Wildcats, Colonels advance at wrestling state duals

The two local high school wrestling teams, Woodland and Cass, took care of opening round business Thursday afternoon at the 2016 Class AAAAA GHSA State Team Duals Championship at Macon Centreplex.

Second-seeded Woodland easily defeated Effingham County, 57-18, in the first round. Cass, the fifth-seed, defeated Dunwoody 35-25 in the opening round.

With their wins, both local teams advance to the state quarterfinal round at 9:45am Friday at the Macon Centreplex.

The Wildcats will square off with seventh-seeded Jones County. The Greyhounds defeated LaGrange in the opening round, 46-30.

The Colonels’ quarterfinal opponent is fourth-seeded Clarke Central who defeated Grovetown 62-9 in the first round.

Top seeded Camden County advanced with a 64-3 win over Luella. Camden will wrestle Starr’s Mill in the quarterfinals. Starr’s Mill defeated South Paulding 35-34 in the first round.

The Camden/Starr’s Mill winner will face the Cass/Clarke Central winner in the state semifinals Friday night.

Third-seeded Allatoona defeated Heritage-Conyers 59-16 and Union Grove defeated Southwest DeKalb 66-18 to advance. Those two winners are matched up in the quarterfinals with the winner to wrestle the Woodland/Jones County winner in the state semifinals Friday night.

In Woodland’s 57-18, opening round win over Effingham, the Wildcats recorded wins by pin by Gavin Nix (106-pounds), Jahvar Lewis (120), Logan Sims (132), Spencer Cooper (145), Cody Cochran (152), Joseph Jones (160), Brett Shedd (195), and Dalton May (285). Kurtis Feanny won 6-2 at 220-pounds for Woodland and Effingham forfeited the 113-pound spot. Dawson Woods lost a tough match to Effingham’s two-time state champion at 126 pounds and Jacob Frye lost a tight decision at 170 pounds.

“I thought we wrestled well,” said Wildcats’ head coach Adrian Tramutola. “We had the opportunity to get some younger guys in matches, so that’s good for us having to face Jones County tomorrow morning.” he concluded.

In the Cass first round victory, the Colonels’ heavyweights got the team off to a quick start. Tripp Breeden (195), Dallas Huston (220), and Seven Richards (285) were the first three on the mat for Cass and each came off with a win. Breeden defeated Isom Jackson 19-7, Huston edged Barrett Williams 10-8, and Richards held off Daniel Gothard, 4-1.

The Colonels added three more consecutive wins at 113-pounds, 120-pounds, and 126-pounds. Devin Garrett of Cass pinned Dunwoody’s Luke Pankey in the first period, followed by a 10-2 Tyler Pilcher win over Brannon Anthony and Cass’ Cody Mauldin beat Nestor Foley 12-6.

Hunter Quinn (138) pinned Jahmarey Sterling in the first round for another Colonels’ win before Jaylen Callahan (145) edged Dunwoody’s Max Tuch, 3-2, and Khalil Farmer (152) defeated Tygershom Johnson, 8-1.

With the match victory secured, Cass forfeited at 170-pounds and 182-pounds.

Cass head coach D.L. Koontz said he was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Overall, the boys wrestled well today,” noted Koontz. “They pushed for bonus points where they could and some of our other guys used the matches to help work off some weight for tomorrow morning’s weigh-ins.”

“We have Clarke Central tomorrow morning,” added Koontz, “and they will be a really tough opponent.”

Quarterfinal winners Friday morning will advance to the state semifinals Friday afternoon at 3pm.

The state duals championship continues at the Macon Centreplex through Saturday. The state championship matches for all classifications are scheduled for 3pm Saturday.