Colquitt County wrestling team continues to excel

Published 3:24 pm Sunday, January 3, 2021

MOULTRIE – Four weight-class champions led the Colquitt County wrestling team to a fourth-place finish in the recent Hook ‘em Holiday Clash at Lambert High School.

Three members of the team were in Kissimmee, Fla., at the same time to compete in the Knockout Christmas Classic, including two of whom placed.

Colquitt County was scheduled to play host to its own annual Packer Classic on Saturday, January 2, but the event was canceled over COVID-19 concerns.

Packers coach Benjy Scarbor said he plans to send “a skeleton crew” to represent Colquitt County in the Jan. 8-9 Keystone Memorial at Fleming Island, Fla.

Colquitt County heads into the 2021 portion of its schedule with a 18-2 record.

In Kissimmee, Colquitt County placed 21st in the 52-team tournament with 56 points.

The Packers who placed in the top six were Ethan Sellers, who was fifth at 120, and Nathanial Taylor, who was sixth at 138.

Sellers was 3-1 on Tuesday, with his lone loss coming by a point in the consolation semifinals and winning by forfeit over former Florida 3A champion Noah Wadle of Bradenton Manatee.

Taylor had to win four matches on the back, three of them on Tuesday to finish sixth.

Taylor lost by tech to Woodland Cartersville’s Caden McCrary in the consolation semifinals but took an 11-5 win over Tuttle’s Reese Davis in the medal match.

Colquitt’s Austin Paradice, who wrestled at 145, finished one match short of placing.

The team from Tuttle, Okla., was first in the Knockout Christmas Classic with 215.5 points. Baylor, Tenn., was second with 197.5.

The format at Suwanee’s Lambert High in Forsyth County included four team duals last Tuesday with the eight-team tournament held the following day.

On Tuesday, the Packers defeated James F. Byrnes High of Duncan, S.C., 44-33 and Chestatee High of Gainesville 55-24 and lost to North Forsyth 51-27 and to Lambert 47-30.

Taking first place for Colquitt County in the Hook ‘em Holiday Clash were Eric Henson at 106, Gabriel Freeman at 113, James Bledsoe at 220 and Vendarion Knighton at 285.

Gi’Bril Wallace took a second-place finish at 195 and Michael Bledsoe at 152 and Dylan Holloway at 126 placed third.

Jean Garcia, Jesus Grijalva and Nelson Salaz each had fourth-place finishes and Jayson Brown and Trenton Dunbar finished sixth.

Hanson won a 12-0 major decision over Kody Garcia of Chestatee in the semifinals before taking a 9-4 decision over Camren May of Lambert in the first-place match.

Freeman won his quarterfinal bout over Dylan Seppala of Byrnes by a fall at 3:35.

In the semifinals, he took a 10-9 decision over Chestatee’s Chris Pruitt.

Freeman took first place with a victory over Christian Contreras of North Hall.

James Bledsoe won his quarterfinal bout over Caylan Kettle of Madison County by a fall at 3:16.

He was victorious in the semifinals by a fall at 2:45 over Caleb Melton of Byrnes.

In the first-place match, he won over Brennan Schneider of Lambert by a fall at 2:47.

Knighton won in the quarterfinals over Eli Edwards of North Forsyth by a fall at 1:27.

In the semifinals, he needed just 48 seconds to win by a fall over Lambert’s Thomas Dossett.

In the first-place match, Knighton won by a fall over Byrnes’s Darrius Davis in 13 seconds.

Wallace took his quarterfinal match against over Jonathan Padilla-Espinoza of Madison County with a fall at 0.47.

In his semifinal bout, he won over Vidalia’s DeCarlos Willingham by a fall at 1:02.

In the first-place match, Wallace lost to Gabe Gosnell of Byrnes on a 5-2 decision