The Camden County High School wrestling team recently claimed its 11th straight GHSA team duals state championship. All 14 Camden County weight class wrestlers placed in the Top 5, and four of them won individual state championships.
Bradley Patterson, a senior, won the 113-pound weight class state title, his third state championship wrestling for Camden County.
“Bradley actually won the state title in dominant fashion,” said Jess Wilder, Camden County head wrestling coach. “He was impressive.”
Isaac Santos, competing in the 120-pound weight class, was one of three juniors who captured a state championship.
Brock Weaver, competing in the 157-pound weight class, won his first wrestling state title. The junior is the younger brother of former Camden County state champion wrestler Konlin Weaver.
Rider Wilder, a junior, captured his third overall state title, winning in the 190-pound weight class.
Camden County had to get past a familiar foe to capture their 11th straight title. After defeating East Coweta in the first round, followed by victories over Mill Creek and West Forsyth in the next two rounds, Camden County faced off against Buford in the state finals for the third consecutive year.
“We had to beat Buford, and we have had quite a history with them,” Wilder said. “Plus, they are a nationally ranked wrestling program, so we knew it was going to be a battle.”
To make matters even tougher for Wilder and his Camden County grapplers, Buford was the host team for the Class 6A finals.
Camden County ultimately won 43-26.
Wilder said he felt this year’s team was as ready as they have ever been heading into the state finals, as they were fresh off of competing in one of the toughest tournaments in the country.
“Over the Christmas break, I took our team to a tournament called The Knockout in Orlando, which we had not been to in a few years,” Wilder said. “It has state champions from Oklahoma, North Carolina, Virginia, as well as the state champions from here in Georgia, and all the state champions from Florida.”
Camden County came away winners.
“We won it,” Wilder said. “Plus, that was just two weeks prior to the Georgia state duals, which rolled right into the state traditionals, so that was really big for us. It was such a tough tournament, and given that we had not been there in a few years, I wasn’t sure how we’d do. But to win there was a huge highlight for us and really gave us a good boost for the rest of the year.”
Heading into this wrestling season, Wilder said he liked his team, but there were some holes to fill before he could assess whether it would be good enough to make another championship run.
“We had five weight classes that we needed to fill with non-starters,” Wilder said. “So anytime you have a new starter, you just don’t know what they are going to do. So for all of them to be able to place in state, it looks like we haven’t skipped a beat.”
Wilder said he feels that’s the secret sauce to the success of the program.
“That’s the strength of Camden wrestling, that we always have tough kids fighting for varsity spots when we have seniors graduate, and whoever starts, they usually perform at a high level. We have been very fortunate these last few years.”
Does Wilder feel like he has the team to do it again next year?
“Next year we will be very senior heavy and will return 10 of the 14 starters that placed this year, but we will see,” Wilder said.
Like any champion coach, he’s not looking too far ahead yet.
“Once we get back to school in September or October, we’ll put the kids on the scales and see what we have to try to win another state championship,” Wilder said.
