Raider battles for state berth

NASHVILLE — The urgency of the moment was not lost on Andrew Bramlett.

Pursuing his first state wrestling tournament berth since his sophomore year at Grace Christian Academy, the 145-pound Spring Hill senior knew at this weekend’s Region 7-AAA Tournament that ‘now or never’ wasn’t just a cliché.

“This is my last year,” he said. “Either I’ve got this or I’m done forever. It’s my senior year. Before, I could always say ‘I’ve got next year’, but now I don’t.”

Bramlett put himself in a good position with a pair of victories Friday night — pinning Overton’s Azai Aremdula-Chavez in the first period in his opener, then earning an 8-6 victory over Page’s Dylan Miller to advance into the semifinals, the only Raider to do so.

“Andrew’s looking pretty good,” Spring Hill coach Beau Moss said at the end of the first night. “We’re feeling pretty good about him.”

Despite a third-period pin at the hands of Brentwood’s Cooper Finch in the semis, Bramlett bounced back with a 7-4 decision over Summit’s Jack Hill in the consolation semifinals, then earned that state tourney berth with a 9-4 decision over Miller in the consolation finals.

Bramlett becomes the second Raider to advance to the state tournament in the program’s three-year history, joining Tyler Moore, who qualified at 160 pounds in 2018.

Spring Hill took 11 wrestlers to the region tourney, with four picking up opening-round victories: Bramlett; 120-pound Isaiah Brooks, who pinned Page’s Mason Hitt; 138-pound Jeremy Nguyen, who pinned Cane Ridge’s Jafer AlJorani; and 195-pound Kamden Wright, who pinned Franklin’s Alec Allen.

From there, though, Brooks, Nguyen and Wright each suffered quarterfinal losses.

“I think it went about like we expected; we were about on par,” Moss said of the opening night’s performance. “I thought maybe one would knock off somebody they shouldn’t, and one would get knocked off that shouldn’t.”

Taking a tough opening-round loss was Cayden Buchanan at 170 pounds, who controlled most of his match with Hunters Lane’s Gerson Dubon before getting out of position and getting pinned at the 5:06 mark.

Bramlett managed to avoid any such dramatics after easing past Aremdula-Chavez.

“This region’s a lot tougher than I anticipated,” he admitted Friday. “I had to dig deep for that win (against Miller). It’s one of those deals where, in the third period and it’s one or two points, it’s who’s got the most heart, who wants it more.”

— At Oakland, Columbia Central 220-pound junior JoVaughn Bray picked up the program’s first boys wrestling regional victory as he pinned Franklin County’s Zech Swiger in the second period of his Region 5-AAA opening-round matchup. Bray, who was pinned in the region quarterfinals by top-seeded Bowdy Boyce of Blackman, was eliminated as he dropped an 8-6 decision to Rockvale’s Brady Owen.

Central 285-pound junior Kemauri Smith also went 1-2, losing 11-7 to Tullahoma’s Tydrell Mitchell and pinning Stewarts Creek’s Alexander Ortiz before a pin by Shelbyville’s Nathan Hall ended his tourney run.

Jeremy Benderman at 170 and Jaylen McCoy at 195 each went 0-2 for the Lions.