MACON, Ga. - The Joshua Snider era is off to a running start at Gilmer High School.
Snider, in his first season as head coach of the mighty Bobcats wrestling team, picked up where father Sam left off Saturday by earning the program's ninth GHSA duals championship. Gilmer withstood a strong effort from Buford to win its seventh consecutive title, 45-21.
"We wrestled very, very well and these guys came together as a team and wrestled like we expected them to," Joshua Snider said. "They came in confidently and took care of business, and I'm very proud of them."
Gilmer appeared to be running away with the match after James Patterson's pin at 132 pounds gave the Bobcats a 20-9 lead, but Buford reeled off two decisions and a pin from Cooper Roberts at 152 to cut the margin to 20-18.
Bobcats senior Jordan Caviness, in a bout both sides knew was going to be pivotal before the match began, used a second-period near fall to earn a 5-1 win to quell the Buford momentum. Jake Parker and Ryan Crump followed with pins and junior state champion Matthew Waddell, in the match's premier bout, earned a 10-2 major decision over Jack Ness to sew up the title.
"The 160-pound match was one we wanted to win, and we knew it was important," Snider said. "Caviness wrestled like a senior when we needed him to. We counted on our 182-pounder (Crump) to step up and he did, and then our 195-pound junior Waddell won a big one to clinch it."
Though he didn't need to win, heavyweight Levi Seabolt, also a state individual champion, did not let up in the match's final bout, earning a first-period pin to win in style.
"It doesn't get old," Seabolt said of the title. "We like to win here. From the mountains you don't get many winners in sports, but with us this legacy of winning is nice."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22