Sonoraville has stellar weekend at AAA Sectionals
The Sonoraville wrestling team has been building a lot of momentum in the second half of the season, and that continued on Saturday at Class AAA B Sectionals at Bremen.
The Firebirds qualified seven wrestlers for the Class AAA State Traditional Tournament led by four individual Sectionals champions.
Sonoraville’s Gavin Thompson (113), Tyler Hunt (120), Trevor Burdick (126) and Ian Clark (132) all went undefeated on the weekend to walk away as Sectional champs.
The Firebirds had three other wrestlers punch their ticket to State, which will open on Thursday at the Macon Centreplex. John Knight finished as runner-up at 195 after an injury default in the finals. Allen Stone (106) placed third, and Austin Dotson (220) finished fourth to qualify. Narrowly missing qualification was Sonoraville’s Charlie Brown, who finished fifth at 195. He will be the first alternate should one of the top four in the weight class not be able to compete at State.
“We are very excited and proud of each and every kid that wrestled at Sectionals,” said Sonoraville coach Randy Steward. “We’re disappointed for the kids that did not make it, but they are all underclassmen and will be back next year.
“We are going down to Macon with mindset of competing hard and winning. I am stressing to each kid that they focus on the first match and take it one match at a time. I also want them to enjoy the weekend and make some lifelong memories.”
Calhoun also had a solid showing at Sectionals on Saturday with three wrestlers advancing to State and one finishing as a second alternate. The Jackets were led by Brice Craig who won an individual Sectionals championship at 195.
Calhoun’s Eric McKnight was the runner-up at 182 after losing a narrow decision in the finals, and Reece Poe (132) qualified by finishing fourth. Jacob Callahan finished sixth at 138. “At the beginning of the season, we knew we would have a young team in an extremely tough area,” said Calhoun coach Michael Herndon. “We are excited and proud to have Reece, Eric and Brice, all underclassmen, going to the State Tournament. Unfortunately Jacob Callahan’s shoulder finally gave out and he was unable qualify, but he has been an exceptional leader to this young team.
With only an eight-man bracket, wrestlers only need to win one match to place in the top six. We are expecting at least a top-six finish out of all three. If they wrestle their best matches of the season, a state champion is certainly a possibility.”
Three Gordon Central wrestler traveled to Rockmart to compete at Class AA B Sectionals, but the trio came up just short of qualifying for State. Christian Davis (132), Branson Towe (170) and Ethan Mitchell (220) all finished sixth in their respective weight classes.