Dobyns-Bennett suffered a couple of key losses on its wrestling team, but the cupboard is far from bare.
Max Norman, a two-time state champion, and his younger brother, Titus, transferred to Chattanooga Baylor, a private school, but the Indians still look to be one of the top teams in the state.
Mason Jakob, a state champion at 113 last season, and Garrett Crowder, a state runner-up at 220, lead a Tribe team that also boasts state qualifiers Jake Dempsey, Bryce Pulitzer and Kennedy Watterson.
“We still look pretty good. We are similar to the team we had three, four years ago,” D-B coach Wes Idlette said. “We have a combination of veteran leadership and some talented youth. As we do every year, we have to piece these guys in the right position to maximize us to be successful.”
D-B is coming off a third-place finish in the state duals after avenging an earlier loss to Wilson Central. The Indians also placed fifth in the team standings at the individual championships.
“The yearly expectations for us are to win the region, win the section and make it to the state duals,” Idlette said. “We want to advance and place as high as we could. We did that last year and our kids realized we were one of the best teams in the state. We will see how we do with a target on our backs.”
The Indians romped to wins Tuesday against Morristown East and Morristown West. The lineup for those started with Bryson Church at the 106-pound weight class. Bradyn Davis competed at 113 and Quinn Vetter was at 120. The lighter classes included Derek Winseman at 126, Watterson at 132 and Pulitzer at 138.
Weight classes have changed over the last couple of years with Jon Cantu at 144, Andrew Weaver at 150, Christian Schmidt at 157 and Gavin Crowder at 165.
Jimmy Taylor was dominant in a pair of 175-pound matches. Dempsey has gone all the way from competing at 145 as a sophomore to winning matches at 190, as he did on Tuesday night. Branson Carswell, a standout linebacker on the football team, is showing tremendous talent on the mat at 215. Garrett Crowder has taken over the 285 spot.
D-B also had a strong showing last weekend at the Southern Slam tournament in South Carolina. Jakob was the winner at 120 and Garrett Crowder placed second at heavyweight.
The girls’ team has some standout talent as well. State qualifiers Shanyia Bond and Bailey Whitley, both seniors, lead the way. Bond is at 126 and Whitley competes at 107 and 114. Zoe Jackson at 120 and Isabella Perez at 145 could also make some noise.
D-B will host the Indian Classic this weekend, and teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia and Pennsylvania will be joining local squads in the competition.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the Indians don’t have to look far to see tough competition. They finished one spot ahead of rival Science Hill in last year’s state championships.
“We want our region to do well,” Idlette said. “When we look at last year’s state tournament, there were several wrestlers, not just at our school, who did well.
“Hopefully, the balance is starting to shift up our way and the state sees there’s talent up here and not just Chattanooga and Nashville.”
