Blackman’s annual preseason tournament was once again filled with wrestling talent from all over Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. 23 schools, a dozen ranked wrestlers and two dozen state medalists were on hand to knock off the rust and get in a few periods of live wrestling before the season actually starts.
It was a stormy and cool day at Blackman High but in the gym, things were jumping and it was an amazing day of competitive wrestling and sportsmanship. The day started with hydration testing for anyone who needed to certify. As this was going on, many wrestlers were in the gym getting mentally prepared for their first competition. There is no prettier sight than wrestling mats wall to wall on the gym floor and Blackman’s gym looked world class with five wrestling mats down and their new wrestling mat “The Fire Pit” laid out front and center. For wrestlers, there is no better feeling than competing in front of a large crowd and on this day, there wasn’t an empty seat in the house! For wrestling fans, nothing is worse than a tournament that starts late. Big props to everyone for making sure that wrestling began right on time!!
If Saturday’s performance is any indicator, Blackman wrestlers have another great season ahead. Senior Ryan Heath looked strong and aggressive with two pins and a hard fought 1-0 decision over Jacob Schoeff from Franklin. Senior Daniel Bradford was also undefeated winning two matches by fall and a third very tough decision against Wayne County’s (KY) Jonathan Shepard. Junior Landon Fowler won some extremely entertaining and competitive matches over #3 ranked Kyle Smith (Beech) and #3 ranked (182) Sawyer Knott from Summit. Landon wrestled extremely well and is only going to get better.
There were several other guys who deserve a nod. Junior Evan Smart is wrestling well at 113 and gave #2 ranked Trey Bates from Beech a great match losing only 2-4. Jeremiah Savage had a great day and stayed in control while winning two close decisions over solid kids from Tullahoma and Summit. Peyton Adams is slowly but surely getting more and more aggressive and he had two first period pins and won all of his matches. And finally, another bright spot in the Blaze lineup is newcomer Bowdy Boyce. Boyce looked extremely sharp winning all of his bouts by pin. For a big guy, he can move! Look for him to make a lot of noise this season.
All in all, Blackman wrestlers won two-thirds of all the matches wrestled. That’s a great job!! Photos from the Blackman Pre-Season Tournament can be found on our PHOTOS page. If you are viewing from a mobile phone, it is strongly recommended to download the Flickr app to your phone. This will make viewing and downloading pictures easier.
Blackman is in action TONIGHT at The Fire Pit at Blackman High School. The first duals of the season are against visiting Franklin County and Warren County. Come out and see some great matches and support the BLAZE!!!