Red Devil grapplers rule county
by Clark Leonard/Times-Georgian
With both the dual and traditional formats used this season in the Carroll County Championships for wrestling, the possibility existed for the county to have two champions.
The Bowdon High School wrestling team made sure the Red Devils would be the one and only county champ, though, following up Friday’s county duals title with the county individual tournament title behind a dominant performance on Saturday in Bowdon. It was the school’s third county championship in four seasons.
“We wrestled a lot better (Saturday) than we did (Friday) night,” Bowdon coach Nathan Horsley said. “I mean, it showed.”
The Red Devils, who scored 234.5 points, placed 11 grapplers in the finals of their respective weight classes, with nine of them finishing first — seven of those victories coming by pin. Bowdon’s other two wrestlers who competed also placed in the top four.
Bobby Juarez (103 lbs., pin), Patrick Thompson (119 lbs., pin), Ben Williamson (130 lbs., pin), Keiffer Cowart (135 lbs., pin), Ben Adamson (140 lbs., dec. 4-3), Casey Ballard (152 lbs., pin), Parker Moore (160 lbs., dec. 14-7), Jarred Strickland (171 lbs., pin) and Brandon King (189 lbs., pin) were the Red Devils’ weight-class winners on Saturday, while Terrence Smith at 145 pounds and Jason Stassie at 285 pounds were second in their weight classes.
Horsley said his team began Saturday moving toward the thought process of individual victories mattering the most with State Duals already complete.
“We’re kind of hitting that mindset now that, you know, it’s not about team (any) more,” Horsley said. “It’s about them. Like I said, it comes down to them. They’ve got to advance and get to the next round. It’s all about getting to Gwinnett and getting on the podium.”
Carrollton finished a strong second with 187 points, led by four weight-class winners: Mason Mitcham (125 lbs., pin), Dre McGlockton (145 lbs., pin), Patrick Darby (215 lbs., 3-OT dec. 7-6) and Axel Quintanar (285 lbs., dec. 5-4).
Second-place finishers Levi Ward (119 lbs.), Pat Johnson (130 lbs.), Jason Amaya (140 lbs.), Ben Rothschadl (152 lbs.), Travis Joyce (160 lbs.) and Mason Tillman (189 lbs.) also bolstered the Trojans.
“As long as we’re getting after it, you know, winning and losing’s going to take care of itself,” Carrollton coach Mike Mason said. “And so that’s what I’m excited about our kids, you know. Some mistakes we made (Friday) night, I feel like we corrected (Saturday). But we got after it.”
Darby’s victory came in triple-overtime against Central’s Burton Thomas when Darby tallied an escape and Thomas was unable to get on the board himself in the third extra period before time ran out.
“Very excited for Patrick. He’s been working very hard in the room,” Mason said. “And it showed.”
Central was third with 101 points, led by 112-pound winner Jay Dillard, who claimed an 11-2 decision against Mt. Zion’s Forrest Prater. Dustin Jones (125 lbs.) and Thomas were the only two other wrestlers the Lions placed in the finals.
“I see little improvement here and there with my guys, so I’m proud about that, happy about that,” Central coach Chris Mitchem said. “We’ve just got to, you know, be more aggressive and just have more confidence in our own skills.”
Mt. Zion finished fourth with 74 points, followed by Temple (40 points) and Villa Rica (39 points).
The Eagles’ Scott Thompson (135 lbs.) joined Prater as one of two MZ wrestlers in the finals. Temple’s Justin Weld (171 lbs.) and Villa Rica’s Josh Ivey (103 lbs.) also made the finals, giving each school in the county at least one wrestler in the finals.
Tiger coach Chase Wilbanks, who had Brett Hall (189 lbs.) place third in addition to Weld’s second place, was pleased with his team’s effort.
“We came out a lot better than we did last year. I was very surprised,” Wilbanks said. “I was proud of them, and, you know, we just came out and wrestled, did good.”
VR coach Steve Fuller said Ivey, a freshman, faced a solid challenge against such a seasoned veteran as Juarez.
“He got a little bit of a lesson, you know,” Fuller said. “But that’s good. He needs to wrestle those guys.”
Fuller also had Kean Pettus (135 lbs., pin) and Chris Enslow (140 lbs.) win third-place matches.
“We’re making strides. We’re going to have to turn it up,” Fuller said. “I feel like we’re still dragging our feet. We need to turn it up a notch.”
Horsley had talked going into the weekend about his guys having fun and letting the chips fall where they may. It worked for Bowdon. The Red Devil coach particularly credited his seniors.
“They have really put their stamp on Bowdon wrestling. Being, you know, probably one of the best groups to ever come through,” Horsley said. “And, you know, hopefully these next three weekends we’ve got left to wrestle, they can still continue to improve and to keep establishing and keeping their run that they’ve put together.”