Whitewater wrestling takes third at state duals

The Whitewater Wildcats wrestling team exercised some past demons and worked their way back through the consolation bracket to take third place in GHSA Wrestling State Duals last weekend in Macon.

Whitewater started the weekend Thursday night against SW Dekalb, the Area 6AAAAA champion.  After three straight victories with pins by seniors Taylor Daly (195) and Dylan Davis (220) and a forfeit win to George Harris (285), the Wildcats cruised to a 43-23 win.  

Friday the Quarterfinals matched the Wildcats against the eventual champion, Pope.  Whitewater had outstanding efforts from Seniors Max Sultan (132), Austin Penland (145) and Harris (285) all providing wins, but fell short losing 16-51.  After the Pope loss, the Wildcats then reeled off two wins Friday, beating Stephenson 53-19 and Effingham County 45-26.
Those wins set up Whitewater against Ola in Saturday’s Semifinal Consolation.  

Just last week, the Wildcats lost to Ola 36-30 in the last match at the Area 4AAAAA championships at Forest Park.  This time, the Wildcats fell behind 7-6 in the first three matches, even though Logan Wesolowski (113) pinned his opponent.  Then the Wildcats ran off three wins by Zach Thorne (Fall 5:36), Sultan (Dec 6-3) and Penland (Fall 1:39), giving Whitewater a 21-7 lead.  

Starting at 152, Whitewater put together another 3 wins by Francisco Obegon (Fall 2:50), Alex Walker (Dec 3-2), and Barrett Martin (Dec 5-2).  At that point, Whitewater had the match in hand leading 33-10. Harris added an exclamation point win with a fall in the last match to give Whitewater the 39-23 win.

The battle for 3rd place was against Ware County, the Area 3AAAAA champs.  Whitewater fell behind 9-0, but then had three successive pins by Thorne, Sultan and Penland to give the Wildcats a 18-9 lead.  Another two wins by Obregon and Walker, brought the score to 27-12.  

The victory was secured by three successive wins by Daly (Dec 10-5), Dylan Davis (Fall 1:13) and Harris (Fall 2:25).
The win was Coach Statham and the Wildcats second consecutive 3rd place finish at the State Duals Championships.

This weekend, Jan. 18-19, the Wildcats will host the fifth annual Whitewater Southside Brawl at the Whitewater Gym. 20 schools from all over Georgia will be in attendance.
 
Matches start at 5:30 p.m. on Friday night and continue at 9 a.m. on Saturday.  

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students per day.  A two day pass costs $17.