Dawson County High School Head Wrestling Coach Arron Haynes and his squad almost defeated the defending AAA state champion Gilmer County Bobcats last Tuesday, Nov. 25 at the Ford E. Phillips gymnasium.

The final score, 48-28, was not an indicator of how the match went.

“We had a couple of their wrestlers on their backs, but just couldn’t finish the move,” Haynes said.

“Our kids didn’t back down to them and I thought we did really well. We will get better,” he added.

Earlier in the tri-match, Dawson defeated a very physical Creekview team by a slim 37-34 margin.

With a win and loss the Tigers currently stand at 2-1 overall on the season.

“Creekview will be tough as the season goes on,” said Haynes. “They are very physical.”

Winning their matches by pin against Creekview were: David Wood (112), Preston Adams (135), Kenneth Davis (171) and Donavan Spittel (189).

James Evans (103) won his match by a 6-0 score.

Also winning were Joe Perry (140) with a 16-2 decision, and Nick Tobias (160) by a score of 6-4 in a close match.

In the contest against Gilmer County, Cody Riding (145), Nick Tobias (160) and David Wood (112) all won their matches by way of a pin.

Preston Adams (135) won by a 17-15 score in a hard fought contest. Also getting a victory was Kenneth Davis (171) by a 6-3 score.

“I was really excited about how we did so early in the season,” said Haynes.

“We are going to give the kids off until Monday when we return to school and get ready for our next match against Fannin County,” commented Haynes.

The Tigers traveled to Blue Ridge yesterday for a match with Fannin County High School.

Results were not available as of press time.

Saturday, Dec. 6, both the JV and varsity teams will participate in the North Oconee Duals in Bogart.

E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.