Phoenix headed to state duals meet
The Sonoraville High School wrestling team is headed back to the 3A State Duals meet Saturday in Stephens County.
The Phoenix, who are the among the eight qualifying teams in attendance this weekend, reached the final meet of the duals high school season by dominating the Sectionals last Saturday at The Furnace.
“The kids wrestled real well,” Phoenix head coach Randy Steward said. “We had a lot of kids win their weight classes and we had a lot of kids win by pins, so that was good to see. We got off to a real good start because we started the first match at the 170-pound (division) and went up with the weights and 170-and-up is the strength of our team.
“In the second meet, we started one weight class heavier at the 182 and again, we got off to a great start because those guys in the upper divisions wrestled like they have been. So it was a good day for us and now we’re looking to come out and have one more great day of wrestling.”
In the Sectional prelim, the Phoenix belted Monroe Area, 64-18, and then they doubled up Westminster, 54-27, in the finals to be one of the eight 3A schools in Georgia still contending for a state title in Duals.
“We did expect to be here,” Steward said. “We’ve got a lot of very good wrestlers and our goal was to get back to the state duals. We were fourth last year and we want to finish higher than than this year, but we’ve got a strong lineup and we really feel like in the 170 to the 285-pound weight classes, we can compete with anybody.
“Now, we’re still using a couple of different kids in a couple of the heavier weight classes because of the depth
we have, but we expected to be right back in this position again. I mean, it feels great to be here and we’re excited about it and looking forward to it.”
The Phoenix had six wrestlers go 2-0 at Sectionals and six others go 1-0 on the day as they jumped on, literally, both of their opponents early and never let up.
In those upper classes, Colt Weaver in the 170 and Gavin Harper at 182 each went 2-0 on the day. winning their only match in each of the two team events.
In the 195, the 200, and the heavyweight divisions, Steward used a different wrestler against first Upper Monroe and then Westminster, but each of those guys won their matches.
In the 195, senior Ridge Redd and junior Tristan
Mullins were each 1-0 while in the 220, first Atticus Peppers and then Zach McAfee were winners and at 285, Jaxx Knight was a winner against UM and McCoy Deal took his match against Westminster.
“All those kids have wrestled well,” Steward said. “So I wanted to give each of them a chance and they each did a great job. Maybe I was just looking for a spark, but all those kids are doing well so we used all of them.”
Freshman Noah Chastain at 106; sophomore Thomas Young in the 113; junior Wade Parker in the 120; and sophomore Logan Moore in the 132 were also 2-0 on the day for the Phoenix with each grappler getting a win against their opponent from Upper Monroe and then Westminster.
“Those younger guys did a great job for us,” Steward said. “We’re doing some good things in the lighter classes and those guys are all young, so they’re going to keep getting better. I’m excited to see how they do this week and I think, based on the way they’ve wrestled, they’ll do just fine.”
Steward said there is still one thing they are trying to overcome as they continue to try to shore up the weight classes between 140 and 165.
“We’re still getting pinned too many times and we’ve got to keep working on that,” he said. “You don’t ever want to lose, but if you lose by a pin, that’s a lot of points for the other team. Like I said, we don’t like to ever lose, but if you lose by a decision, it’s only three points as opposed to six, so we’re working hard to get the result we want, but when you lose a match, you’ve got to avoid the pin. That will be very crucial this week.”
After the State Duals Saturday, the Phoenix will go to work on winning the traditional state meet, which they have done three of the past four years.
The traditional state meet in set to begin Thursday, Feb. 10 in Macon.