Standard wisdom would recommend that any list of the very best higher college sports applications in the higher Chattanooga location and northwest Georgia would be dominated by classic Southern staples.
Football guidelines in the South, suitable? It is superior right here, also. So are baseball and basketball, but none of the 3 is king — or queen — of prep sports in the Scenic City location.
The Instances Totally free Press employees just completed a series on the area’s major 12 prep dynasties of the previous 50 years, and that list of the very best of the very best almost certainly is not what you initially anticipated. It featured applications in eight unique sports, but when taking into consideration which sports have noticed the most accomplishment by location teams, wrestling and softball stood out.
Wrestling, led by dynasties at Baylor, Cleveland and Bradley Central, earns the major honor, and the list of superlative applications goes considerably deeper than that terrific trio.
The Chattanooga location has been dominant in the TSSAA state classic and duals championship events from the get-go. A regional wrestling group has won the state classic tournament 69 occasions out of one hundred probabilities to go with a 60-for-91 mark in state duals title bouts. Baylor, Bradley Central, Cleveland and McCallie have accumulated 96 group titles and have a lot more than 350 person champions.
Of the 26 Tennessee wrestlers who have been 4- or 5-time person state champions, the Chattanooga location accounts for 22 of these, such as all 3 5-timers: Baylor’s Zach Watson and McCallie’s T.J. Duncan and Alex Whitworth.
Signal Mountain’s Uhorchuk household could have a total of 17 person state championships in between brothers Daniel (4 from 2018-21), Caleb (4 from 2020-23), Ethan (3 with two seasons remaining) and Joseph (one particular with 3 seasons remaining) by the time their prep careers are all more than.
East Ridge and Soddy-Daisy have seven group state titles apiece, and Notre Dame (5), Hixson (4), Red Bank (4) and Central (3) all have made sturdy runs. Red Bank nonetheless holds the state record for most person champs in a single season, with eight in 1963.
“What is particular about this area’s wrestling history is how constant and far back it goes,” Baylor coach Rex Kendle stated. “This location is unrivaled in tradition on the wrestling mats. We hope to retain developing on that tradition and remain at the major.”
Northwest Georgia wrestling applications in the Instances Totally free Press coverage location have made benefits throughout the previous 20 years equal to the area’s Tennessee teams, even though the titles are a lot more spread out.
The GHSA started holding state duals in 2002, and location schools have won 11 titles. Throughout that exact same time, location applications also won 13 state classic championships.
Ringgold led the way with 4 classic titles and 3 duals championships in that span, with LaFayette subsequent with 5 combined titles and Gordon Lee, Sonoraville and Trion winning 3 each and every.
Staff photo / Gordon Lee’s Canaan Burnett, suitable, claps hands with her teammates just before a softball game against Hawkinsville in October 2019.
Softball is a close second as the area’s most prosperous sport, with the deep list of imposing applications led by Baylor and Gordon Lee, which each created the list of Dynamite Dozen Dynasties.
In Tennessee, 2002 was the final season the Chattanooga location did not have at least one particular group play for a state softball title. Considering that that year, there have been 57 regional teams attain a championship game with an location system possessing won a state title in just about every classification throughout that span.
Baylor has won a TSSAA-record 15 state titles, which involve yet another state record of seven consecutive championships from 2015-22 — a span in which the Lady Red Raiders have gone 224-22 general. All seven state championships in a row for Baylor have come by means of title wins against GPS, which is tied with Soddy-Daisy with eight state championships.
Baylor or GPS has won just about every Division II or DII-AA state title given that the Bruisers fell to Father Ryan in the title game in 2006.
Hixson and Ooltewah have 4 state titles each and every, though East Ridge and Meigs County have 3 each and every and Boyd Buchanan and Red Bank have two apiece.
In northwest Georgia, in addition to dynasty Gordon Lee’s 11 GHSA rapidly-pitch state titles given that 2004, the location has 14 championships. Calhoun and legendary coach Diane Smith have 4 of these trophies, with Heritage and Ringgold adding 3 each and every and Dade County and Northwest Whitfield two apiece.
“Softball was usually sturdy in Chattanooga, and when players in Georgia began competing in the summer time with these elite summer time teams, the level of play right here took off,” Gordon Lee coach Dana Mull stated. “No doubt this location, each north Georgia and Chattanooga, has some of the very best softball in the South.”
Hunting ahead, boys’ soccer — in northwest Georgia particularly — could be the subsequent sport to have several dynasties. Dalton is currently there, but rivals Southeast Whitfield, Northwest Whitfield, Coahulla Creek and Dalton Academy also have championships more than the previous 3 seasons.
Get in touch with Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Get in touch with Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.
Study THE SERIES: DYNAMITE DOZEN PREP DYNASTIES
No. 12: Baylor boys’ and girls’ tennis
No. 11: Calhoun baseball
No. ten: Bradley Central wrestling
No. 9: Gordon Lee softball
No. eight: Baylor softball
No. 7: Cleveland wrestling
No. six: Baylor wrestling
No. five: Calhoun football
No. four: Dalton boys’ soccer
No. three: South Pittsburg football
No. two: Baylor boys’ and girls’ golf
No. 1: Bradley Central girls’ basketball