FRANKLIN, Tenn. - As closing acts go, this one is going pretty good for Signal Mountain's Noah Shriner.
The senior wrestler and his teammates wrapped up a perfect duals season with the program's first TSSAA state championship as the Eagles defeated Greeneville 39-36 to win the Class A duals title Saturday night at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center.
In his 120-pound match against a Greeneville opponent he had lost to before in the state tournament, Shriner was downright dominant, scoring 11 points in the first period before quickly pinning his way to victory in the second period. Shriner's teammates followed his lead as Signal Mountain jumped out to a 39-6 advantage to set up its historic moment.
"As an eighth grader I wrestled up and we got runner-up, which definitely hurt," Shriner said. "I am so glad that at the very end I could be a part of the team that finally won it all. Everything came together. Our whole team wrestled the perfect match. No one believed we could do this, but from day one we knew we had the best wrestling program in our classification. Nothing was going to stop us."
After falling behind 6-0 after the first match in the championship dual, Signal Mountain (21-0) rattled off the next 39 points. Daniel Odom began the run with a first-period pin at 285 pounds, and freshman Jojo Uhorchuk followed with a tough 4-2 decision at 106 while his brother Ethan had a 48-second pin at 113. Shriner was followed by Jackson Owens, who won 7-3 at 126.
The Eagles closed the deal with Caleb Uhorchuk sticking his opponent's back to the mat for a pin with 18 seconds left in the 132-pound match, while Ian Bryant followed with another late third-round pin at 138. Cole Jenkins then won a 5-4 decision to make it 39-6. Signal forfeited the rest of the matches with the championship in hand.
"We saved our best for last," said Houston Clements, who is in his first year as head coach of the Eagles. "We lost 10 of our 14 starters from last year, and no one believed in us except for ourselves. This is something they will always remember. For Noah to come out and do what he did as a senior man, he really deserves this along with his teammates."
Chattanooga added to its dominant reputation in Tennessee wrestling as five teams from the area made it to Franklin for state duals and four reached the title round.
In Class AA, Cleveland (21-0) fought back late to set a TSSAA record with five straight state duals titles. The Blue Raiders beat intracounty rival Bradley Central 34-28 as senior Tetoe Boyd had the match-sealing pin at 195 pounds.
"I told a lot of the guys before the match, it's we not me," Boyd said. "You can't be selfish out there. You have to do everything for the team. For it all to come down to my weight class meant a lot. This sport has become so meaningful to me. At first I did it to just get in shape for football, but wrestling and this team means the world to me."
In Division II-AAA, Baylor put on a show, too, as the Red Raiders (16-1) won their fourth straight duals title. Bradley Central, Cleveland and McCallie are the only other programs to do that.
A run that started with David Harper beating McCallie in the final match as a freshman for the first title continued with him opening Saturday's title dual as a senior with a pin at 195 to lead Baylor to a 36-21 win over Father Ryan.
"The goal was always to get four team titles," said Harper, who will wrestle in college for Wyoming with teammate Garrison Dendy. "I am so proud to be a part of this group. We have grinded and competed at such a high level. We wanted this bad, and it feels really good."
In Division II-A/AA, Chattanooga Christian lost 45-30 to Lakeway Christian in the title match.
In girls' competition, Cleveland's first-year team finished third with a 33-32 win against Tullahoma after losing 36-30 to Clarksville in the semifinals.
Still ahead for Tennesssee prep wrestlers is the traditional postseason in which bracketed tournaments determine the individual and state champions. Division II state competition is Feb 18-19 at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, while Division I and girls' competition returns to Franklin on Feb. 24-26.
GHSA traditional postseason sectionals
Class A (Sectional B): Trion, fresh off a state duals title last month and an area traditional tournament championship last weekend, advanced all 14 of its wrestlers into this coming week's state tourney in Macon and had seven individual champs in Daegan Vaughn (113 pounds), Bryce James (138), Toby Maddux (160), Blaydn Bowman (182), Logan Eller (195), Brantley Willbanks (220) and Zach Sharpe (285).
The Bulldogs, who had the tournament's most pins with 33 and scored the most points with 254, also had individual runners-up in Jason Jenkins (106) and Seth Huskins (120), third-place finishers in Crawford Lee (126), Andrew Jones (132), Gus Hames (145) and Cohen Blaschke (170), and a fifth-place finisher in Connor Deparlier (156).
Gordon Lee advances three wrestlers to state: Avery Bloodworth (4th, 152 pounds), Landon Brown (5th, 113) and Penn Askew (5th, 145), with Christian Heritage advancing Josia Chisea (6th, 195).
