Steve Price was concerned through the season about the lack of support his wrestling team had received within the halls at Central High School. It seemed to the coach that few outside the wrestling family cared.
There are bound to be a few more on board after the Pounders clinched the state A/AA duals wrestling championship in Franklin Saturday night. It is the school's first state championship of any kind in two decades.
It came with teamwork from freshman 130-pounder Logan Griffith, who got a pin in the deciding match Saturday night, to seniors Antonio Brooks, Alex Williams and Terry Thompson.
"It has been a 'we' rather than 'me' attitude from the start," said Price, who has beat the bushes and walked the halls for the past three years recruiting any guy who even resembled a wrestler.
That title also came with a coach's brutal honesty about what he expected, what the kids should expect and what each had to do in order for the Pounders to attain their goals.
"Whenever it came to big matches the kids knew what they had to do for the team to excel regardless of what weight they were wrestling," Price said. "I pulled no punches. I told them whether they had a tough match. I told them what we the team needed whether it was fighting off their back to avoid a pin or getting extra team points. They did it all year and that's what they did all night against Pigeon Forge [in the championship match]."
His example included 189-pounder Sam Sledge, who lost by major decision to Cody Davis.
"Pigeon Forge has a monster at 189 and Sam knew when he went out there what we needed from him. He saved us two team points and when you're talking about the state duals two team points are huge," Price said.
While the kids immediately realized their primary goal had been reached with the win over Pigeon Forge, the coaches were looking to see who was next on their way up the ladder.
"As coaches, and this was the feeling across the board, it took a couple of hours for it to sink in that we had done it. We had prepared for it all year but I don't think it hit us immediately that this part of the season was done," Price said.
So what's next? Immediately, Central's goal is to double its number of state qualifiers from last year to 10. They'll have that opportunity this weekend at the Region 4 tournament at East Hamilton.
Further down the track?
"Of the 14 starting positions, two are manned by seniors. We interchange Williams and Thompson at 171. Seven of the 14 are either freshmen or sophomores so the future looks great at Central," Price said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6288.