The Colquitt County Wrestling team may not be the highest ranked team in the nation, but they have plenty of potential. Last weekend, the Packers traveled up to Lawrenceville, GA to take part in the Archer Summer Duals tournament. The tournament takes place at the new Archer High School and 30 teams can participate; it is 10 mats and 12 dual teams. The Class AAAAAA state champion, Archer, and Class AAAA champion, Gilmer County, were both participants in the tournament that the young Packers wrestling team had to compete against.
Also, they competed against Jackson County, Peachtree Ridge, Morgan County, North Hall, Buford, Southeast Whitfield, North Gwinnett, Grayson, Dunwoody, and Heritage-Catoosa.
“Our guys were challenged with the best wrestling competition the state has to offer,” Coach Evan Goff said to the Moultrie Observer. “Many of the kids we took are 9th and 10th-graders and much of our lineup has two or fewer years of wrestling experience. Nonetheless, we never backed down from any opponent and all of our guys battled through some very tough kids.”
The Packers carried a total of 17 wrestlers on the trip but only three of the wrestlers competed through a full season at the varsity level. The three wrestlers are a rising sophomore, Nicholas Jarvis, rising senior, Hayden Suggs, and rising junior Victor Castanon.
Jarvis was remarkable as he went undefeated in the tournament at 7-0 and showed what he may bring to the Packer’s tradition for the next three years. Castanon and Suggs each claimed six wins throughout the tournament. Payden Littleton, Jamal Gardner, Darrius Toombs and, Jared Collum were the other Packers that competed in the tournament and came out with a winning record. Alex Hinson, Alek Rosales, and Zach Kirkland also showed stellar performances as they all went .500 in their competitions. There were also some more young wrestlers that showed some promise for the Packer’s future such as Daniel McMillian, Mikayla Martinez, Aaron Garcia, Timmy Brinson, Deontae Edwards, Chris Newton and Kenneth Casteel.
The early tournament play should get the young team some experience heading into the new season and show what they need to work on heading into the fall.
In The Game Sports Network/June 2016/Web Only
GHSA
Colquitt County Wrestling Shows Potential in Archer
Written by: Aldean Starr
Photo(s) by Colquitt County Wrestling
