Friends find themselves on opposite sides of the tracks
Bengals meet Blazers for the first time on the mat
Story and photos
by Mike Maddock

Blythewood head coach Randy Wolfe (l) and Ridge View head coach Brandon Cavins shake hands prior to the match. They have been friends since age ten.

Randy Wolfe met Brandon Cavins at the bottom of a pile...literally. The two were playing little league football at Polo Road Park. Wolfe was a quarterback and Cavins sacked him from his defensive lineman position. After the game, the respective head coaches, who happened to be the boys’ fathers, took them out to dinner together. Wolfe and Cavins have been best friends ever since.

They played football together at E.L. Wright Middle School, then Wolfe went to Ridge View High School and a year later, Cavins joined him there. Wolfe continued playing football but soon discovered wrestling.

As Wolfe says, “I knew that wrestling would remain a huge part of my life. I loved it from the first day I stepped foot on the mat. I told (Brandon) Cavins all about it, and the very next year he joined the wrestling team.”

By the end of their stint at Ridge View, Wolfe and Cavins were team captains who led the Blazers to a region championship. They also qualified for the state championships two years in a row.

Blythewood’s Ben Marcus goes for the throw against Ali Samat.

College split the two up the first time. Wolfe went to the Citadel and Cavins to Charleston Southern. They would not be separated long.

During Wolfe’s senior year at the Citadel, he was named the new head wrestling coach at Ridge View at age 22. His first accomplishment as head coach was to call his friend, Cavins, and offer him a job as the assistant coach.

In 2005, Wolfe took the position as head wrestling coach at the new Blythewood High School. Upon Wolfe’s recommendation, Cavins stepped in as the Ridge View head coach.

On Tuesday, January 31, Wolfe and Cavins faced each other as opponents for the first time since that fateful meeting on a little league football field many years ago. In what has been billed as the first annual “Battle Across the Tracks,” Wolfe’s Bengals and Cavin’s Blazers faced each other on the mats at Blythewood High School.

Ridge View’s Briggs Tucker (r) gets Chris Didyoung in a hold. Tucker won by majority decision.

As Wolfe said the Monday prior to the battle, “When the match starts, all friendships will be put aside...at least until the end of the match.”

Wolfe and Cavins aren’t the only friendly foes. Many of the young men wrestling for Blythewood this year were wrestling for Ridge View last year. Teammates and friends are now opponents.

Since Blythewood is a Class 3A team and Ridge View is 4A, nothing more than bragging rights was on the line for these cross–track rivals. Wrestlers from each team have met in some tournaments this year, but they have never wrestled as teams like this.

Tuesday night Cavins sacked Wolfe once again. His Blazers defeated the Bengals 59 to 18. But Wolfe is not discouraged. When asked about his program, he said, “We have a great school with great people and a wrestling room full of kids who want it really badly. Keep an eye open for Blythewood wrestling in the next couple of years.”

The Ridge View Blazers are champions of the first annual “Battle Across the Tracks.”

Cavins admitted he would be able to rib his good friend for a year, but he was quick to point out this was a bittersweet victory for Ridge View. He credited his seniors and assistant coaches Shaun Phillips, Chris Holten, and Lloyd Renfro for the victory. He will enjoy this win for a while, but Cavins knows next year may be a different story.

As for the friendship, it will take more than a battle across the tracks to separate these two.