Sandy Creek

Coach Damian Belvedere is the fourth wrestling coach in four years for the Sandy Creek Patriots and he knows his team will take their lumps early. "We have a tough schedule, facing Woodward and Eagle's Landing early," Coach Belvedere said. "A lot of these guys are young and need to learn to wrestle in my program. This team needs mat time more than anything."

Sandy Creek returns four wrestlers who qualified for the states last year; Seniors Blake Gordon and Chris Sizemore, junior Ryan Brown and sophomore Larry Wright. Senior Andrew Holcomb and junior Johnny Parmer have some experience for the Patriots but the rest of the team is fairly new. The team will learn a lot from Coach Belvedere, who assisted Coach Hutsell at McIntosh for about 10 years.

Coach Belvedere feels the Patriots have some kids that will be good in the future. Junior Ryan Stanfield, wrestled in his freshman year but took his sophomore year off. Coach Belvedere describes him as a hard worker who has a winning attitude. Brandon McCleod will be wrestling in the heavyweight division for Sandy Creek. They think he will be down to 275 by January and will be a good addition to the team.

Sandy Creek traveled to Woodward Academy last Wednesday to face both Woodward and Stephens. The Patriots lost to Stephenson by a score of 39-31. "That was a tough loss for us," explained Coach Belvedere. "We forfeited two weight classes in that match and if we didn't have to do that, we probably would have won. We gave them 12 points." Chris Sizemore won his match against Stephenson in overtime, as an arm injury started to bother him. Ryan Brown won his matches against both schools, while Johnny Parmer, John Hilton and Ryan Stanfield all wrestled well. Sandy Creek then lost to Woodward, 60-9. "They schooled us.They weren't a very old team but those kids start wrestling in the seventh and eighth grade," Coach Belvedere said. "I'm pleased with the kids, they kept coming after them. It's just going to take some time for us to develop."

Starr's Mill

The Starr's Mill Panthers have opened up the season 5-0. Last Friday the Panthers traveled to Jonesboro to face both Jonesboro and Stockbridge. Starr's Mill won both matches, defeating Jonesboro 43-18 and Stockbridge by a score of 51-26. Freshmen Evan Beckett and Scott Hartpence pinned their opponents in the 119 and 125 pound groupings. Sophomore Drew Cofty and Christopher Coleman pinned their opponents in the 140 pound and 152 pound divisions while sophomore Ariston Bowers won by a decision of 21-10 in his match in the 145 pound division. Junior Akhil Chhabra won by forfeit in the 171 pound division while junior Stephen Behringer won by a decision of 13-10. Sophomore Tony Tofanelli pinned his opponent in the 275 pound division.

The Panthers continued to dominate in their match against Stockbridge. Junior Gary James won his match in the 112 pound division by a 4-1 decision while Freshman Scott Hartpence pinned his opponent in the 125 pound grouping. Sophomores Jason Kiefer, Drew Cofty, Ariston Bowers and Christopher Coleman won their matches by pins in the 130,145 and 152 pound divisions respectively. Juniors Akhil Chhabra, Stephen Behringer and Clint Barbour pinned their opponents in the 171, 189 and 215 pound weight divisions. Ariston Bowers, Stephen Behringer and Drew Cofty are all undefeated this season .

Both Sandy Creek and Starr's Mill have been preparing for the South Metro tournament at Fayette County High School on Friday and Saturday. McIntosh and Eagle's Landing will also attend.

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