MACON, Ga. – For most of the season, Ringgold has been able to overcome its lack of big-time wrestling tournament experience.
Friday in the GHSA state duals championships, it finally caught up to the Tigers.
After rolling past Blessed Trinity 51-23 in the quarterfinals of the Class AAA bracket in the morning at the Centreplex, Ringgold jumped out to a 9-0 lead over second-seeded Jackson after Tanner Stone’s pin at 106 pounds. However, Tigers wrestlers had early leads in the next three bouts only to lose, including back-to-back defeats for touted freshmen Will Broom and Holden Moss.
That came back to haunt Ringgold when Jackson ran off five consecutive wins – four by pin – to win 45-22.
“It’s great to be in the state semifinals with this group,” said Ringgold coach David Moss, who has one senior in his lineup. “We would like to have won, but it didn’t work out that way. We were ahead in two or three matches and didn’t come out on top.
“That hurt, and it comes from being young. We hope to come back tomorrow and try to take home a trophy.”
Despite the early setbacks, the Tigers held a 19-18 lead after Griffin Green’s pin at 145 pounds, but Connor Crump, Tyler Sosebee and Davey Jennings recorded consecutive pins to take control of the match for Jackson.
Ringgold faces McNair in this morning’s consolation semifinals and can still finish as high as third. The same is true for Calhoun, which will face Lumpkin County in the other AAA consolation semi.
Since losing 40-34 to Toombs County in Thursday’s first round, the Yellow Jackets have won three straight matches. They defeated Blessed Trinity 66-16 and Rockmart 33-32 on Friday to continue their surprising run.
In Class A, Trion also fell in the championship semifinals, losing 69-6 to state power Commerce after routing Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy 63-12 in the quarterfinals. Commerce had eight pins in the match, with Trion’s lone points coming from Cole Luallen’s pin at 132 pounds.
The Bulldogs will face St. Francis in the consolation semis this morning.
In Class AAAA, top-seeded Gilmer is back in the finals after escaping North Hall 40-30 in the quarterfinals and easing past Locust Grove 50-27 in the semis. The Bobcats face Buford in this afternoon’s championship match, where they will try to hand new coach Joshua Snider his first title.
The son of former longtime coach Sam Snider – who is now a Gilmer assistant – was pleased with his team’s effort Friday.
“We’re doing well now that everybody’s healthy and at weight,” Joshua Snider said. “We got a lot of bonus points today and didn’t give up many, which is always a key.”
James Patterson, Alberto Perez, Levi Seabolt, Jerry Teague and Matthew Waddell had pins in each match, while the Bobcats only gave up five total pins in the two matches.
Also in Class AAAA, Heritage was eliminated after winning a pair of consolation matches. The Generals had perhaps the most dramatic day of any team, first edging Woodward Academy 34-33 on the eighth tiebreaking criteria (most first points scored), then falling 37-36 to North Hall.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.