The 2017-2018 Catoosa-Walker County Wrestling Dream Team
He went on to place second at the Area 6-AAAA championships and first at state sectionals. Once in Macon, he got through to the state championship finals before finishing as state runner-up to Jefferson’s Tyson Thurmond in a 6-4 match that saw Thurmond win in a sudden-victory overtime session.
Today, Craft joins fellow Catoosa County grappler, Griffin Green of Ringgold, as one of Catoosa County’s CoWrestlers of the Year.
Craft said he felt like he had a good season, all things considered. However, he said coming up short in the final match will provide plenty of extra motivation for his final season in Navy-and-Red.
“It’s frustrating to put all the hard work in all season and to have it come down to that one match and then coming so close to winning it,” explained Craft, who just missed a late takedown against Thurmond that would have won the match in regulation time. “I got third my sophomore year and second my junior year, so there’s only one place higher I can get. Being state champion is my goal.”
Craft’s wrestling coach at Heritage also serves as his dad.
“I am very proud of him,” Mike Craft said. “It was frustrating for him to be so close. He was within one second of getting a late near-fall count and never having to go into overtime. A lot of wrestlers never even make it to the state finals, so he’s already had a major accomplishment with that, but I know he’s going to keep working to get that state
There aren’t many things that Griffin Green didn’t accomplish during his high school wrestling career at Ringgold.
A four-time state placer and a three-time state finalist, Green ended a stellar four-year run with a sparkling 18722 overall record, two state runner-up finishes and one state title.
Today, he adds to his resume as he joins Heritage’s Ryan Craft as Catoosa County’s CoWrestlers of the Year for the 2017-2018 season.
“I’m very proud,” Green said of the award. “I wish (my senior) year had ended better, but I think I did really well. I think I made my dad and my team proud.”
Green finished 42-4 in his final season with the Tigers, advancing to the Class 3A 145-pound state finals for the third consecutive year. He won his state crown as a sophomore.
Already an accomplished and highly-decorated youth wrestler, Green burst on to the prep scene as a freshman with a fourth-place showing at the prestigious and highly-competitive McCallie Invitational and he later advanced to the championship semifinals at state (at 138 pounds) before finishing fourth.
Among his many achievements during his time at Ringgold were four top-five finishes at McCallie, including a championship as a sophomore. He won two Ooltewah Invitational titles with one secondplace finish. He had one title and one runner-up finish at the Ringgold Tiger Invitational and picked up several area and sectional championships along the way.
He said his past successes forced him to be prepared every time he took the mat.
“You just have to make sure you stay on top of your game,” he explained. “You can’t really slack off. If you do, everyone else catches up.”
Ringgold head coach David Moss called Griffin “an awesome kid”.
“He does really well in school,” Moss explained. “He makes great grades and he’s already dual-enrolled in college and has big college plans for next year. He started working with us in the sixth grade and he’s been with us the whole time. He did everything he could possibly do. He worked basically yearround.
“He led by example by working really hard. He didn’t take days off. When he was in the room, he was working to get better.”
However, this past GHSA state championship might just have been the final match for Griffin, who said he is ready to get down to the business of going to school and working toward a new goal of becoming a corporate attorney.
“I’m definitely going to miss the camaraderie we had here as a team,” he said. “But wrestling is done for me and I’m ready to move on to the next stage of my life.”