Hill repeats as region champion, six county grapplers qualify for state

Anthony S. Puca Sports Editor
Posted 2/16/21

The Forrest Rockets and Marshall County Tigers had a very successful Region 3A/AA Tournament at Eagleville on Friday and Saturday with Noah Hill, Asa Nance, Seth McCoy, and Braiden Vanderploeg qualifying from Chapel Hill for the state tournament next week in Chattanooga, while Aaron Foster and Colton Haun qualified for the Tigers.

“I’m proud of all my wrestlers that have qualified and all of my wrestlers that made it through this year, it has been wild and whacky season because of Covid and I’m tired and I’m ready for the season to be over and I know all the kids are too,” Forrest coach Jason “Shooter” Hill said. “We have a couple of more practices and one more week and will go down to Chattanooga and see what happens.”

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Hill repeats as region champion, six county grapplers qualify for state

Posted

The Forrest Rockets and Marshall County Tigers had a very successful Region 3A/AA Tournament at Eagleville on Friday and Saturday with Noah Hill, Asa Nance, Seth McCoy, and Braiden Vanderploeg qualifying from Chapel Hill for the state tournament next week in Chattanooga, while Aaron Foster and Colton Haun qualified for the Tigers.

“I’m proud of all my wrestlers that have qualified and all of my wrestlers that made it through this year, it has been wild and whacky season because of Covid and I’m tired and I’m ready for the season to be over and I know all the kids are too,” Forrest coach Jason “Shooter” Hill said. “We have a couple of more practices and one more week and will go down to Chattanooga and see what happens.”

The defending state champion Hill captured his third straight region title, but it wasn’t easy for the Forrest senior as his undefeated season mark was in jeopardy in the title match versus Signal Mountain senior Kevin Muschel.

Hill fell behind 2-0 after the first period, 6-2 after the second and trailed 10-6 late in the match when he turned the tables on Muschel for the pin with 16 seconds remaining in the title tilt.

“I wasn’t expecting him to be that strong, he got the better of me there at the beginning, but I settled in and started wrestling my match instead of his,” Hill said.

Hill (27-0) earned a number-one seed and will square off with Alcoa junior Aaron Tipton in next Wednesday’s opening round of the TSSAA State Championships at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Hill was also the state runner-up in 2019 at 195-pounds and a rematch with Muschel is probably in cards next week.

“It would be a dream to win again,” Hill said. “I’ve dreamed of that all my and to accomplish that in my junior year was real incredible and I want to do it again.”

Muschel finished second last year at 145-pounds, second in 2019 at 138-pounds, and fourth in 2018 in the 126-pound weight class.

“He (Noah) came in to this, knowing it was going to be a tough match and looked at me earlier in the week and said you know whatever happens, happens, so for him to come back like that was really special, just being a dad,” coach Hill said.

Hill has one returning state medalist to get through in the top half of the 182-pound bracket, while Muschel has two returning medalists in the bottom half, including Pigeon Ford senior Joseph Skidmore, who fished second to Hill last season.

“It could be a repeat of the region finals going into the state finals, we will see next week,” coach Hill said.

Vanderploeg will be making his third straight state tournament appearance after going 2-2 and finishing in fourth place in the 132-pound weight class at Eagleville.

Vanderploeg had a first-round bye before pinning Red Bank’s Chase Gann, but came up against the eventual region champ Brice Barton from Whitwell in the second round.

Barton beat Vanderploeg on a technical fall, sending the Forrest junior to the consolation semifinals where he gutted out a tough 2-0 win over Signal Mountain’s Cole Jenkins that sent Vanderploeg back to the state tournament.

“When he got to the blood round, it was a zero-zero match going into the third period,” coach Hill said. “The guy took him down and rode him out for two minutes before Braiden got a reversal with one minute left and rode him out for two points, that is just heart right there.”

Vanderploeg had another close match in the consolation finals, losing 3-1 to Perrin Clark from East Ridge.

Vanderploeg finished off the medal stand in his two state tournament appearances and will wrestle Sycamore sophomore Logan Heckert in his first match next week. Heckert is a returning state medalist, finishing in fourth place last year in the 120-pound weight class.

Forrest freshman Seth McCoy burst on to the scene as an eighth-grader last season, finishing in second place in the region tournament and fourth at the state tournament in the 113-pound weight division.

McCoy received a first round bye at Eagleville before pinning Cascade’s Jayden Burns in a quarterfinal match.

Kale Albritton pinned McCoy in the semifinals, but the Rocket freshman came back with a pin over Nolensville’s Cole Smith.

McCoy, who moved up to the 138-pound weight class this season, got a rematch with Pennington in the consolation finals, losing an 8-1 decision to the Eagleville senior to finish in fourth place.

“Seth is a pain in my neck at times, but I love him to death,” a smiling coach Hill said. “He put on quite a bit of weight and he decided he didn’t want to drop weight and I was good with it as long as he was.”

“He had a rough, rough weight class here at region, so we will see what happens on Wednesday.”

McCoy (15-9) squares off versus Region 4A/AA champion Sycamore sophomore Luke London (18-4) in round one next Wednesday.

The biggest surprise of the tournament for the Rockets was the performance of Asa Nance, who took the long road to a fourth place finish at Eagleville.

