Senior trio lead FHS wrestling dual match turnaround: Walker, Rohn, Stafford-Hedge
Ads grapplers end home season, on Senior Night, with two more dual meet wins
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Owen Walker (215 weight class), with his mother, Heather Owens. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Senior Dylan Rohn (150) with father, FHS head coach Charlie Rohn, Dylan’s mother, Valerie Rohn, second from left, and his sister, Alysse Rohn - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Senior Michael Stafford-Hedge, third from left (165), with his fathers, Lance Stafford and Scott Hedge, along with Michael’s brother, Isaiah, far left. - Photos by Alan Sloan
Farragut High School’s wrestling team honored its three seniors late last week before the trio competed in two final dual matches.
The Admirals completed their dual meet season Friday night, Jan. 31, in Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium on Donald Dodgen Court. They posted a pair of impressive victories, defeating Karns 72-5 and toppling Scott 50-22.
The wins over the Beavers and the Highlanders certainly were a good way to send Michael Stafford-Hedge, Dylan Rohn and Owen Walker to the next phase of their seasons while ending its 2024-25 home matches.
This is a season, however, that almost didn’t happen for Farragut. Former Admirals wrestler David Garabrandt, who coached the team for two previous seasons, left the school after the Admirals — who once boasted one of the top programs in East Tennessee — hit hard times due to lack of wrestlers.
The school didn’t find a replacement for Garabrandt until after the 2024-25 school year had already begun.
The school found its head coach in Charlie Rohn, who was semi-retired upon moving to the Knoxville area with his family from Maryland over the summer. Dylan, his son, was a wrestler in a state-championship caliber program at his previous school.
The Admirals, however, had no wrestling coach and no team, so Charlie Rohn volunteered to take the reins for the program so Dylan could wrestle in his new home during his final high school season.
Had coach Rohn not taken the job, Stafford-Hedge, the lone holdover among the 2024-25 seniors from the 2023-24 campaign, wouldn’t have had a season in his final year of eligibility.
“I was so glad when coach Rohn came here. (Garabrndt) just didn’t have time to do it anymore,” said Stafford-Hedge, who pinned the Beavers’ Stone Johnson in 1 minute, 34 seconds of the 165-pound bout of the evening’s first match and later won a major decision against the Highlanders’ Ashton Teller with a 9-1 victory.
When Stafford-Hedge isn’t competing on the mats from the Admirals, he’s working at a local convenient store. Many of his co-workers were at Friday night’s match and greeted him after his win versus Johnson.
“These are my co-workers at Weigel’s.” Stafford-Hedge said.
As if his busy schedule wasn’t enough, Stafford-Hedge “helped me recruit people,” coach Rohn said. “This is his third year wrestling.”
Dylan, a middleweight wrestler who competes primarily in the 150-pound weight class but also sees time in the 144-pound division, now feels at home in Farragut.
“It’s been great to wrestle here,” he said. “It’s been fun being here and watching all these kids get better.
“I haven’t been out and about here in Farragut much, but there’s good food here and it’s nice to be so close to everything, to have everything close together,” he added.
“Where I lived before, everything was about 2 miles away.”
Dylan won by forfeit (Karns)and by fall (Scott).
Walker, a first-year wrestler, got a forfeit win against the Beavers at 215 pounds. His story perhaps is the most captivating, according to coach Rohn.
“I have a group of good kids, but the one I’m the most impressed with is Owen,” the coach said. “He’s never played any sports, and the first day he showed up I didn’t think he would ever come back.
“He really struggled but he stuck with it,” coach Rohn added. “When he came in, he weighed about 220 pounds. ... He weighed in at 195 tonight, so he’s lost 25 pounds. And in five of his last seven matches, he’s had pins.”
Walker has developed a passion for wrestling, exploring opportunities to compete after high school.
“I had a lot of my friends who were in wrestling and they talked me into it,” the senior said. “And I really liked it. It was fun.”
Other individual sweeps
It was a big night on the mat for many Ads. Cooper Gentry (120), William Morris (106), Izaac Koga (285), Ryder Meade (126) and Declan Crecy (157) all had two wins for Farragut.
