Ringgold High School hosted Saturday's Area 6-AAA traditional wrestling tournament and kept the team title right at home.
The Tigers racked up 169.5 points and qualified nine wrestlers for next week's sectional tournament. Hayden Moss at 132 pounds, Griffin Green at 145 and Jesse Wade at 220 earned individual titles.
"The guys have worked hard all year long, and we're excited to win a traditional tournament," said Ringgold coach David Moss. "Any time you win a postseason tournament, it makes it all worth it. I'm proud of our guys."
Sonoraville nipped at Ringgold's heels all tournament, with Trevor Burdick (106), Tyler Hunt (113) and Kenneth Cooper earning championships to lead the way. The Phoenix also qualified nine wrestlers and totaled 156 points.
Third-place finisher Coahulla Creek put a tournament-best 10 wrestlers through to next week. The Colts finished with 151 points.
"Our goal was to get 10-plus guys through, and we're looking to go to state and get a trophy," Colts coach Brent Raby said. "All of these teams showed up and wrestled tough. Ringgold looked strong, and Sonoraville did, too. I was really impressed with our area teams today."
Coahulla Creek's Levi Kinsey and Daniel Lopez won titles at 120 and 182 pounds, respectively. The other champions were Calhoun's Jacob Callahan (138) and William Craig (195), Adairsville's Daelen Harrison (160) and Henry Pabst (170), Murray County's Marcelino Lopez (126) and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe's James Knight (152).
Lopez was named most outstanding wrestler.
All of the teams qualified at least three wrestlers, who will battle at next week's sectionals for spots and seeding at the traditional state tournament the following week.
"We're going to focus on what our guys do best and sharpen that," Sonoraville coach Steve Hamilton said about his team's preparation moving forward. "We'll work on riding guys for 30 seconds, escaping in 30 seconds, getting a takedown in 30 seconds - situations like that. You may not be able to turn a guy when you get to the higher levels, but things like being able to ride guys for 30 seconds are huge."
Calhoun with 128.9 points and Adairsville with 98 rounded out the top five. Murray County (65), LFO (47), North Murray (39) and Gordon Central (37) were the other area participants.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com