FRANKLIN — Nolensville senior Brodie Melzoni was dripping in sweat as he squeezed his dad’s black three-piece suit into a dozen creases.
It wasn’t clear if their faces were turning red from the embrace or the emotion.
Melzoni won his second consecutive TSSAA wrestling state championship with a win in the boys Class AA 175-pound final on Feb. 21 at the Williamson County Ag Expo. He can’t remember a time when his dad, Johnnie, wasn’t his coach.
“There are pros and cons of him being there,” Melzoni said smiling. “Sometimes he’s watching me in practice and I get yelled at. But everything’s awesome, it’s great having dad as my coach. It makes everything so much easier. There’s this great connection wrestling-wise because he’s coach and dad.”
Melzoni (53-4), a Davidson signee, won a 4-1 decision over Knoxville Halls’ Barrett Whaley, who defeated him in a close match at the TSSAA state dual championship two weeks ago.
Melzoni’s dad spent much of the past week trying to get his son’s mind in the right place. Johnnie Melzoni has been the Nolensville coach for six seasons. He was the Sunset Middle School coach for three years before that, and coached his son all through youth wrestling.
“It’s emotional. Since he’s been in the first grade, we’ve gone coast-to-coast (wrestling),” Melzoni’s dad said. “We’ve wrestled thousands of matches. In the summer we hit 130 or so. It’s nice to finish.”
Summit’s Zachery Little joined Melzoni as another Williamson County wrestler who won back-to-back Class AA titles this year. Little (49-5) won a 5-3 decision over Kirkwood’s Luke Louzenksy at 157 pounds.
Station Camp’s Nate Graham (37-4) also won his second straight title, pinning Soddy Daisy’s Luke Myhan in 1:00 at 113 pounds in Class A.
Lakeria Kelly becomes Pearl-Cohn’s first TSSAA wrestling state champion
Kelly (13-0) won a 6-4 decision over Blackman’s Jonna Patterson in the 185-pound final, becoming Pearl-Cohn’s first boys or girls wrestling state champ.
Kelly didn’t know she was the Firebirds’ first until after she won.
“It means a lot to me being the first and having never really wrestled in my life. I started my freshman year. I was so happy. It was great,” Kelly said. “It means people will maybe try to follow what I do and try to win as well.”
The 185-pound final was also named TSSAA Best Match in the girls' division.
“It’s deeper than just this. That young lady goes through a lot,” Pearl-Cohn coach Kenneth Miller said. “To see her keep working and fighting to become a state champion, that’s major. She put what goes on in her life behind her so she can focus on this big moment.”
Houston’s Jonah Little wins 1st TSSAA wrestling state title after not placing
Little, a Houston senior, made the unlikely climb from not placing at the 2025 state tournament to becoming a state champion this year.
He won by major decision (16-4) over Ravenwood’s Matthew Anderson in the Class AA 165-pound division to finish 51-3 on the year.
“The motivation of not placing pushed me, but I was so stuck on winning,” Little said. “All three years it was ‘win, win, win.’ I kind of let go of that and let myself go enjoy it. I just went out there and wrestled.”
Arlington’s Gabriel Nettle won the Class AA 106-pound title with a technical fall (18-0) over Page’s Carson Gambill. Nettle finished 30-2 on the year.
“I feel a lot of stuff right now,” Nettle said. “That took a lot of work.”
Anderson County’s Zedediah Hulet wins 1st TSSAA wrestling title
Anderson County’s Zedediah Hulet (40-6) won his first state title in a 10-7 decision over Gibbs’ Noah Eller at 138 pounds in what earned TSSAA Best Match in Class A.
Hulet is the youngest of four brothers who all wrestled in high school and the only one with a state title.
“I’ve grown up watching them all go to state,” Hulet said. “I never really got to go because it would interfere with them or I didn’t make it. But last year I made it, placed fourth. Then this year I finally got it done. It just feels amazing.”
Hulet’s teammate Deamion Leavell (27-3) won a state title at 175 pounds in a 7-1 decision over Fairview’s Cole Neal.
Seymour's Germain Velasquez (106 pounds) and Pigeon Forge's Ayden Hood (165 pounds) also captured state titles.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why TSSAA wrestling state championship tasted sweet for Brodie Melzoni