While tonight’s semifinals will give fans what they expected from a $5 admission fee, there might not be a meet to determine Region 4’s dual wrestling champion.
Depending upon the outcome of the first meets, which begin side-by-side at 6 p.m. at Walker Valley, fans could be left to anticipate a match-up at the state duals Feb. 4-5 in Franklin.
Soddy-Daisy will meet Walker Valley in one semifinal and Bradley Central and Cleveland will wrestle in the other. If Soddy-Daisy and Bradley Central win, there will be no championship match by mutual agreement between the school’s two coaches.
However, if Cleveland can reverse Monday’s setback against Bradley, then the championship match will take place as soon as the semifinals are completed. There is a precedent. Cleveland advanced to last year’s championship meet and elected not to wrestle.
Tournament director Alan Morris said if the championship match-up was Bradley vs. Soddy-Daisy that Soddy-Daisy would be declared No. 1 seed from the region based on the Trojans’ 33-28 victory during the regular season.
“We’re preparing to wrestle Walker Valley and then a championship match. That’s the smart thing to do,” Henry said. “However, if our opponent is Bradley Central there won’t be a match.”
Bradley Central beat Cleveland 39-15 on Monday and of Cleveland’s four losses this season, three have come against Soddy-Daisy. Walker Valley lost to all three.
“Obviously in Soddy-Daisy, Bradley and Cleveland you have the state’s top Division I teams in the latest [Tennessee coaches] poll. They’re as good as anybody in the state,” Morris said. “We’re a young team and Soddy-Daisy earned the right to face us because it beat Bradley and Ooltewah to win its district. This will be a good [educational] match for us. I’m glad we’re in the region duals and that we’re hosting.”
While Soddy-Daisy is an odds-on favorite to advance to the championship match, there are heated debates regarding the Trojans’ opponent.
“There’s so much on the line in that match. That score [Monday] indicates that Bradley beat Cleveland pretty good, but there were so many close matches,” Morris said. “That match didn’t really mean anything other than a pretty good gate for Cleveland. It means so much more to win this one tonight. The loser won’t go to the state, which is shame because either team is as good as any in the state.”
Although Bradley won by 24 points, Cleveland coach Eric Phillips was quick to point out that there were six one-point wins and that three of those were overtime victories.
“We didn’t come out on the winning end of enough of those one-point matches and it was frustrating,” he said. “You can look at [that match] one of two ways. We have closed the gap and we wrestled well. At the end of the day we were in it but we didn’t finish. We’ll make sure we battle on Thursday. You’re talking about Bradley and getting over that hump takes some belief and conviction.”