MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County wrestling team got four top-6 finishes and took ninth place in last weekend’s Gulf Coast Clash held in the Mobile (Ala.) Convention Center.
The event drew wrestlers from 41 schools.
The Packers were led by two-time state champion Logan Paradice, who won all five of his matches to claim the 150-pound weight class.
The Packers also got one sixth-place and two fifth-place finishes.
Paradice won his first four matches by technical falls before pinning Isaac Orillion of Tampa’s Jesuit High School in the first period.
Now 12-0 in the young season and 79-2 as a Packer, Paradice won his first match over Hayden Harbin of Southside-Gadsden (Ala.) 17-2.
He took out Bryce Boothe of Fairhope in the second round 17-0.
In the semifinal, he won over Leeland Webb of Chalmette (La.) 19-2.
It only took him 65 seconds to pin Orillion, earn 32.5 team points and win the championship trophy.
Rafael King went 5-2 at 190 pounds to earn his fifth-place finish.
He won his first two bouts before being pinned by Cody Kirk of Pike Road (Ala).
After winning an 11-5 decision over Erich Smith of Jesuit, King lost in the consolation semifinals to Jude Smith of Mountain Brook (Ala.).
King claimed fifth place by pinning Wyatt Massey of Thompson (Ala.).
Veteran senior Russell Flowers won four of his six matches at 165.
He won his first match by fall and then took the next two by technical fall.
After dropping a 11-3 major decision by Brandt Babineau of Teurlings Catholic of Lafayette, La., and 10-5 decision to Jaiden Moore of Thompson, Flowers took the fifth-place match with a 12-1 major decision over Tuscaloosa County’s Airen McCoy.
Flowers is now 10-3 this season.
Britton Marshall earned 10 points by going 4-3 at 132.
After dropping his first match to Mark Evans of Catholic High by a 19-12 decision, Marshall got a bye and then won his next four matches.
But he fell in the consolation semifinal and lost in the fifth-place match 17-16 to Davis Smith of Mountain Brook.
Evan Flowers went 3-2 at 144 pounds.
Also wrestling for the Packers were Ariel Quintero-Zunun, at 106; Benjamin Yingling, at 126; Cruz Grijalva, at 126; Andy Sanchez, at 138; Tray Gomez, at 138; Randy Smith, at 144; De’Montrae Reeves, at 157; Alexander Barajas, at 215; and Tammarian Sims, at 285.
The Packers will be back on the mats on Tuesday when they travel to Douglas for the Trojan War at Coffee High.
The varsity, junior varsity and girls teams will compete in the one-day event.