Bradley Central coach Ben Smith reacts to a call from the referee Thursday night during the match with Soddy-Daisy in Cleveland.CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The region's Class AAA wrestling dual pairings are all but set, but the fashion in which they were decided Thursday night closely resembled shock and awe.
While Cleveland put a 48-point decision on Walker Valley to win its district 60-12, Bradley Central put on a beatdown the likes of which may never have been seen in the Bears' annual series with Soddy-Daisy.
Bradley won 12 of 14 individual matches and posted a 57-6 victory over the visiting and sixth-ranked Trojans to win their district, thus setting the schedule for the region duals.
"I'm ashamed. We said the same thing the last time we showed up at Jim Smiddy Arena," Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins said of his team's performance. "Tonight we looked very poor. I'm embarrassed for the kids because we didn't wrestle more as a team and for one another. We could've wrestled smarter and better managed our matches rather than throwing haymakers all night."
The region duals will be held Thursday at Rhea County. Bradley Central likely will wrestle Walker Valley (if the Mustangs beat McMinn County and Rhea County today) and Soddy-Daisy will meet Cleveland in semifinal matches before what should be the third Cleveland-Bradley meet of the season.
The region winner and runner-up will advance to the state duals in Franklin (at the Williamson County Agricultural Expo).
Cleveland is ranked No. 1 in the state in the latest Tennessee coaches' poll while Bradley is No. 2. The Blue Raiders have a pair of one-point victories over the Bears this season.
As for the Soddy-Daisy outcome, defending champion Bradley made an emphatic statement regarding the upcoming region and state duals.
"That score against a team like Soddy-Daisy - there were a lot closer matches in that meet than the score shows, but that's indicative of a great program and great coaches, which is what they have," Bradley coach Ben Smith said.
There were some close matches, Bradley winning by a point in three of them (Wes Devaney at 106 pounds, Gavin Hughes at 120 and Henley Headrick at 160).
That his Trojans failed to score in three matches and lost those by a total of seven points was of little consolation to Higgins, whose two winners were 126-pound Charles Wheaton and 220-pound Ty Boeck.
"We just rode out some matches, and I felt a couple of our guys didn't finish their matches. I'm disheartened," said Higgins, who had several discussions with the referee during the match in which he expressed dismay with the officiating.
But he wasn't about to take anything from the Bears.
"They outwrestled us, they outworked us and they wanted it more than us. All those things were apparent," the Trojans coach said. "If you were here and witnessed it, you'd be ashamed of Soddy-Daisy."
Bradley wasted little time in forging a commanding lead, getting four pins just six matches in for a 27-3 lead. The Bears extended that advantage to 39-3 before Wheaton's win.
"We had six pins and five decisions. We won the close ones and we won where we needed to," Smith said. "I think the kids have responded well to losing two close matches (to Cleveland)."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.