Five Valdosta wrestlers take first at Wildcat Invitational

By Christian Malone

January 04, 2009 03:32 am

— VALDOSTA — Oviedo and Valdosta were the dominant teams this weekend at the Wildcat Invitational.
Oviedo won the Wildcat Invitational team competition Saturday, while host Valdosta had the most individual champions in its wrestling tournament, including the tournament’s top lightweight and heavyweight wrestlers.
Valdosta had five wrestlers win their weight classes Saturday, more than any other school. Those five champions helped the Wildcats finish second with 195 points, 28 more than the third-place team.
Valdosta also had the tournament’s top two wrestlers. Allen Scruggs was selected the tournament’s most outstanding heavyweight wrestler after winning the 215-pound weight class and earning his fourth career Wildcat Invitational title. Javon Scott was chosen the most outstanding lightweight wrestler after winning the 119-pound class.
“That was fabulous. That capped a great day of hard wrestling,” Valdosta head coach Benjy Scarbor said. “I’m very happy with (second place). The wrestlers did well, the tournament went well. I couldn’t be happier.”
Marshawn Sharp, Ramone Durr and Demarcus Bartee also won their weight classes for the Wildcats.
Perry McKinney of Berrien, who wrestled at 145 pounds, won the Cmdr. Bill Butler Sportsmanship Award, which was voted on by the referees.
Oviedo, an Orlando-area school whose wrestling program owns a state championship and has produced several nationally-ranked wrestlers, was clearly the deepest team in Valdosta this weekend. The Lions earned 220 points, 25 more than VHS, and had eight wrestlers place in the tournament, including four individual champions.
“They were the last team we added to the tournament, and I was glad to have them,” Scarbor said. “They have an excellent program, and they made the competition better this weekend.”
Tift County finished third with 167 points, Heritage (145.5 points) finished fourth and Lowndes was fifth with 144.5 points. Toombs County (108) was sixth, Lee County (103) was seventh, Cook (94) was eighth, Gulf Breeze (91) was ninth and Irwin County (86.5) was 10th. Berrien was 15th with 53 points.
Scruggs earned his fourth first-place medal at the Wildcat Invitational when he edged Jay Taylor of Oviedo 2-1 in double overtime. Taylor earned his only point on an escape in the second period, then Scruggs tied the match with an escape in the final 15 seconds of the third period. Scruggs earned the winning point when he escaped a Taylor hold in the second overtime.
Scott, a sophomore, won his second Wildcat Invitational by defeating Joey Hefley of Oviedo 5-1. Scott scored a first-period takedown, then after the two wrestlers traded escapes, Scott put the match away with two back points in the third period.
Sharp, a 95-pound freshman, won the 103-pound final with an 11-3 major decision over Nathan McCall of Tift. Sharp nearly pinned McCall in the second period, and had a couple of takedowns in the win.
Durr defeated Eric Dodson of Thomas County Central 13-6 in the 125-pound final. Durr built a 9-0 lead on Dodson, nearly got pinned at the end of the second period, but recovered, scored four more points in the third period, and controlled the rest of the match. Durr has taken first in his last three tournaments (Cook, Fitzgerald and Valdosta).
In the final match of the night, Bartee beat Logan Winkles of Upson-Lee 5-4 for the 285-pound championship. Bartee took a 3-2 lead when he reversed a hold in the second period. After allowing Bartee an escape point in the third, Winkles tied the score with a takedown. But with only five seconds left in regulation, Bartee broke free from Winkles’ hold, and earned the winning point.
The other Valdosta wrestler to place was Jake Davis, who was fourth at 152 pounds.
Lowndes had one individual champion, two finalists, one third-place finisher and two fourth-place finishers.
Andrew Moody earned Lowndes’ individual title at 135 pounds. Moody dominated Clayton Faircloth of Swainsboro in the finals, taking him down multiple times, and won by major decision.
Tyler Armstrong took second at 130 pounds, while Josh Haskins was second at 171 pounds. Kade Williamson was third at 145 pounds, and Chase Miley (103 pounds) and Jay Durden (112) both placed fourth.
For Cook, Ty Sumner took second at 112 pounds, Michael Kohler was third at 119 pounds and Michael Brown took fourth at 140 pounds.
The other winners were: Billy Abrahamsen of Heritage at 112 pounds, Stephen Jenkins of Oviedo at 130 pounds, Bryan Benton of Toombs County at 140 pounds, Chase Gordon of Oviedo (who scored the only technical fall of the finals) at 145 pounds, Wade Farrow of Swainsboro at 152 pounds, Trey Hicks of Tift County at 160 pounds, Erin O’Dell of Oviedo at 171 pounds and Davin Morris of Oviedo at 189 pounds.
This was one of the largest fields Valdosta has ever had for its tournament, with 23 teams competing. Scarbor said everything went smoothly with the tournament.
“I had a lot of compliments from coaches,” he said. “My mat girls did an outstanding job running the tournament, along with the head table workers and (everyone else). A lot of people came together to put on a good tournament. I’d like to thank everybody that had a part in that — restaurants, sponsors, head table workers, anyone else. It’s a lot of work to put on a tournament of this magnitude.”

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