Raiders, Lions plan for now, later
As Spring Hill gears up for its third region individual wrestling tournament and Columbia Central for its first, both teams are admittedly looking a bit farther down the line.
“We’d like to get as many to the state tournament as we can, but … there’s a work ethic we’re trying to install,” said Beau Moss, the Raiders’ founding coach. “It’s been a process. Knowing what we’ve got coming up with some of these middle school kids, we’re excited.”
“We’ll see what it is this year, and next year, we’ll have that experience and that opportunity to get there. We’ll know what it takes to get there and know how hard we have to work,” first-year Central coach Dane Peoples said.
Regional action begins Friday for both teams, as Spring Hill travels to Antioch for the Region 7-AAA event while Columbia Central will be at Oakland for the Region 4-AAA tourney. The top four wrestlers in each weight class at each regional advance to the TSSAA Class AAA state tournament, which begins Feb. 20 at the Williamson County Ag Expo in Franklin.
Spring Hill will have wrestlers in 12 of the 14 weight classes — all but 106 and 220 — while Central will take five wrestlers.
The majority of competitors for both teams will be underclassmen, as Peoples and Moss try to set, or continue to set, their programs’ foundations.
“All these guys are first-year wrestlers, pretty much,” said Peoples, who took the Lions’ helm last summer after former coach John Sandella moved on. “I’m happy with the number we’re taking. Wrestling’s not for everyone; the mental and physicall toll it takes on you, it’s a lot. The system I wanted to have, I knew it would be demanding on a lot of the kids. Not that we tried to run anybody away, just — the wrestling atmosphere itself is hard, especially on first year wrestlers.
“I’m very encouraged with the people that did stay. We had some trickle off, but as long as everybody’s having fun, coming in here and enjoying themselves like they have all year, that’s what matters.”
Central, which did not compete in the region tourney in either of the two previous seasons, will take freshmen Jeremy Benderman (170 pounds) and Jaylen McCoy (195) along with juniors Timothy Smith (145), JoVaughn Bray (220) and Kemar Smith (285).
“Everyone that’s here is here to put the work in,” Peoples said. “They know what’s at stake. The message to all of them is, let’s wrestle another week.”
Of the dozen wrestlers Moss will take to Antioch, he expects all but three to be back for the 2020-21 season. Spring Hill’s best chances for making the state tourney field, though, likely lie with one of those three — seniors Jeremy Nguyen (138) and Andrew Bramlett (145), or junior Amara Lentz (152), a native of Sierra Leone who is expected to be too old for TSSAA competition next year.
“Jeremy’s got the skill to be there,” Moss said. “Bramlett should be a top-four seed this weekend.
“I’d say the odds are best on (those two), but Amara may have an outside chance. His style is really different. He’s got a really unorthodox style of wrestling. He shocks a lot of people; they talk about how strong he is. We didn’t wrestle him early just because he didn’t know a lot, but he’s really come on.”
Also in the Raiders’ regional lineup are freshmen Kevin Caraballo (132), Caden Buchanan (170) and Brennan Lara (182), sophomores Dakota Jackson (113), Josh Duncan (126), Ethan Glass (160) and Kamden Wright (195) and juniors Isaiah Brooks (120) and Isaac Juarez (285).
Bramlett, ineligible last year as a transfer from Grace Christian, hopes to become Spring Hill’s second state qualifier — following Tyler Moore, who reached the Class AAA tourney in the program’s inaugural season and went 2-2 at 160 pounds. That same year, Bramlett won one of three matches in the double-elimination Class A/AA state tournament as a 145-pound sophomore.
“I’m hoping I can come out in the top three in the region,” he said. “I think it’s very doable from what I’ve seen this season. I’ve been (to state) one time before and I’m ready to go back. I’m pretty excited.”