Class AA (B): Dade County had individual champions in Cody Williams (195) and Austin Sorrelle (285) to headline a group of nine advancing. Also moving on are Landon Williams (2nd, 182), Cayden Cooper (3rd, 152), Isaac Pangle (3rd, 220), Hayden Langley (4th, 106), Gideon Moore (4th, 113), Brandon Willerson (4th, 138) and Zac Smith (4th, 160).
Chattooga will be taking 106-pound champion Landon Carlton along with Devon Heroch (2nd, 220) and Gavin Carlton (3rd, 138), with Gordon Central advancing John Carlos Guerrero (3rd, 285) and Noah Tinch (5th, 120).
Class AAA (A): Sonoraville had an impressive showing with 10 wrestlers qualifying, including champions Logan Moore (132), Colt Weaver (170), Gavin Harper (182), Jebb Knight (195), Draven Peppers (220) and Jaxx Knight (285).
Also advancing are Noah Chastain (3rd, 106), Wade Parker (3rd, 120), Dirk Junkins (3rd, 152) and Thomas Young (5th, 113). Ringgold, which amassed the second-most points in the event, had champions in Pierce Pennington (113) and Tristan Busch (138). Those two Tigers will be joined in Macon by Nolan Rohrer (4th, 120), Hudson Moss (4th, 126), Abe Turley (5th, 132), Jaxon Delgado (6th, 145) and Levi Lowery (6th, 220).
Coahulla Creek's qualifiers are 106-pound champion Adonnis Sanchez, Jesus Sanchez (2nd, 113), Elon Keeler (3rd, 195) and Austin Adams (6th, 170). LaFayette will take Jacob Hamilton (6th, 113), Haygen Baker (6th, 126) and Jacob Brown (6th, 182), while Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe qualified fifth-place finishers Wyatt Maye (126) and Nick Kapherr (145).
Class AAA (B): Both Murray County and North Murray advances four wrestlers. North Murray is led in that group by 195-pound champion Devin Hunte, with Hernan Hernandez (4th, 132), Brock Bennett (6th, 120) and Tyler Wheat (6th, 152) also moving on. For Murray County, the qualifiers are Aaron Flood (2nd, 182), Landon Banks (3rd, 106), Eli Hope (4th, 285) and Caleb Blair (5th, 126).
Class AAAA (B): Heritage advanced seven wrestlers, led by 160-pound champion Evan Wingrove and also including Victor Johnson (4th, 126), Andrew Dietz (4th, 132), Mike Stokes (4th, 138), Tate Thomas (5th, 106), Skylar Grant (5th, 170) and Dax Akers (6th, 182).
Northwest Whitfield will take four to Macon: Landon Phillips (2nd, 145), Jayden Santiago (2nd, 195), Drake Kitchens (3rd, 138) and Tony Burnecke (3rd, 160). Southeast Whitfield has 106-pound champion Olli Webb and fifth-place finishers Steven Morales and Roberto Rios, while Ridgeland advanced sixth-place finishers Hunter Barber (106), Evan Doyal (113) and Malachi Hutchinson (145).
Class AAAAA (B): Calhoun had a runner-up finisher in Kelly Wells at 220 and two sixth-place finishers in Rex Richardson (145) and Isaac Green (160).
Class AAAAAA (B): Dalton advanced four to Macon: Stryker Woods (4th, 220), Sebastian Garcia (5th, 120), Riley Souther (5th, 285) and Randal Sliger (6th, 152).
BASKETBALL
Ensworth boys 71, Baylor 62: The Tigers used a strong start to the second half to win the Division II-AA East Region matchup. Zane Restelli led the Red Raiders with 16 points, while Nyziah Whaley added 13 and Al Peciulis had 10.
Ridgeland boys 83, South Pittsburg 62: Judd Anderson had 25 points, Chase Hickman 16 and Matthew Ramsey 15 to lead the Panthers to the nonregion win.
Trion boys 63, B.E.S.T Academy 54: The Bulldogs (8-17, 8-10 Region 6-A public) closed the regular-season league schedule with a win as Jase Mason had 18 points and Ben Allen and Greyson Petty added 12 each.
East Hamilton girls 75, Central 9: Morgan Bone had 20 points, nine steals and seven rebounds to lead the Lady Hurricanes (15-9, 10-0 District 6-3A) to victory Friday night, while Christal Collins added 11 points and nine steals. McKenna Hayes joined them in double figures with 14 points. East Hamilton led 27-2 after the first quarter and 50-6 at halftime.
TSSAA state duals coverage by Patrick MacCoon. Contact him at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Roundup reports compiled by Stephen Hargis, Marty Kirkland and Lindsey Young. Contact them at sports@timesfreepress.com.