Baylor wrestlers rally to give Bradley Central rare home loss

Bradley Central's Gaven Hughes, bottom, grapples with Baylor's Grant Slye during their 126 lb bout at Bradley Central High School on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in Cleveland, Tenn.
Bradley Central's Gaven Hughes, bottom, grapples with Baylor's Grant Slye during their 126 lb bout at Bradley Central High School on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in Cleveland, Tenn.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Two of the most storied wrestling programs in the TSSAA met Thursday at a place where Bradley Central doesn't have a habit of losing much. And six bouts in, Baylor found itself trailing by 18 points.

But the Red Raiders roared through the middle weight classes when they came around and rallied past the Bears 37-30 in what Bradley coach Ben Smith believes is the program's first home loss since rival Cleveland won there in the 2013-14 season.

"The effort was good," Baylor coach Ben Nelson said. "We've got a great group of people this year. We've got to learn how to be better, but we have a lot of fight and showed that tonight.

"Obviously being the first match of the year, I'm sure Coach Smith saw a lot of stuff they need to work on, and we saw a lot of stuff we need to work on. That's why you schedule teams of that quality early in the season. You get to know right away what you need to get busy going to work on."

The meet started at 220 pounds, and Bradley's Kevin Gentry won 3-2. By the time the Bears' Gaven Hughes won by pin at 126, they had a 24-6 lead.

"My young guys in the lower weights really stepped up and performed," Smith said.

Baylor's battle back began with Clayton Pettway pinning at 132 in a bout that Nelson felt was a pivotal point in the meet.

"Clayton has been working hard for three years," Nelson said, "and it's paid off for him."

When Alex Atchley won by pin at 152, it marked a run of 21 consecutive points for the Red Raiders, who at that point went ahead by three.

Seth Geren's 6-4 decision at 160 tied the match, but Baylor's pin by Mason Reiniche at 170 and 11-3 major decision by Riley Westlake at 182 put the lead out of reach.

Baylor's other winners were Hayden Hartline (138), Austin Atchley (145) and Coleton Elrod (285).

Glen O'Daniels (106), Wesley Devaney (113), Daniel Mroz (120) and D.J. Gibson (195) were the other winners for the Bears, who won the Class AAA state duals and traditional tournaments last season.

"We graduated eight starters from last year," Smith said. "We've got six or seven getting their first shot at wrestling varsity. They didn't back away.

"We've just got to learn to compete in this kind of environment. I hate that we lost. I hate that they beat us at home. But it was a fun environment; a packed house. We've got to defend our two state titles from last year. Matches like this are going to help."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.

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