Though team points weren’t officially awarded during Saturday’s sectionals in GHSA wrestling’s traditional postseason, Class AA favorite Rockmart would appear to have a strong upper hand at the upcoming state tournament in Macon.
The Yellow Jackets advanced 12 qualifiers to state and had three first-place finishers in their classification’s “A” sectional at North Murray High School. However, Ringgold, despite finishing with 50 fewer team points, had four first-place finishers and will take 11 wrestlers to Macon, where competition begins Thursday for Classes A through AAAA before the top two classifications and girls take the mat Friday.
Top-eight finishers at sectionals move on to state, and Ringgold’s four sectional champions — Billy Hamilton at 138 pounds, Pierce Pennington at 150, Tristan Busch at 157 and Jaxon Delgado at 165 — will give the Tigers plenty of ammo to improve on back-to-back third-place team finishes at the state traditional tournament.
Pennington will be going for his third individual title, with Busch aiming for his second after finishing third a year ago. Hamilton and Delgado also medaled last year and are coming off area titles.
Coahulla Creek, which beat Ringgold to win the Area 7-AA duals championship last month (then finished a distant second to the Tigers in last weekend’s area traditional tournament), also had a strong showing Saturday at North Murray with three sectional champions and 10 state qualifiers. Drake Goff continued his strong season with a title at 126 pounds, while Jackson Lowery (190) and Chevy Joyce (215) avenged losses in the area finals last weekend to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe’s Jonas Watkins and Blake Rizzo, respectively, with tight decisions.
Sonoraville had an individual champion in Noah Chastain at 132 pounds and will take 12 wrestlers to Macon, while Murray County had a champion in Caleb Blair (144) and advanced eight. LFO takes seven wrestlers to Macon, five of them sectional runners-up.
— In Class A’s “A” sectional at Social Circle, the host team — a prohibitive state championship favorite — dominated with six individual champions and 302 points, more than 100 ahead of runner-up Toombs County.
Gordon Lee, the Area 7-A traditional champion, will take nine wrestlers to Macon, led by reigning state champ Noah Brown, who improved to 40-1 with three pins at 113 pounds this season to win the sectional crown. The Trojans also had runners-up in Carson Alexander (126) and Layne Vaughn (175).
Trion also advanced nine to state and had a second-place finisher in Coleman Lee (144), while Christian Heritage had a champion in Harrison Murdock (150), who’s now 26-0, and a third-place finisher in Cooper Middleton (165).
— In the Class AAA “B” sectional at Chestatee, Heritage paced local teams by qualifying eight for state, led by 106-pound champion Wyatt Womack, who improved to 54-3 after beating Chestatee’s Owen Etris 11-10 in the finals. The Generals also had a runner-up in Jonathan Arehart (126).
LaFayette has seven state qualifiers, paced by 157-pound champion Eli Pearson, who upset Chestatee’s Brady Burke 12-7 in the finals. Calhoun advanced six, with Northwest Whitfield taking five to Macon.
North Hall led the tournament with three individual champions and 11 top-eight finishers.
— In the Class AAAA “A” sectional at Harris County, Southeast Whitfield’s Olli Webb improved to 52-0 this season with four wins, including a 15-0 technical fall over Cass’s Luke Jensen in the 132-pound final. The senior is a two-time individual state champion and was a runner-up in 2023, and he will joined by three teammates at state.
The sectional was dominated by reigning state champion Cass, which had seven first-place finishers and advanced 12 wrestlers to Macon. Dalton will take six, including sectional runners-up Nathan Ridley (106) and Josian Hernandez (215).
— In Friday’s girls’ “D” sectional at Commerce, which encompasses all North Georgia classifications, reigning state champion Terra Burse of Southeast Whitfield prevailed at 170 pounds with three technical falls.
Heritage’s Adison Steadman (125) and Ridgeland’s Alaina Shaver (135) were runners-up, with LFO’s Maci Higgins (105) and Aubrey Medrano (135) earning third-place finishes and LFO’s Ajla Rizvic finishing fourth at 145 pounds.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.