HAZELHURST — Brantley County’s grappling Herons captured the Area 3 Traditional tournament here Friday at Jeff Davis.
Brantley County totaled 253 points to outdistance the 10-team field. The Herons were followed by McIntosh County Academy (191), host Jeff Davis (167.5), Bacon County (131), Charlton County (104.5), Screven County (98), Bryan County (93), Savannah Country Day (54.5), Metter (43) and and Savannah Christian (34).
BCHS, led by the individual titles of Keller Stringer (106 lbs.), Rylan Benton (120), Sawyer Grimsley (132) and Ty Hughes (215), qualified 12 wrestlers for Saturday’s (February 7) Class A Sectional “B” tournament at Toombs County High School in Lyons.
The top four wrestlers in each weight division from Areas 2, 3, 5 and 6 will vie for positions at the two-day state tournament February 11-12 at the Clayton County Convocation Center in Morrow against Sectional “A” grapplers from Areas 1,4, 7 and 8.
Stringer won his only match posting a 19-1 technical fall.
Benton posted a 2-0 mark wining both matches with technical falls. His opening match was 19-3 and the finals ended 15-0.
Grimsley went 4-0 en route to his title. He won his first two matches via pin (1:27, 1:44), posted a 12-9 decision in the semis and won the title with an 8-5 decision.
Machado recorded a pair of pins winning at the 3:41 mark and taking the championship match in 2:55.
Hughes recorded three pin wins (1:36, 3:10, 3:38) to capture his weight class. His second win came in the semis followed by the champions victory.
Finishing second were Dante Holbrook (113), Steven Roberson (126), Caden Benton (138), and Payton Perez (165).
Holbrook opened with a pin (3:25) before falling in the title match via pin (2:20).
Roberson recorded a pair of pins (1:46, 2:27) with the second coming in the semifinals. He suffered a 15-0 technical fall setback in the championship match.
Benton opened with a pin (3:49), captured his semifinal match with a 20-5 technical fall, and forfeited the championship match.
Perez pinned (1:40) his first opponent before suffering a pin loss (50 sec.) in the championship match.
Steven Cook (285) recorded a third-place finish with four victories in five matches. He won his first two matches with pins (1:01, 3:11) before suffering a pin defeat (1:07), Cook followed with a consecutive pin wins (42 sec.; 1:30) with the last coming in the third-place match.
Placing fourth were Colton Green (157) and Ethan Eunice (190).
Green followed a pin win (2:14) with a 17-2 technical fall setback in the semis and a pin loss (1:59) in the third-place match.
Eunice sandwiched losses around three victories. He opened with a pin loss (3:35) before bouncing back with three consecutive pin wins (1:24, 35 sec., 5:00). Eunice fell 104 in the third-place match.
Falling one place short of advancing were J.T. Johns (150) and Wiley Ray (175).
Johns lost his first two matches via pins (5:22, 4:26) before winning the fifth-place match with a 15-sec. pin.
Ray went 0-2 suffering a pin loss (2:37) and dropping a 7-2 decision.
