Bradley Central coach Ben Smith reacts to a call from the referee Thursday night during the match with Soddy-Daisy in Cleveland.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The region’s Class AAA wrestling dual pairings are all but set, but the fashion in which they were decided Thursday night closely resembled shock and awe.
While Cleveland put a 48-point decision on Walker Valley to win its district 60-12, Bradley Central put on a beatdown the likes of which may never have been seen in the Bears’ annual series with Soddy-Daisy.
Bradley won 12 of 14 individual matches and posted a 57-6 victory over the visiting and sixth-ranked Trojans to win their district, thus setting the schedule for the region duals.
“I’m ashamed. We said the same thing the last time we showed up at Jim Smiddy Arena,” Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins said of his team’s performance. “Tonight we looked very poor. I’m embarrassed for the kids because we didn’t wrestle more as a team and for one another. We could’ve wrestled smarter and better managed our matches rather than throwing haymakers all night.”
The region duals will be held Thursday at Rhea County. Bradley Central likely will wrestle Walker Valley (if the Mustangs beat McMinn County and Rhea County today) and Soddy-Daisy will meet Cleveland in semifinal matches before what should be the third Cleveland-Bradley meet of the season.