It was a great weekend for the Dawson County wrestling team last weekend at Fannin County High School. The Tigers qualified seven wrestlers for the east sectionals to be held at Jefferson High School this weekend. If the seven can place first through eighth then they will advance to the state traditional at the Gwinnett Arena.
Joe Perry led all Dawson grapplers. He won the championship at 130 pounds by defeating Austin Marlow of North Oconee by a 4-2 score. Perry also received his 100th win last week.
Perry made it to the championship match by pinning his first two opponents, Justin Kebel (Oglethorpe) and Shane Moore (East Jackson).
As a team, Dawson finished in fourth place with 136 team points.
State power, Jefferson, finished in first place with 293 points. The Dragons placed all 14 wrestlers in the sectionals with nine first place winners. Area runner-up was Banks County with 201.5 points.
James Evans picked up a fourth place finish to advance. Evans pinned David Haight from Fannin before losing in the second round to Victor Equirte from East Jackson. Evans then rebounded by winning over Jeremy Mize from Oglethorpe County and receiving a forfeit.
Tiger David Wood, at 112 pounds, placed in second after losing a tough match against Daniel Barber of Jefferson. Wood won his first two matches, by pin, to get to the final. Wood pinned Wes Brooks from North Oconee and Justin Fincannon from Banks County.
In the 135-weight class, Preston Adams placed third to advance to the upcoming weekend. Adams won his first match 13-9 over Chase Suart from Fannin County. Adams then lost his second match, but came back with a huge 5-3 decision over Kevin Kenleser of East Jackson.
Eian Perry placed fourth in the 140-weight class. Perry pinned Wesley Angel of Banks County in the first round, before being pinned by Luis Verduzco of East Jackson in the second round. Perry then had to wrestle Angel again, but this time Angel pinned Perry to take third place.
At 145, William Ridings pulled out a fourth place finish. Ridings won his first match on Friday with a 12-5 win over Tim Abbott from North Oconee. Ridings then lost to eventual area champion, Jeremy Greenway from Banks County, in an exciting match by a 12-10 score. Ridings’ next match was a forfeit. He then had to wrestle Abbott from North Oconee.
Abbott came out on top this time with a 11-4 win.
Nick Tobias will also be going to sectionals. Tobias, at 152, received a forfeit in the first round before losing 7-5 to Drew Hunter of East Jackson. Tobias then pinned David Froetschel of Oglethorpe County and Paul Newell of Riverside Military Academy to pick up a third place finish.
Wrestling will begin Friday, Feb. 13 with the championships to be held on Saturday, Feb. 14.