Saturday, January 8, Central High School hosted the annual Central Invitational wrestling tournament. Coaches Ryan Mallory and James Massengale had a beast of a tournament to put on. Even Coach Mallory’s wife, Felisha, pitched in and served as the Tournament Administrator. Mrs. Mallory ran the whole show behind the scenes including uploading the tournament brackets.  Central hosted a total of 18 schools including Signal Mountain High School, East Hamilton High School, Ooltewah High School, and Sequatchie County High School.

As for Central, we had one placing team member. Randall Gray placed fourth in the 182 weight class. 

“I expected Randall to place and that he did,” Massengale shared. 

There are a few wrestlers that Massengale and Mallory held to a higher standard than others. Noah Pinion, Caleb Yglesias, and Randall Gray were all held to a higher standard because as they were returning team members. There was one wrestler Coach Mallory was particularly ready to put out on the mat.

“I was really interested to see what Cameron would do. He hasn’t had a whole lot of opportunity down at 120,” Mallory explained.

Throughout the day, wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament. As previously stated, junior Randall Gray went the furthest for Central.

When the dust settled, the Signal Mountain Eagles were on top with 201.5 points. Though the Pounders and Lady Pounders did not place first, the team finished in the middle. The district tournament awaits, and both coaches are looking for improvement until the final tournament arrives.  

After the tournament, Coach Massengale said, “The girls honestly are who impressed us far and way more. Working in a tournament is hard…  Isabelle sat at her table all day working her butt off. It was the girls who weren’t able to wrestle because we don’t have the space for a girls division yet, it was the girls who impressed me and were spot on all day, I mean you all did it. You really did. When I went home that night that, that’s who I was really the most impressed by was our girls. I don’t care how the boys did,” Massengale added pridefully.

The wrestling team was back in action last Thursday, January 13. The boys faced off against Hixson and East Hamilton.

“I was pleased with the way we wrestled [Hixson] better than we have in a while,” Mallory said.

The Pounders lost 54-21, but Coach Mallory praised several wrestlers in the effort.

“Marquis, Jesse, and Caleb all won by points. we may not have accumulated as many team points, but it is encouraging to know that we can go the distance in a match and win.”

Noah Pinion and Randall Gray also contributed by pinning their Hixson opponents.

The girls match against Ooltewah resulted in a 6-6 draw. Senior Dahlia Frankel pinned her opponent in the first period.

“Dahlia really got after it,” Mallory boasted, “Honestly, she kind of surprised me. It was a great way for her to go out on senior night.”

On Saturday, January 15, the Lady Pounders travelled to Union County, Tennessee for the Lady Patriot Tournament.

Dahlia Frankel placed third, Skyla Fowler placed fourth, and De’Asia Gladden also placed fourth. Overall the girls squad placed tenth out of twenty-two schools.

“Considering that we were down three of our girls, the ones that we did have did pretty dang good,” Mallory explained.