MOULTRIE – Benjy Scarbor has been a wrestling coach for some 30 years and has helped produce a number of state champions, including four who have won six titles during his tenure at Colquitt County.
And he has this to say about Packer senior Logan Paradice, a two-time high school champion who signed Wednesday to compete for the University of Northern Iowa: “He’s probably the best wrestler I’ve coached.”
Scarbor elaborated: “He has the mindset that once the whistle blows ‘I’m coming after you. It’s either me or you.’ It’s like he is daring the ref to blow the whistle.
“He’ll shake your hand afterwards, tell you nice match. But on the mats, he’s a mean man.”
Logan is the second of Jeremy and Leslie Whittington Paradice’s two sons to win a pair of state championships.
Austin, who placed four times at state meets, won his first in 2021 and a year later he and Logan both won titles representing Colquitt County High.
The younger Paradice has already begun his chase for a third championship and is 70-2 representing the Packers.
Both losses came when he was a freshman and facing senior wrestlers who went on to compete at the collegiate level.
And that is where Logan will wrestle next year after signing with Northern Iowa, which currently is ranked No. 14 in the nation in the most recent National Wrestling Coaches Association poll.
The Panthers are led by coach Doug Schwab, a three-time All-American who competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Now in his 15th season leading Northern Iowa, he has produced 13 wrestlers who have won a combined 20 All-America honors.
Logan quickly bonded with the Northern Iowa staff and was sold on the program after a visit last winter that included a snowball fight with the coaches outside his hotel.
“They are amazing people,” Logan said before a signing ceremony at the Colquitt County cafeteria on Wednesday. “They are good Christian people.
“I wouldn’t be here without God. And knowing that they have the same ideals, that drove me to Northern Iowa.”
And although it is just over 1,000 miles from Moultrie to Cedar Falls, Iowa, “I know it’s a haul. But I love the cold,” Logan said.
And the Panthers coaches won’t have to worry about their young new wrestler off the mats.
He has a 95.9 grade point average and is “a high-character guy,” Scarbor said.
Logan began wrestling at age 4 with his father providing direction and the two still have a strong relationship.
He prospered under well-respected coach Gerald Carr at Georgia’s Storm Wrestling and with Scarbor and Wilder Elliott at Colquitt County.
Logan has achieved multiple All-America honors representing Colquitt County and Storm Wrestling and last month finished third in his weight class in the prestigious and challenging Super 32 in Greensboro, N.C.
His preparation for matches always includes prayer, he said.
“I trust God,” he said. “With him I can overcome any challenge. He’s got me.”
He also has benefited from being Austin’s younger brother.
“He was my role model,” he said.
One of fondest memories is winning his first state championship as a freshman in Macon in 2022.
“That was phenomenal,” he said. “I remember running off the mat and the first thing I did was turn around and wait for him to wrestle.”
The Paradice brothers and former Packers teammate Ethan Sellers still have a strong bond. Austin and Sellers are currently wrestling at Life University in Marietta.
As a sophomore, Logan wrestled at an out-of-state school and after his return to Colquitt County, missed the early part of last season.
He has not lost a match since becoming eligible.
“He has been doing this so long, he’s prepared for what almost anyone can throw at him,” Scarbor said. “I remember when he started, he was a switch-and-inside cradle guy. Now he is a takedown artist. He doesn’t get hit with much he hasn’t seen before.”
“He’s a great kid from a great family,” Scarbor told those who attended the signing ceremony. “He’s been an inspiration to me and a joy to coach.
“He’s a kid who makes great decisions. That’s why we are all here today.”