The meet Thursday night at Soddy-Daisy could have been billed as a clash of wrestling titans, and it certainly was a match of perennial state-title contenders.
One titan, though, flexed a lot more muscle and displayed a lot more aggression, and that titan, Cleveland High School, emerged with a 42-16 victory. It ended a 15-match win streak for Soddy-Daisy.
The visiting Blue Raiders (16-0) dominated and held a 27-point advantage before the Trojans won two of the final three matches.
"I think we brought the fight in 12 weights. The other two we have to get better," first-year Cleveland coach Josh Bosken said.
Said Trojans coach Jim Higgins: "They looked strong. They have a lot of talented kids. Clearly you can see that they've put in the work. I commend them for it. I don't want to sit here and take anything away from their performance, because they wrestled well and they generally earned everything they've got. We have mistakes to correct."
The Raiders scored bonus points in six of their 10 wins, while Soddy-Daisy's lone bonus point came on a major decision from 220-pound Ty Boeck.
Garrett Bowers (106) won by forfeit and Colton Landers (132), Caleb Eachus (145), Jack Hicks (170) and Titus Swafford (285) collected pins for Cleveland. Bryce Pond (120) scored a major decision.
"That ultimately makes a big difference, and I think our shape and our attitude helps them get that done," Bosken said. "We just tell them to score as many points as you can - go out there and put points on the board."
Other than Boeck's major, Soddy-Daisy's wins came by a total of nine points. Tony Wilson's was a sudden-victory decision at 152.
"That's not the same Soddy we're going to see in three weeks. I guarantee that," Bosken said. "They're going to come back, and we better be ready to respond. We wrestled well, but we're going to have to be a little better to beat them to get to the state duals."
Cleveland and Soddy-Daisy (15-1) are in different districts but are likely competitors from their respective districts in the four-team region duals, which likely also will include Bradley Central (same district as Soddy-Daisy) and Walker Valley (in the district with Cleveland).
Although the score was more lopsided that the public might have expected between the second-ranked Blue Raiders, who spent some time at No. 1 after a mid-December win over Bradley, and the sixth-ranked Trojans, Higgins took the final outcome with more grin than grimace.
"I'd rather win the last one than the first one," he said. "The public will never understand it, the score doesn't show it and it will be conflicted by the public for years to come. I saw resilience and I'm proud of what I saw from our guys. I saw fight from every one of them.
"Obviously I saw mistakes as well, but that's the good thing about it being Jan. 5. Nobody knows what these kids have been through this week, but tonight is the worst anyone will see the Soddy-Daisy Trojans."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.