From Staff Reports

SUMMERVILLE — The day was long, but the effort was there for several Floyd County wrestling teams Saturday at the Area 3-AA traditional tournament at Chattooga High School.

The Armuchee Indians came away with 11 grapplers finishing in the top four of their weight class and qualifying for sectionals while the team earned 139 points to finish second overall.

“We felt like we could have been stronger in a few areas, but to qualify 11 in the sectional tournament, that’s pretty big,” Armuchee coach Joey Harris said. “I’m pretty proud of that, it’s about as good as you can hope for other than everyone qualifying.”

Darlington, who has only six varsity wrestlers, saw four of them win their respective divisions Saturday.

Dalton Blankenship defeated Model’s Walker Byrd, 10-4, at 106 pounds, Colton Woods won 7-2 over Model’s Kendall Byrd at 113 and Davis Peek took the 126-pound title with a 7-0 decision over Sam Rollins of Lovett.

Rhett McDurmon’s 138-pound final came down to the third period where the Tigers’ freshman broke a scoreless tie and won 3-0 over Gordon Lee’s Zach Murdock.

Lovett finished first in the final team standings with 199.5 points and eight area finalists, including four champions.

Model senior Dakota Willerson won the individual title in the 195pound class and the Blue Devils finished fourth overall.

Tournament host Chattooga took sixth, while Coosa finished eighth.

Harris said Armuchee had gone into the tournament hoping to send all 14 wrestlers to sectionals, but with 10 schools competing, a few grapplers came up short.

The Indians’ Jacob Henderson won the 182- pound title for Armuchee’s lone individual championship as the sophomore scored five points in the final minute and a half of his match with Lovett’s Hamp Dykes to win 8-4.

“He was prepared, we had a game plan and stuck to the gamelan,” Harris said. “He’s a developing young wrestler and he’s a tough kid, someone who works hard.”

Model coach Ben Woodall said his team had one of its best performances all season, with five wrestlers turning in top-two finishes. The only Model wrestler to win his final was Willerson, but he did it in style.

Willerson faced Chattooga’s Austin Jones, who was 39-13 on the season. But before Jones could grab a point, Willerson pinned him in the first period.

“Dakota is just such a strong individual,” Woodall said. “Everytime he is on the mat he gives everything he has. And he just keeps working, he just keeps getting better everyday.”

Area 3-AA’s qualifiers will attend the sectional at Greater Atlanta Christian in Atlanta next weekend. The meet is expected to begin on Friday.