One of the best Class A/AA wrestling teams Chattanooga has to offer will miss the duals postseason.
Red Bank gave Hixson its best shot in a packed Wildcats gym Tuesday but came up short, 33-31, likely costing itself a trip to the state duals in a couple of weeks.
Hixson coach Garrick Hall was hesitant to say, though, that he would go ahead and make the Wildcats' reservations. Hixson has one more test before its ticket is truly punched, and that is at Signal Mountain on Friday.
"If we beat Signal Mountain, then the second-best team in our area, in my opinion, stays home," Hall said. "Red Bank is good ... really good."
He paused to catch his breath after already having left the gym once when the meet ended, to work his blood pressure down and calm his nerves after anticipating and then surviving a hammer-and-tong slugfest.
"Give me a chance to breathe. I already had to go in the other room," Hall said. "I haven't been able to breathe today, and I haven't been able to breathe this week."
It was the kind of match he expected before the largest crowd to see a Hixson home wrestling meet since 2009 (vs. Notre Dame).
The teams split the 14 matches, the second time this season that Red Bank (24-3) has done that and lost. (The other was against Soddy-Daisy).
There were three lead changes. Hixson went up 9-3 after Brody Gregory's pin at 285. but Red Bank regained the lead and extended it to 13-9 on a major decision from Blake Reichel (106) and decisions from Trent Comeaux (113) and Jonah Bird (120).
"It wasn't lack of heart or a lack of effort. It was lack of execution," Red Bank coach Shane Turner said. "We got in some spots where we're normally pretty good and we let some points get away from us."
While Turner had hoped for bonus points at 113 and 120, Isaac Yates' forfeit win at 126 put the Wildcats ahead and the Lions were unable to make up the difference. They got within two points (21-19) on David Johnson's pin at 138, but after the teams swapped forfeit victories at 145 and 152, Ronnie Huff poked a major hole in Red Bank's hopes.
Huff, a 152-pounder who has been out of the lineup for the last couple of weeks, bumped to 160 and posted an 8-5 decision to give his team a 30-25 lead, and then Chris Nicholson's decision at 170 put the Wildcats over the top.
"It came down to bonus points, and you have to give those guys credit," Turner said. "They shaved points where they needed to and got bonus points where they had to."
With a 33-25 advantage, Hixson forfeited the final match to the Lions' Devin Crawl.
"Huff was the key, although I knew we had to win at 170," Hall said. "Not getting pinned at 220 or 113 also was big. Everybody knew this was going to be a barn-burner. Our coaching staff (Todd Worley, Casey Thompson, Justin Pecor) decided to make some strategic changes in the lineup to give us the best chance to win, and it worked out. I think my staff is one of the best in the state."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.