Welcome to The Afternoon Drive, where the sports staff of the Times Free Press will give you a dose of (random) sports-related information that will hopefully get you thinking about more than just what’s for dinner. This information will be packed into an online list form each weekday, but the opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff as a whole.
Today’s list
With the TSSAA state duals set to get underway in Franklin on Saturday, Patrick MacCoon believes the “423” will continue to dominate and be the epicenter of success in high school wrestling across the state. Here are five predictions he expects to see happen at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center.
1. Seventh heaven
Perhaps no other team across the state is hated more. Perhaps that is due to jealousy, because all Cleveland (16-0) does is win, with six consecutive state duals titles. The Blue Raiders’ toughest matchup will come right out of the gate as a blind draw matched them with Summit (24-1) in a must-see quarterfinal between the two best teams in Class 2A. Summit is loaded from 132 pounds to 150, but Cleveland’s great depth (10 state-ranked wrestlers) will pay major dividends for Joey Knox’s nationally ranked squad. Senior Logan Fowler is one of the best wrestlers in the state and is surrounded by hammers, which includes a loaded junior class of six starters with Chase Walker, Zach Bosken, Kaden Rice, Cy Fowler, Lucas Szymborski and Tyson Russell.
2. Trojans back on top
I expect this to be a very emotional weekend for Soddy Daisy. Not only will the Trojans win the state duals for the first time since 2012, but they will do so with ease. Many of the wrestlers in this program remember when they were young kids watching the Trojans dominate the state — and now they will get the chance. Soddy Daisy will finish the year with a 34-0 record and be just the third team in program history to complete a perfect season. Senior leaders Elijah Turner and Drew Lewis have done a lot for this program.
3. Lady Raiders steamroll competition
Cleveland is one of only eight high schools in the country to have both its boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams nationally ranked. Head coach Josh Bosken has done a remarkable job with the ladies and knows what makes each and every one of his wrestlers go. I expect Cleveland’s girls to show no mercy and win each match comfortably by double figures after winning some close ones a year ago. Another year of experience will go a long way for a program that is home to one of the sport’s best young talents in world champion Piper Fowler, who has never lost a match in her high school career in three seasons.
4. Bucs’ magic continues
Boyd Buchanan stunned the state last season as Mike Sutherland’s program peaked at the perfect time to win its first TSSAA team state championship. The Buccaneers look headed on a crash course to see Lakeway Christian once again in the Division II-A/AA finals. Seniors Kaiden Bates, AJ Johnson, Conor Payne and Carter Rowlett played a major role in last year’s state title run and should be able to use their experience to help motivate the teammates around them to rise up in pressure-packed moments.
5. Don’t expect a Baylor-McCallie finale
Father Ryan brought a close to a dominant four-year state duals championship streak for the Red Raiders last season. Baylor did redeem itself by coming back to win the state traditional tournament a few weeks later. While the “Big Red” appeared to be the frontrunner not too long ago in Division II-AAA, things have drastically changed. With the dismissal of two state champion-caliber wrestlers from the program, Baylor has a few holes that will be hard to fix in its lineup. That was extremely evident in the Red Raiders’ recent road loss to McCallie. Therefore a meeting with Father Ryan in the semifinals could be extremely hard to overcome for the Red Raiders. I expect McCallie’s Blue Tornado to make the finals by beating Christian Brothers, but still believe Father Ryan is the team to beat.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.