Brentwood’s Luke Hamilton (left) and McCallie’s Griffin Davis (center) grapple Saturday during the Soddy-Daisy Showdown wrestling tournament at Soddy-Daisy High School. Hamilton won the bout 4-2.Brother Martin wrestlers loaded the bus around 8 p.m. Saturday, but most would agree that enduring the eight-hour ride home was worth it.
In what will be recalled as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the New Orleans guys got to see some of the best college wrestling in the country before winning the Soddy-Daisy Showdown championship over some of the finest high school teams Tennessee has to offer.
“We were looking for an out-of-town trip, and we had seen some extremely tough wrestlers from the Chattanooga area at the [summertime freestyle] Dixie Duals,” coach Robert Dauterive said.
Then they figured out that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was hosting the likes of national powers Penn State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Cornell and Missouri among others in the Southern Scuffle.
It was a trip they couldn’t refuse.