It was the last hurrah this weekend for the Region 2-A/AA wrestling tournament, at least in its current makeup, and Hixson provided a rousing sendoff to departing teams.
The Wildcats returned to the region championship throne that they'd been forced to abdicate last year by Red Bank.
They scored 191 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Notre Dame, which will be moving to the Division II ranks next year along with Boyd-Buchanan and Chattanooga Christian.
Notre Dame scored 144 points, Red Bank 107, Signal Mountain 93.5, CCS 85, Boyd-Buchanan 84, Central and Whitwell 71 each, East Ridge 48, Sequatchie County 25, Sale Creek 10 and Tyner nine.
The Wildcats also qualified 11 wrestlers for this week's state tournament in Franklin, including champions Tucker Gill (113), Jacob Newman (120), Jonas Shackleford (132), Cederick Harris (138) and Truman Ross (220).
"It was totally different from last week (0-2 showing at the state duals). They were relaxed and having fun," Hixson coach Garrick Hall said. "I told the kids the goal was to get 13 into the state. If we win the region, that's a bonus. We got 11 through, and the two we lost were so close to getting into the top four."
Hixson's Shackleford won the outstanding wrestler award for the lower seven weights; the outstanding choice for the upper weights was 160-pound Alonzo Heyward of Central. Best match went to 138-pound participants Cederick Harris and Ned Warwick. Harris won, 8-6.
Notre Dame earned seven qualifiers including champions Jeremy Holloway (106), Grant Speer (126), James Boyd (195) and Kobe Bragg (285).
Red Bank had no champions but has qualifiers.
Other champions were Central's Isaac Coffman (145) and Heyward (160), Boyd-Buchanan's Zane Williams (152), CCS's Alex Hundley (170), and East Ridge's Darian Smith (182).