Soddy-Daisy started off strong, came through again with a pair of back-to-back middleweight pins and coupled those with three forfeit victories for a 51-24 wrestling victory over visiting William Blount on Thursday.
The Trojans' inexperience in a couple of weights cost them, and William Blount also came up with a pair of big wins as Calvin Martin edged Landon Wheaton 3-2 at 126 pounds and Josh Hughes rallied in overtime for a 4-3 victory over Slater Daniel at 138.
"At the beginning of the year you're going to see things you need to work on. This sport will tell on you. We have a lot to improve on," Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins said following his team's third win three matches into the season.
The performance wasn't nearly as impressive to the coach as the pounding the Trojans put on Cookeville last week.
"It's not so much about wins and losses this early in the year, but we looked great versus Cookeville. We were good on our feet, working and faking in and out and using what we've been working on in practice. We didn't do that so much tonight," the coach said.
Ty Boeck, moving up to 220 pounds for the 2016-17 season, gave Soddy-Daisy the early lead with a first-period pin, but the Governors immediately countered as Christian Lovell evened the score with a heavyweight pin.
However, Soddy-Daisy regained the lead on 106-pound Jacob Allen's 27-second pin and built the margin to 24-6 on consecutive forfeits at 113 and 120.
With a relatively comfortable lead at 27-12, the Trojans put the match out of William Blount's reach with a 27-second pin from Emery Holcomb at 145 and another first-period stop from Tony Wilson at 152.
"Emery and Tony were outstanding, as were Bryce Settles and Ty," Higgins said.
Settles (195) nailed the Trojans' fifth pin, this one coming in 3:07.
William Blount is struggling with weight-management issues as well as illness and left at least two probable starters at home. But the Governors expect every wrestler to drop in weight class post-Christmas.
"Our heavyweight is getting over the stomach bug and our 160-pounder has it right now," Governors coach Tim Satterfield said. "We have guys dropping, but we'll get there. We're looking at the toughest schedule we've had in my time (at William Blount)."
A longtime fixture at the pre-Christmas Bradley Central Invitational, William Blount is headed another direction this year. The Governors will be at the McCallie Invitational instead, Satterfield said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.