MOULTRIE – Russell Flowers won six of his seven matches to help lead the Colquitt County wrestling team to a ninth-place finish in the Minion Mania in Jefferson.
The Packers entered 14 wrestlers in the event held Friday and Saturday at Jefferson High School.
Flowers, Britton Marshall and Rafael King each took third-place finishes.
Host school Jefferson earned first place with 349 points. Brookwood was second with 315.
Colquitt County and Tift County were the only Region 1-6A teams entered.
The Packers had 180.5 points and the Blue Devils were right behind with 178.5 points.
The event drew 13 teams.
The veteran Flowers earned 41.5 team points for the Packers.
He took his first four matches, winning by tech falls over Harris County’s Christian Quinones, Bremen’s Tracy Palmer, Greenbrier’s Jack Mathieu and Mt. Vernon Presbyterian’s Keon Cleveland.
After dropping a 4-0 decision to James Bowers of West Laurens, Flowers won his final two matches.
In the consolation semifinals, he won by a tech fall over AJ Scott of Lumpkin County.
He then won the third-place match, defeating Mathieu a second time with a 4-2 decision.
Flowers is now 20-5 this season.
Marshall went 5-2 at 132 pounds.
He lost a decision in his Round 1 match to Greenbrier’s Leo Gallagher, but rallied to pin Lumpkin County’s Jacob Matthews and Tift County’s Cole Rutland.
After losing by a tech fall to Jefferson’s Roman Belardo, Marshall won his final three matches.
He pinned Brookwood’s Jac Colatosti; avenged an earlier loss by winning a 12-7 decision over Gallagher; and took a 12-6 decision over Harris County’s Tyler McGuire in the third-place match.
King dropped his semifinal match when he was pinned by Lumpkin County’s Mike Nichols.
But he won his final two matches, taking a 9-3 decision over Bremen’s Jagger Patterson and pinning West Laurens’ Jayden Watkins in the third-place match.
Ariel Quintero-Zunun at 106, Evan Flowers at 150, Alexander Barajas at 215 and Brantley Braswell at 285 each won three matches.
Also competing for the Packers were Benjamin Yingling at 120, Quinterious Mitchell at 132, Andy Sanchez at 138, Chevieyo Barber at 165, Ramsey Dennis at 190, Da’Cameron Hadley at 215 and Tammarian Sims at 285.
The varsity Packers will finish the 2024 portion of their season when they compete on Dec. 20-21 in the Knockout Tournament in Kissimmee, Fla.