Vikings take region title

By Christian Malone

January 11, 2009 01:13 am

— VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikings are the Region 1-AAAAA dual wrestling champions.
Lowndes dominated the region tournament, winning every match by at least 27 points. The Vikings wrapped up the title with a 50-22 win over four-time defending champion Valdosta in the finals.
The region dual championship is the first for Lowndes head coach Spencer Graybeal.
“It feels real good,” Graybeal said. “The last couple of years, I thought we had a chance to win, and now we finally got one.”
“Congratulations to Lowndes for winning the region duals. They’ve got a good team,” Valdosta head coach Benjy Scarbor said.
Both teams knew that pins were going to play a big part in deciding the region winner, and they did. Lowndes earned six pins in the finals, accounting for 36 of its 50 points.
“I thought we wrestled the best we have all year,” Graybeal said. “The kids stepped up and did a great job.”
Lowndes jumped out to a big lead with several pins. Andrew Moody pinned Joel Aguilar in the second round at 135 pounds, then Ryan Beasley pinned Kris Brown in the first period at 140 pounds. Lowndes’ Kade Williamson earned a technical fall when he outscored Joshua Holliman 22-7 at 145 pounds. After Valdosta’s Jake Davis defeated Dillon Wynn 6-3, Lowndes got three more pins. Ricky Smith pinned Demetrius Harden at 160 pounds, Josh Haskins pinned Alex Riley at 171 pounds and Brandon Johnson pinned Chris King at 189. That gave the Vikings a 29-3 lead.
“We won some key matchups, and had some things go our way,” Graybeal said. “Everybody knows it’s about the bonus points (from pins and technical falls), and tonight we were able to get them.”
Valdosta staged a brief rally with four wins in the next six matches. Allen Scruggs earned six points for his team when he pinned Kenny Mason in the first period at 215 pounds. Marshawn Sharp beat Chase Miley 9-6 at 103 pounds. Javon Scott pinned Taylor Alligood in the first period at 119 pounds, then Remone Durr scored a major decision over Kaleb Thomas, 14-2, at 125 pounds.
But Lowndes’ Dion Crenshaw beat Valdosta’s Demarcus Bartee, 3-1, and Jay Durden pinned Robert Jones in the first period at 112 pounds, and the Vikings led 38-22. Durden’s pin gave the Vikings enough points to clinch the region title. Tyler Armstrong (130 pounds) closed out the win for the Vikings with a pin of Thomas Greneker.
Lowndes had been just as dominant in the semifinals, routing Tift County 49-22. Durden, Armstrong, Beasley, Haskins, Johnson and Crenshaw all won by pins. Moody earned a key three points when he beat Jacob Drawdy, one of Tift’s best wrestlers, 11-5. Thomas won a major decision, 11-1.
“The match with Tifton was a little bit closer than last Wednesday’s match was, and we expected that,” Graybeal said. “We were able to win some of the key matchups there.”
The Vikings were even more dominant in the first round, hammering Colquitt County 69-9. Lowndes got either a pin or a forfeit victory from 11 of the 14 weight classes. Thomas, Beasley, Williamson, Wynn, Nicholas Simmons, Haskins and Brandon Johnson all pinned their opponents. Durden won by technical fall, and Crenshaw won by decision.
Winning the region championship should give Lowndes a decent seeding for next weekend’s state dual tournament.
After losing to Lowndes in the finals, Valdosta had a dogfight with Tift County, battling for second place and the other spot in the state duals. But a last-match win gave the Wildcats a 37-35 victory, and a trip to state.
“We’re going back to state with a young team,” Scarbor said. “We did the best we could. We’ve got a lot of injuries, and we’ll have to get them repaired before February gets here. Qualifying for state was one of our goals, and we did that.”
The Wildcats fell behind 19-0 early in the match, but rallied with some big wins. But Tift still led 35-34 heading into the final match.
With a spot in the state tournament on the line, Valdosta sent one of its younger wrestlers, Aguilar, to the mat against Alan Coleman of Tift. With his teammates cheering him on, Aguilar wrestled one of the best matches of his career. He took control in the second period, maintained the lead in the third and won the match 10-5 to put his team in the championship.
“Joel’s replacing another guy who’s injured. We needed that win, and he won the match,” Scarbor said. “Coming down to the last match is very emotional. Hopefully that can give us a charge for practice this week.”
Valdosta has made the state dual tournament every year it has been held. The Wildcats were chasing their fifth straight region title, but fell short in the finals.
In the consolation match, Tift won the first four matches. Then Riley started to turn the tide in Valdosta’s favor when he pinned Christopher Barber at 171. Tift’s Justin Hasty won by pin at 189, making it 25-6, but then some of Valdosta’s top wrestlers stepped on the mat, and the rally began.
Scruggs pinned James Lawson at 215. Then Bartee, fighting through a cramp for much of the match, pinned Buck Benson at 285. Sharp followed with a 10-1 major decision at 103, cutting the Blue Devils’ lead to 25-22.
Tift’s Jeremy Bozeman scored a pin at 112, but Scott responded with a pin at 119, making it a three-point match once again. Then Durr gave Valdosta the lead, 34-29, with a pin at 125. But Jarrod Heath put Tift back on top with a pin at 130. That set the stage for the final match, and Aguilar came through for the Wildcats.
In the first round, Valdosta pounded Northside 61-12. The Wildcats then dispatched Houston County 60-18 in the semifinals.
The state dual meet will be held Friday and Saturday.

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