By MICHAEL BOYLAN

Sports Editor

The McIntosh Chiefs wrestling team, ranked seventh in the state, participated in the Marietta duals this past weekend. They defeated Paulding County 38-29, beat LaGrange 66-18 and handed Chattahoochee a 41-30 loss. McIntosh then faced Sequoyah, ranked number one in the state, and lost 57-16. "They are the favorites to win the state tournament," said Coach Hutsell. "They just wiped the floor with us." The Chiefs did take second place however and they did it with one wrestler out due to illness and another, Matt Waters, wrestling sick. The Chiefs look to be healthy for the next two weekends. On Saturday, Feb. 6, McIntosh hosts the area tournament. They are favored to win but will face competition from Upson-Lee, LaGrange and Fayette County among others. The following weekend is the AAAA state tournament at McEachern.

Fayette County has hit some low points recently. They lost several members of the team due to illness, injury and grades. The Tigers hosted Starr's Mill and Pike County on Friday evening and looked very uneven. Starr's Mill whooped up on Fayette County and improved their dual record to an impressive 21-2. "There were about three matches that we should have won and didn't" said Coach Bailey. "It's really a credit to Starr's Mill, they wrestled really well." The Tigers handled Pike County very well. Pike County is a first year team, so Coach Bailey had several of his junior varsity kids wrestle. Sandy Creek was also at the match on Friday but they did not wrestle Fayette County.

On Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Pope High School to participate in the Pope Classic. Fayette County placed fifth overall, in a field of 10 teams, despite getting off to a slow start. "We went into Saturday with Friday still on our minds," said Coach Bailey. "We started picking it up towards the end of the day and ended up in fifth place." Fayette County had seven of their 12 wrestlers place in the top four at the tournament. Jared Bailey took first place at 130. Jonathan Bailey, Brad West and Nick Salters all took third place in their respective weight divisions. Paul Gable and Phillip Macfarlane and Craig Barron all took fourth place for the Tigers. Fayette County hopes to have some of their injured wrestlers back in action for the Area tournament at McIntosh this Saturday.

Starr's Mill had a productive weekend. On Friday, the Panthers faced both Fayette County and Sandy Creek. The Panthers defeated the Patriots, who were wrestling with only seven people, 77-0. Four of Starr's Mill's wins were by pin or technical fall. The Panthers won their match against Fayette County, 52-9. Starr's Mill won every match, except the two that pitted them against the Tiger's Jared and Jonathan Bailey. Gary James was the only Starr's Mill wrestler to pin both of his opponents.

On Saturday, Starr's Mill hosted Creekside, Callaway, East Paulding and Troup County in the Panther Duals. Starr's Mill chewed through most of the competition, beating Creekside 76-6, Callaway, 68-12 and East Paulding, 66-13. The true test came against Troup County, currently ranked number one in the state. Starr's Mill lost their first four matches and then won the next two on the strength of Bryan Kyser and Ariston Bowers' performances. Troup controlled the next four matches but lost the last three. Stephen Behringer won his match 6-5, Clint Barbour won by forfeit and Tony Tofanelli won by a score of 6-5. All of the matches were extremely close, eight of them hinged on the last takedown. Troup defeated Starr's Mill by a score of 32-22. These two teams will not see each other again until the state tournament. Starr's Mill finished the season with a record of 27-2 in dual meets and head confidently into the area tournament this weekend at Sandy Creek. Woodward is the heavy favorite but the Panthers don't back down from anybody.

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