Ridgeland secures second straight Walker County Cup
The stands were full and the action was starting to heat up during the annual Walker County Cup at Ridgeland High School on Thursday night. But about halfway through the opening match between Gordon Lee and LaFayette, Ridgeland head coach Keith Mariakis sensed something was missing.
Mariakis, who was also busy trying to coordinate Senior Night festivities for his large senior class, finally was able to put his finger on just what was wrong - and quickly dispatched someone to fetch the Walker County Cup trophy from its resting place.
As it turns out, the trophy was just fine where it because the Panthers weren’t about to give it away.
For the second straight year, the Panthers were rock solid in taking down its two county rivals as they claimed the prize once again.
The two victories were a nice exclamation point on Ridgeland’s dual match season, which included a fourth-place finish at the West Forsyth Duals, a runner-up finish at the Calhoun Duals, an Area 6-AAAA Duals second place showing and their first-ever trip to the State Duals in Macon.
“They wrestled well and it was a good way to send the seniors home,” Mariakis said. “Now every can focus on themselves and get ready for the area, sectional and state tournaments.”
Gordon Lee 40, LaFayette 30
The night’s opening match saw four forfeits in the first five bouts with Caleb Vines helping give the Trojans an 18-12 lead with a pin at 195 pounds. Tucker Miller would score a major decision at 113 to extend Gordon Lee’s lead to 22-12, but Drake Bing (120) would get a pin for the Ramblers to slice into the gap.
Avery Geer (126) won a decision to add three points to the Trojans’ total, but J.J. Muder (132) won a close match on a reversal with nine seconds left and Brady Beard (138) scored a pin to give LaFayette a 2725 lead with four bouts to go.
However, the Trojans would get the next two wins by pin as Hunter Hartman (145) and Zach Murdock (152) earned 12 important points to regain a 37-27 for their team. Tyler Beard would win by decision for the Ramblers at 160, but Gordon Lee held an insurmountable 37-30 lead with just one bout left.
That bout was perhaps the most anticipated of the night as Gordon Lee’s Braden Jarvis earned a hard-fought, 3-2 win over LaFayette’s Cole Ingram. Both wrestlers finished as state runnerups a year ago.
Ridgeland 61, LaFayette 13
The two Area 6-AAAA foes met for the second time in a little more than a week and the results were almost the same as the Panthers got out to a huge 49-0 lead before going on to the win.
Starting at 195 pounds, Christian Gentry, Chris Henderson (220) and Cameron Nunley (285) won by pin before Preston Perrault (106) won by forfeit. Mehki Ross (113) outlasted Austin Rogers, 6-4, scoring a takedown
with five seconds left in overtime to add to the advantage.
Jake Clayton (120) would follow with a pin and Chris Prescott (126) and Jordan Hughley (132) both won by technical fall before Jacob Mariakis (138) earned a pin.
Brady Beard (145) won by decision for LaFayette, but Dylan Swanson answered with a pin for the Panthers at 152. LaFayette would win the next two bouts, one on a pin by Tyler Beard (160) and the other on a major decision by Ingram (170) before Ridgeland’s Austin Coppinger earned a forfeit win at 182 to close it out.
Ridgeland 42, Gordon Lee 27
The Panthers got 12 points right off the bat as the Trojans forfeit to both Henderson (220) and Nunley (285), but Hunter Burnette (106) would get a pin and Miller (113) added a decision to cut the lead to 12-9.
However, Ridgeland would take control with five straight wins. Clayton (120) won by pin, Prescott (126) earned a technical fall and Hughley (132) scored a major decision. Mariakis (138) picked up a quick pin and senior McKinley Mosgrove (145) scored a narrow 2-1 victory over Hartman to stake the Panthers to a 36-9 advantage.
The next bout was arguably the match of the night as Murdock and Swanson battled through three overtimes at 152 before the Gordon Lee senior got a 5-4 victory.
Jarrett Lassetter (160) and Jarvis (170) followed with pins to keep the Trojans within striking distance at 36-24, but Ryan McGill sealed the Cup with a pin for Ridgeland at 182 before Vines got past Coppinger, 3-1, at 195 to cap the night.
“We knew Gordon Lee had some kids missing the last time we wrestled them (at the Calhoun Duals semifinals), so we knew it was going to be close,” Mariakis explained. “But we had some kids step up, have some good matches and not give up a lot of bonus points. One thing we’ve worked on is bonus points in dual matches. You gotta go get em’ and you can’t give em’ up.”
Ridgeland and LaFayette will wrestle in tournaments on Saturday - the Panthers at the Murray County Invitational and the Ramblers at the Darlington Classic - before heading to Gilmer for the 6-AAAA tournament next weekend. Meanwhile, Gordon Lee will compete in the 3-A tournament at Mt. ZionCarroll next weekend.
Thursday night’s other highlight was turned in by Ridgeland senior Seth McGee, who not only beat Ingram, but also scored a win over Murdock - both by pinfall - in exhibition matches to the delight of the crowd.
The two Senior Night victories added to a big final year for McGee, who has Down’s Syndrome. McGee began the year by scoring a touchdown on the final play of Ridgeland’s preseason scrimmage with Dalton before celebrating with both teams in the end zone. The play earned McGee some well-deserved local, state and national publicity.
“I’ll miss have Seth around as much as anyone else,” Mariakis said with a smile. “He’s the first undefeated, four-year wrestler we’ve ever had at Ridgeland. He’s beaten more state champions and state placers than I can shake a stick at and I have to thank those guys for giving him good matches.”