The McIntosh Chiefs had never lost the county duals meet. Five days into 1999 and everything has changed. Sandy Creek and Fayette County traveled to McIntosh on Tuesday evening for what was typically a lesson in losing handed out by the Chiefs. Injury and illness changed McIntosh's fate and has made the upcoming regional tournament very exciting. Fayette County faced both McIntosh and Sandy Creek at the county dual meet and for the first time in ten years handed Coach Marty Hutsell and the Chiefs a loss.

McIntosh faced Sandy Creek to start the meet off and handled them well. Carlos Dinkins, Daniel Graham and Larry Fattarusso opened up the meet with three straight victories. John Nieves won his match at 130 by decision by a score of 16-1. Eddie Smith followed Nieves with a victory at 135. Sandy Creek won the next two matches, beating Clay Carruth and Sid Braswell. Johhnny Parmer pinned Braswell and appears to be one of Sandy Creek's top wrestlers.

The Patriots were then forced to forfeit the matches for the next four weight classes, due to illness and injury. The Chiefs were without three starters due to illness as well, but, unlike Sandy Creek, had some backup wrestlers available. In the match at 215, Bob Suter, of McIntosh, pinned Andrew Clough.

Sandy Creek then faced Fayette County and kept it fairly close. Out of the first seven matches, Fayette County had won four and Sandy Creek had won three. Sandy Creek had to forfeit their next several matches and lost. If the Patriots had a full, healthy team, the results could have been entirely different.

In the final match of the evening, Fayette County and McIntosh squared off. Coach Marty Hutsell was essentially missing four starters, after Clay Carruth did not wrestle due to illness. Coach Hutsell knew that it would make the match very close. " It basically came down to the matches at 112 and 152," said Coach Hutsell. "We needed to win both of them and Daniel Graham lost to Zach Nelson by a point." Graham had already faced Nelson this year at the South Metro Invitational and beat him. It will be a battle when these two warriors face off again at the regional meet.

Carlos Dinkins continued wrestling well for the Chiefs but Brandon Phillips, Nick Salters, Jonathan Bailey and Landon Anderson all came through for the Tigers and won both of their matches at the meet.

What makes the Tiger's victory on Tuesday so surprising is that they had four freshmen wrestling for them. "I knew we had to stay close and upset them somewhere if we were going to win," said Coach Jim Bailey. "Zach really surprised us and fought hard. Even the kids who did not win their matches fought hard and avoided being pinned. It is what kept us in the lead."

Coach Hutsell obviously knew the injuries would hinder his team but he also felt their performance was lacking. "The kids didn't give 110 percent in various weight classes," Coach Hutsell said. "They paid the price." McIntosh will be in the War Eagle tournament at Woodward Academy this Friday and Saturday, while Fayette County travels to Murray County for dual meets on Friday and a tournament on Saturday.

Back to the Top of the PageBack to the Sports Home Page