Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press/ Dec 9, 2010 – Signal Mountain’s Joe Drennan, below, scores back points as he prepares to take Chattanooga Christian’s Josh Cain, top, to the mat during Thursday’s dual meet at Signal Mountain. Drennan wins a 15-4, major decision.Ooltewah’s Owls were coming off a hard-fought battle with Cleveland that ended their hopes for a winning wrestling season, and they’re facing defending A/AA state duals champion Hixson tonight.
They were geared up Thursday for a battle that failed to materialize, and they strolled past depleted Signal Mountain 71-11.
“I have had the privilege of watching Ooltewah grow into a state powerhouse,” Signal coach Johnny Lennon said. “They put you on your back and pin you.”
Ooltewah got pins from Garrett Sealor, Warren Moody, Mathew Sealor, Alex Doss, Jordan Zink and Lamech Jones to go with forfeit victories for Dain Thomas, Tyler Harvey, Stuart Doss, Josh Zink, Jay Rudwall and Adam Dill for its second win of the year.
“We had five guys that didn’t get to wrestle today, not even in practice, and I would like to have seen them get some work,” Owls coach Wendell Weathers said. “We saw [Signal Mountain] at camp, and they looked tough. Between just finishing up last week with football and having some of the guys out of the lineup, they are still settling in.”
The Eagles’ two wins came on a forfeit for 103-pound Madison McCoon and a third-period technical fall for Logan Henley.
“I love being here,” said Lennon, who’s in his first year as the Eagles’ coach. “There is a lot of pride here and I really want to capitalize on that. But wrestling is the hardest sport, and that’s why so few people do it. It can happen here. It’s a great school and I really want to build a strong wrestling program.”
The one football player who competed Thursday after last Saturday’s state championship was 215-pound Harrison Hall, who got a pin in the Eagles’ victory over Chattanooga Christian. Fellow football player Elijah Turnage plans to join the wrestling team next week, but Eagles kicker and reserve defensive lineman Dane DeWet is apparently bypassing wrestling this year.
Signal also was without Brock Pressley and at least a couple of lower-weight wrestlers.
“We need more guys to participate. We lost four or five, but we still have a squad of 15-20,” Lennon said.
Before looking for payback in its match with Hixson, Ooltewah has big plans this afternoon. The wrestlers are joining with boys’ and girls’ basketball players to host an afternoon special. For $1 students will be able to see up to 16 fellow students in Sumo-style wrestling on one end of the gym and a dunking contest on 9-foot goals on the other.
That’s a prelude to a special night Tuesday when Ooltewah will host Walker Valley in all three sports.
“The girls’ basketball game will start at 4:30, the wrestling meet at 6 and the boys’ basketball game at 7:30,” Weathers said. “I don’t know that something like this has ever been done in Chattanooga, but it could be a great night. It’s a chance for us to introduce some of our basketball fans to wrestling.”
Weathers promised a quick turnaround between events.
“We’ll have it ready to go quickly. As soon as the girls get through, we’ll get the mats down and go to it,” he said. “There might be five minutes from the end of one to the start of the other, and the same from wrestling to the boys’ game.”
The Signal-CCS meet was over quickly. Because of missing bodies, the teams had just three matches with Signal taking all three.
“We started with 15 and we’re down to seven,” CCS coach Josh Craft said. “Forfeits are throwing us under [the bus] right now. It’s just too tough a sport for some.”
Andrew Fite, the Chargers’ 112-pounder, was a runner-up in the Ooltewah Invitational last weekend but was among those sitting out. He is sidelined while waiting on blood vessels in his nose to heal completely after using all of his blood time in two previous matches.
“We have one in the hospital and another was just in a car accident, and another is in the hospital right now,” Craft said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.