting for a berth in Saturday evening's finals.
Cleveland's defending champion Blue Raiders, upended in the Region 4 tournament last week by its neighboring rival, spent all of the first night in a seesaw battle for the team points lead.
It is a continuation of the teams' confrontations to date: Bradley won the regular-season dual meet; Cleveland won the region duals title with the last match breaking a deadlock; and Bradley rebounded to win the traditional region last weekend.
The Bears put seven in today's championship quarterfinals and lead the field with 72 points, 8.5 better than the Blue Raiders, who have eight in the quarterfinals. Each has 10 wrestlers still alive in the tournament.
"The big scoring rounds are tomorrow in the quarters and semis, because they start adding in placement (medal) points," Cleveland coach Jake Yost said. "It's really hard for anybody to build a big lead on the first day. I'd like to think if we continue to wrestle hard that we'll be in it."
Wilson Central, which bumped Bradley to the state duals losers bracket but then lost to Cleveland here two weeks ago, was still within striking distance with 54.5 points. Knoxvill Halls was fourth with 52 points, two more than Soddy-Daisy.
"Wilson Central has six in the quarters and they have some big point-scorers, but do they have as much as us or Bradley, I don't know," Yost said.
The Chattanooga area was holding fairly strong. In addition to the combined 15 Bradley/Cleveland quarterfinalists, Soddy-Daisy had four, Walker Valley two and Ooltewah one.
Soddy-Daisy lost one of its medalist hopefuls when 138-pound sophomore Emory Holcomb suffered an elbow injury and had to default his round-of-16 match. Holcomb earned a pin in 1:20 over his first opponent but was forced to retire at the end of the second period in his second outing. The injury to an already surgically repaired elbow likely ended his season.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.