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Blount County's wrestling teams face tougher competition this season, probably the toughest in the state.

A TSSAA reclassification puts Greenback, Maryville, Alcoa, William Blount and Heritage in Region III with teams like Bradley Central High School, which won eight of the last 10 state wrestling championships.

Blount County and Greenback coaches have greeted the change with optimisn and anticipate state qualifiers from each school this season, which opens Dec. 1.

Greenback

Region II tournament champion Greenback looks to be strong again this season, given its returning line-up and a head coach who understands well the region his team will face.

"I expect to send all of my kids to state this year," said coach Bryant Blackmon, who carries high expectations, as did his predecessor and current assistant coach, Justin Ridge.

Greenback won the Region II tournament competition in 2008-2009, with six wrestlers advancing to state, and three wrestlers placing in the state tournament.

Fifteen wrestlers return from the 2008-2009 squad, and every weight class is filled, with three in the 171-pound, 215-pound and heavyweight (285 pounds) still to be decided by wrestle-offs.

The 'Kees have three state qualifiers returning to the mat, including Jeremy Miller at 145, Josh Ford, and Tyler Dailey at heavyweight.

The team also has a freshman and two eighth-grade wrestlers filling the 103-pound, 125-pound and 135-pound classes.

"This will be the first year we've been able to fill the entire line-up," Blackmon said.

Greenback has also reserved a spot on its schedule for a dual meet with Bradley Central, and if any coach in Blount County knows the Bears wrestling program, it's Blackmon. He wrestled for Bradley Central and won the 171-pound class at the 2004 state tournament.

"It'll be interesting," said Blackmon, a former Oklahoma State University wrestler who helped coach Greenback last season and has also worked with young wrestlers at Bradley Central.

Greenback's pre-season tournament action in November included a trip to Red Bank High School.

The 'Kees open the regular season at Rhea County with a 1 p.m. Dec. 2 dual meet.

Maryville

Maryville regularly sends wrestlers to the state tournament, and veteran coach Mark Humphrey does not expect that to change this year.

The region shift and addition of Bradley County does complicate his predictions for the school's finish in the region, however.

"I still feel like we could send five or six," said Humphrey. "But I'm not as certain as I usually am. We'll just have to wait and see."

Maryville is without 152-pound state champion Blake Ridenour, who graduated and now wrestles for Newberry College in South Carolina. But Anthony Betts, Maryville's current 152-pounder, said the Rebels have a better squad overall this year. They are deeper, with experienced wrestlers spread throughout the weight classes, he indicated.

And there is a Ridenour on the team this year, too. Logan Ridenour, who started in the 171-pound class last season, has moved up to 189, said Humphrey, who added that the Rebels are solid from 152 pounds up to heavyweight.

Freshmen will get a shot at varsity in the lightweight classes of 103-119 pounds.

The Rebels have three state qualifiers from last season returning to the lineup: Betts, Tyler Wilson at 215 pounds and heavyweight Shawn Morgan.

"Shawn came within one matching of placing (at state) last year," Humphrey said. He also expects a few more wrestlers to join the team once the Rebels' football season ends.

Maryville hosts West and Karns at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1.

William Blount

A trio of sophomores lead William Blount this year: Avery Hawk, Nicholas Blake and Adam Moore.

Call them young but do not call them inexperienced. Each wrestled varsity in the 2008-2009 season.

Altogether they won more than half of their matches, which is impressive in William Blount coach Matt Talley's estimation.

One thing Talley looks forward to this season is seeing how the sophomores have grown and developed compared to last season.

"We have a very young team, no seniors, no one returning who went to state last year," said Talley. "What we do have are a lot of guys willing to work hard and make good choices, on and off the mat. Which is a positive thing for any young team."

Many of the high school's freshman wrestlers have come up through William Blount's middle school wrestling program. Tim Satterfield leads the middle school program and is also assistant coach for the high school team.

Talley said Hawk, the team captain, will wrestle in the 125-pound class and Moore will be at 152. Nicholas Blake could be at 112 pounds or 119.

Blake said he came within one match of qualifying for state last season.

The sophomore grappler seemed upbeat about the squad, despite its loss of five members to graduation. He said the Governors had good summer workouts as well.

"They're looking pretty good," he said, as he warmed up during the Pigeon Forge Takedown Tournament two weeks ago. "In practice, they're looking pretty good."

William Blount hosts McMinn County and McMinn Central on Dec. 3.

Heritage

The Mountaineers wrestling team comprises a mix of new wrestlers and state qualifiers, among them Devan Teaster, who won the Region II tournament last season at 125 pounds and will wrestle at 130 this year.

Ask Teaster about his chances in state competition and he does not hestitate to answer.

"I feel good about it," said Teaster, a junior. "I got my mindset."

Coach John Davis took his squad to a preseason tournament in Knoxville recently and saw his grapplers in action.

"Some new wrestlers got their first wins," said Davis.

He knows the wrestlers coming up this year. Davis coached the middle school program last season. He has also been head coach of the high school team in previous seasons.

"We're kind of young, but they're catching on quick," Davis said.

Teaster and Nathaniel Molina, wrestling at 145 pounds, qualified for the state tournament last season. Minh Tran, a senior wrestling in the 215-pound class, could also make it to state.

The Mountaineers will fill out some of their weight classes with freshmen.

Heritage's regular season action begins Dec. 1 at the Knoxville Catholic Invitiational.

Alcoa

The Alcoa Tornadoes tout the biggest roster in the 10-year-history of its wrestling program, according to coach Brian Gossett.

The Tornadoes have 20-25 grapplers this season, and that is a lot for a school of Alcoa's size, he said.

"I think I've got six-to-eight wrestlers who are night-and-day better than they were last year at this time," he said.

Ten of 11 members from the 2008-2009 squad returned, Gossett added.

"We've probably had as good an off-season as you can have in terms of conditioning, going to camp as team this summer and doing some things to build a program," said Gossett, a second-year coach for the Alcoa wrestling program.

Alcoa wrestlers took part at the Higher Calling wrestling camp at Cleveland High School this summer, which exposed them to "top notch" competition every night from Tennessee and north Georgia.

It has been about three years since Alcoa sent a wrestler to the state tournament, but Gossett predicted that could change this year. He does not like to single out wrestlers, but when pressed he mentioned two brothers, Jose and Julian Ramirez. The Ramirez brothers wrestle at the 130-pound and 140-pound classes, respectively.

Julian Ramirez came within a match of qualifying for the state tournament last season.

As for the region change, which has Blount County competing with teams in Roane, Bradley, Monroe, Cumberland, Rhea and McMinn counties, Gossett said the competition will be tougher and that could be good for Alcoa and the rest of Blount County's wrestling teams.

The previous year's region classification put Blount County teams in with Knoxville area squads. Gossett said he is not knocking the Knoxville teams, which were tough, but Region III will "arguably" be the toughest in the state, he said.

Bradley Central and Cleveland High School, both in Region III, finished first and second, respectively, in the state tournament last season.

"It's going to give our kids a chance to excel at the state level as individuals," he said. "It'll be a rough go in the dual meets, I think, but you get better by wrestling good people."

Alcoa opens its regular season against Hardin Valley, Powell, South Doyle at South Doyle, at 5:15 p.m. Dec. 10.