Bulldogs Wrestlers Off To Fast Start
Courtesy of TCHS
The Toombs County High School wrestlers have been busy over the first few weeks of the season. The Bulldogs started off on November 11, at Walnut Grove, then hosted Montgomery County and Bryan County on November 14, before traveling to Ola High School the weekend of the 18th.
@ Walnut Grove
The Toombs County MatDawgs were put to the test in their first outing of the season as they traveled to Walnut Grove High School (4A). As the smallest school represented there, the Mat-Dawgs brought the fight, going 2-2 on the night.
The first match was against Hillgrove (7A). A hard fought battle, but the MatDawgs fell 8 points from the victory. The MatDawgs had decisive dual victories in their next two duals (Madison County-4A and Dacula-7A). In the final dual of the evening the MatDawgs went toe to toe with the host team, Walnut Grove (4A). In the end, the MatDawgs dropped another dual, going 2-2 on the night.
“I knew this event would be a test early on for us. We have some holes because of our football team performing well in the playoffs and most of our guys are not at the correct weights yet. We need this type of competition if we are planning to see the success we want this season. Failure is only going to make us more hungry!” Coach Allen said about the event.
The shining star of the night was the MatDawgs 120 lb. freshman, Wyatt Bunch. Wyatt was undefeated on the night and showed maturity well above his age. “Wyatt is a special wrestler. He has wrestled for a long time at a very high level and doesn’t wrestle like a freshman. We already expect Wyatt to be a leader on this team and continue to get better each and every time he competes.” says Coach Allen of the young wrestler. vs. Bryan & MCHS
The Toombs County MatDawgs hosted Bryan County and Montgomery County for their first home match on Tuesday, November 14.
The MatDawgs started out the evening with a very special wrestling match for one of our honorary Mat-Dawg members. Keegan Pittman, and Coach Allen built a relationship over the past few months. “Our self contained class comes to the gym for PE during my lunch period. Keegan approached me and asked if he could join our wrestling team. I was 100% on board with Keegan joining us for some events.” said Allen. “Keegan started watching some wrestling videos and learning stuff on his own with his teacher, Katie Goodwin. It warmed my heart to see the joy that it brought to him to be a part of our team. So he came to our practice on Monday, warmed up with us, and practiced how the match would go.” Keegan ended up with a pin against Tyson Brantley in his first high school wrestling match.
The MatDawgs took the mat first against Bryan County and then against Montgomery County. The MatDawgs held nothing back and came away with dominating wins in both duals. “Our wrestlers looked good in both duals. We had some of our young wrestlers step up and get some quality mat time also.” said Coach Allen of the night.
@ Ola High
Coach Allen set out to test his team this season and their first tournament of the season made that statement true. The MatDawgs headed north to Ola High School this past weekend to compete in arguably one of the best tournaments in the state of Georgia this past weekend, the Raja Bryan Memorial Invitational. The Mat-Dawgs came away with 8 place winners in varsity boys, 3 place winners in varsity girls and landed in 4th place overall with 139.5 pts.
Notable performances on the day were Gailan Wilds (2nd place), Ben Parra (3rd place), Wyatt Bunch (3rd place), Kylee Edwards (1st place), and Jasmine Villegas (2nd place). The team finished behind powerhouse wrestling school Social Circle, Ola, and Lee County. The true stars of this weekend were the 8th grade Mat-Dawgs that were able to wrestle up to junior varsity this weekend. Walker Bunch, Lukas Young, and Leeson Allen had stellar performances. Walker and Leeson finished in 1st place in the JV brackets. Lukas finished in 4th place, losing to teammate Walker in the semi-finals.
“This was a great tournament for our team at this point in the season. For us to reach our full potential this season, we have to see competition like this. We preach every day to our team that failure is necessary to grow, and we did not shy away from it this weekend. Our team got better this weekend.” The MatDawgs head to Coffee County Tuesday, November 21, to wrestle in the Southern Trojan Wars before taking a short break for Thanksgiving!
Raja Bryan Memorial Invitational Results for Toombs County Varsity 113 Benjamin Parra (4-1) placed 3rd and scored 19.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 – Benjamin Parra (Toombs Co.) 4-1 received a bye () (Bye) Champ. Round 2 – Benjamin Parra (Toombs Co.) 4-1 received a bye () (Bye) Quarterfinal – Benjamin Parra (Toombs Co.) 4-1 won by fall over Gabriel Easey (Ola) 3-1 (Fall 2:36) Semifinal – Max Meredith (Ola) 5-1 won by major decision over Benjamin Parra (Toombs Co.) 4-1 (MD 134) 3rd Place Match – Benjamin Parra (Toombs Co.) 4-1 won by fall over Caleb Stuart (Lee Co.) 2-2 (Fall 4:31)
