MOULTRIE – Back on December 7, Randy Smith won by technical fall in Colquitt County’s final match to defeat Cook 38-37 and give the Packers the championship of the Blue Devil Duals in Tifton.
On Saturday, the Packers again trailed the Hornets in the final match with a championship on the line.
This time, it was sophomore Evan Flowers who pinned his Cook opponent in the final match at 150 pounds to give Colquitt County a 42-41 win and the Packer Classic title.
“That was back-and-forth, really a fun match,” Colquitt County coach Benjy Scarbor said after his Packers got its second last-chance victory over the season over a strong Cook team.
“I was really happy with how we did. We made some mistakes, made some errors, but hopefully we’ll get them corrected by the region duals.”
After defeating all five of their opponents on Saturday, the Packers are now 10-0 in dual matches as they prepare for this Saturday’s Region 1-6A duals at Camden County.
Colquitt will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the region duals.
Defending region and state champion Camden County will be the No. 1 seed, but with six teams in the region, both the Nos. 1 and 2 teams will draw first-round byes.
Richmond Hill has been the No. 2 seed the last two years, Scarbor said, noting that it will be more advantageous to be second this year because it earns a bye.
If the Packers are No. 3, they will face No. 6 Lowndes in the first round.
No. 4 Tift County and No. 5 Valdosta will square off in the other first-round match.
The top two teams from the region duals will advance to the state duals that will be held Jan. 17-18 at Buford.
Colquitt’s five seniors – DaCamron Hadley, Logan Paradice, Rafael King, Russell Flowers, Matthew Dillon and Ramsey Dennis – were honored before Saturday’s competition began.
The Packers opened with a 65-18 win over Berrien High getting pins from Hadley, Paradice, King, Dennis, Russell Flowers, Evan Flowers, Tray Gomez and Brantley Braswell.
Colquitt had little trouble with Lowndes, winning 54-19 in the second round.
Ware County has a competitive team this season, but fell to the Packers 51-24.
A 49-29 win over Thomas County Central sent the Packers to the first-place match against Cook.
The Packers trailed the Hornets 41-24 with three matches left, but got pins from Britton Marshall at 138, Gomez at 144 and, finally, from Evan Flowers at 150 for the win.
Ware finished third, Veterans was fourth and Tift County was fifth after defeating Lowndes 38-36 in its final match.
Evan Flowers pinned four of his five opponents in the Classic.
Paradice, who wrestled once at 150 and four times at 157, ran his record to 27-0 this season by pinning four of his opponents and winning by a technical fall in his other bout.
The two-time state champion is ranked No. 2 in the nation at 144 pounds by FloWrestling.
Russell Flowers also went 5-0 on Saturday at 165 pounds.
Marshall was 4-0 at 138 and Gomez was 3-0 at 138 and 144. Dillon was 3-0 at 215.
King went 4-1 at 190 and Cristobal Camarena was 3-1 with three pins at 126.
Also wrestling for the Packers were Ariel Quinteroa Zunun, at 106; Ben Yingling, 120; Cruz Grijalva, 126; Thomas Davis, 113; Jayden Sharp, 157; TyMyhr Moore, 285; Alexander Barajas, 215; and Ryder Wilson, 138.
The Packer Classic drew 10 teams, also including Veterans, Lee County, Cairo and Tift County.
The varsity boys will not be the only Colquitt County wrestlers competing this weekend.
The eight-member Colquitt County girls team will compete in area duals competition on Friday at Houston County.
Although several Lady Packers have competed individually in the past, this year will mark the first time a Lady Packers team has competed in an area event.
Representing Colquitt County will be London Coleman, Hanly Bautista, Candelaria Tercero, Aileen Martinez, Lillian Brown, Marley Armstrong, Allison Quiroz and Lesley Tercero.
Quiroz and Candelaria Tercero turned in second-place finishes last Friday in the Lady Packers Classic.
Brown finished third.
The state girls duals championships will be held January 25, at Lumpkin County High School.
Also on Friday, Colquitt County held the Junior Varsity Packer Classic.
Colquitt’s Quin Mitchell won all three of his matches to take first place at 132 pounds.
Paul Milligan, at 175, and TyMhyr Moore, at 285, had third-place finishes.
Putting on the two-day wrestling event was stressful and time-consuming, but Scarbor praised the parents, fans, seven local restaurants and assistant coaches Wilder Elliott, Brett Little, Rose Harrell and Triniti Sumner for pitching in to make the Packer Classic a success.