Nance had a first-round bye at the region tournament before being pinned by Nolensville’s Dakota Pattee in the quarterfinal round, but the Forrest junior came back with two straight wins, beginning with a pin over Moore County’s Dustin Thomas in the consolation round.

Nance followed with an 11-2 blowout major decision win over Seth Hart from The Howard School in the consolation semifinals to qualify for his first state tournament before getting a re-match with Pattee (28-12) in the third/fourth place match where Pattee won by pin again.

“Asa had problems with his weigh this week and he came in Wednesday and Thursday and made weight and was a little sluggish in his first match, which was kind of expected” coach Hill said. “In his blood round match he wrestled his heart out, probably the best match he has wrestled all year and to qualify makes me super proud of him because of all the effort he has put in.”

Nance (8-6) takes on Greeneville freshman Charles Dabney in the first round next Wednesday and is in a very tough weight class that features three-time state champion Daniel Uhorchuk, who is making his fifth state tournament appearance.

Uhorchuk has gone back-to-back-to-back in the 106, 133, and 120-pound weight classes before moving up again this season. The Signal Mountain senior also finished in second place in the 106-pound weight class as an eighth-grader.

Uhorchuk is in the top half of the bracket, but Hixon senior Trevor Lewis is in the bottom half of the bracket with Nance. Lewis is a three-time state medalist with two second place finishes and was the 2019 state champion at 120.

It was a family affair for the Uhorchuks at Eagleville as Ethan (106) and Caleb (113) also took home region titles for the Eagles, who beat Nolensville 227-190 for the region team title.

Marshall County High School senior Aaron Foster put the Tigers back on the wrestling map last season when became the first MCHS wrestler to qualify for the state tournament since 2004.

Foster backed up that performance with a third-place finish at Eagleville on Friday.

Foster (17-3) got a bye in the first round of the 160-pound bracket at Eagleville before losing to Sequatchie County’s Tavin Birdwell.

Foster got a break in the next round when he was a forfeit winner and then he came up with pin in the third round of the consolations over Red Bank’s John Elbakidze. .

Foster qualified for his second state tournament when he pinned Nolensville’s Ben Warfel and then he pinned Cascade’s Ty Wiggins in the third/fourth place match.

“It feels great going to state twice,” Foster said. “I am going to condition all the time to get ready for next week.”

Foster, who did not medal at last year’s state tournament, takes on Greenbrier senior Elliot Counasse in round one on Wednesday.

Foster will be joined at this year’s state championships by his teammate Colton Haun, who also took the long road to a fourth-place finish at Eagleville on Saturday.

“Both seniors did a great job, we had 11 guys out and they all worked hard all offseason and came in and really got after it and we went through Covid with all the ups and downs of matches being moved and cancelled, but they stayed the course,” Marshall County coach Nathan King said.

“Both of our guys battled back out of the loser’s bracket, they both dropped their first matches against really good wrestlers, but they battled back and both got third place.”

Haun, who opens up state tournament action versus Tyner Academy junior Ricardo Cancino, is in a very stout 182-bracket that includes Hill and four other returning state medalists.

Haun’s road to the state tournament began with a first-round pin over Caleb Conn from East Ridge at Eagleville on Saturday.

Haun was beaten by Signal Mountain’s Kevin Muschel in round two, but he bounced back in a big way with pins over Cascade’s Conner Huie, Watertown’s Tucker Vaughn, Jerry Campbell (East Nashville Magnet School), and a quick first round fall over Nolensville’s Hayden Sinner in the consolation final.

“I’m pretty excited about it, once I lost my first match I did what I was I taught to do and what I’ve been training for,” Haun said. “I didn’t want to lose again because I wanted to place third and get a better seed at state.”

Eagleville coach Jay McLemore and the host Eagles had another great region tournament as they finished in third place in the team standings and two McLemore boys captured region titles.

Five-time state tournament qualifier and defending 160-pound region and state champion Wyatt McLemore (34-0) was 47-0 last season, 38-1 in 2019, 32-3 in 2018, and 29-7 in 2017 and will open up round one next Wednesday versus Pigeon Ford senior Khumovn Sattorov in the 170-pound weight class.

McLemore finished second in 2017 and third in 2018 and 2019.

Freshman Brody McLemore, who finished second in the region last year at 120-pounds, swept through the 145-bracket this season and will open up versus Cheatham County junior Spencer Hendrix in round one on Wednesday. McLemore (31-0) finished in fifth place in the state tournament last season.

Besides the McLemore brothers, Eagleville has six more wrestlers going to state this year.

Eighth-grader Tanner Hatchell (28-8) finished in fourth place at 106-pounds, freshman Jacob Pennington (113, 32-4) third, senior Gaberial Pennington (138, 32-4) third, and juniors Eric Johnson (152, 25-11) third, Donnovin Darnell (160, 26-8) region champion, and Matthew Garber (195, 22-12) fourth.

Attendance at 2021 TSSAA Wrestling Championships is limited this year according to the TSSAA: Due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions, the number of spectators permitted at the 2021 TSSAA Wrestling Championships will be extremely limited. The tickets that are available (two per wrestler) are being distributed directly to athletes and their families by school administrators. Others may follow the competitions live through the links at TSSAAsports.com.