Blackman’s first individual tournament of the season ended in success this past Saturday at the Cougar Classic in Franklin. Because of COVID, the field was limited to only eight teams. The Blaze took first place scoring 252.5 points besting second place Beech High School (222) and third place Rossview (167).
Blackman put ten wrestlers into the finals and ended the day with six champions.
“There was a lot of rust. I’m glad we won, but we have a lot of work to do”, said Blackman Head Coach Ronnie Bray. “Our guys did a lot of good things. It was a good showing for the first tournament of the year. However, we aren’t even close to where we want to be.”, Bray continued.
Early tournaments give coaches valuable insight to want needs to be tweaked and practiced in the early days of the season. When asked what the team needs to work on most, Assistant Coach Byron Smith had only a one-word answer. “Conditioning”.
Blackman’s champions were Aslan Nadeau, Justin Bradford, Grant Myers, Adin Heathcott, Alex Rose, and Justin Brown. Runners-up were Sebron Colson, Mason Sells, Miles Workman, and Tytus Kirby-Reach.
There were a few standout wrestlers and matches from the day. Probably number one was the much-anticipated rematch of Mason Sells against Sammy Shires of Rossview. Shires was last year’s 3rd place state medalist at 126 beating Sells 6-1 in the consolation finals at state. A lot of people gathered to watch the match and the wrestlers did not disappoint. There was serious hand-fighting and Sells got the first takedown. He was up 4-0 at one point before Shires tied it up at the end of regulation. In overtime, Shires got the takedown and won 6-4. Had there been a best match award, this would have been it.
In the 106 pound finals, it was all Blackman as Aslan Nadeau faced teammate Sebron Colson for the gold. On this day, Nadeau came out on top 8-1. It’s tough to wrestle a teammate but the good news is that Blackman is not weak at 106.
At 138, Adin Heathcott had a very solid day starting with a tough wins over Gonzalez from West Creek and Rossview’s Spencer Potter. In the finals, Heathcott was up pretty big over Stewart’s Creek state medalist Tyler South before South had to medical forfeit. Heatcott was seeded 7th and beat the #2 seed and the #1 seed to win the championship. Solid stuff!
In the upper-weights, Miles Workman and Tytus Kirby Reach both ended up with second place. Workman had a good day but couldn’t get much going against 4th ranked Donovan Rich from Beech. Tytus has some great moves and a great match going but, in the end, didn’t have the gas tank yet to keep up with Kalamen from Beech. With football in the rearview mirror, he will get there.
FINAL PLACERS
106 – 1st Place – Aslan Nadeau
106 – 2nd Place – Sebron Colson
113 – 1st Place – Justin Bradford
120 – 1st Place – Grant Myers
126 – 5th Place – Hugo Sanchez
132 – 2nd Place – Mason Sells
138 – 1st Place – Adin Heathcott
145 – 1st Place – Alex Rose
152 – 5th Place – Brayden James
160 – 1st Place – Justin Brown
170 – 4th Place – Josh Chew
182 – 4th Place – David Wilkinson
195 – 2nd Place – Miles Workman
220 – 2nd Place – Tytus Kirby-Reach
285 – 4th Place – Jayden Hemphill
G125 – 2nd Place – Alyson Colson (Girls)
All in all, it was solid day to build on. Assistant Coach John Heathcott said, “There was some good and some not so good, but you can’t argue with first place. From what I saw, our kids as a whole were good teammates and our leaders acted like leaders today.”
Blackman is back on the mat Tuesday at Coffee County and Thursday at Centennial against Page. On Saturday they are scheduled to compete in the ever-tough Cleveland Duals in Chattanooga.
Again, want to see pictures from the event? Visit our PHOTOS page.
Go Blaze!