The Jackson County wrestling team turned in two strong performances last week, including a strong showing at White County.
Jackson County will next travel to Loganville this weekend to compete in the Eric Hill Memorial Friday and Saturday.
The Mat Panthers first traveled to White County last Tuesday night to wrestle North Hall, Habersham Central and White County.
Jackson County came out of the night 3-0, defeating White County in a very close match. Wrestlers winning all three of their matches on the night were Zach Moore, Ryan Shekey, Izzy Carrillo-Garcia, Jamari Davis, Charles Smothers, Ryan Howe and Austin McDonald.
Coach Jason Powers said going into last Tuesday night, he knew that White County was going to give his team an extremely tough match.
“We won the final two weight classes of the night and cinched the match,” he said. “However, the White County coach made a really classy move and did not wrestle his very tough heavyweight due to discipline issues. I know it had to be an extremely hard decision for him to make, but he gained a lot of respect from me for the move.
“This was an early season match that doesn’t matter right now, but making his star sit to discipline him will be something that hangs around in that team’s mind when the Area tournament comes up and that’s when it counts the most.”
The Mat Panthers then took a very long trip up to Dade Co. in northwest Georgia over the weekend to compete in the Brett Warren Invitational.
The team only took nine wrestlers to the one-day event, but came home with sixth place overall, about 20 points out of the top three.
Out of the nine wrestlers that made the trip, six found their way to the medal stand, including Zach Moore, who placed third in the 103 lb. class, Ryan Shekey, who placed third in the 125 lb. category, Tre’ Horton, who placed third in the 135 lb. class, Ismael Carrillo-Garcia, who took first in the 140 lb. class, Charles Smothers, who took third in the 171 lb. category and Austin McDonald, who placed fourth in the 215 lb. category.
“The trip to Dade Co. was a long one, but I think that it was well worth it,” Powers said. “It is always great to see different competition each weekend. A lot of times, if we stay in the tournaments that are right around here, we see the same teams week after week. However, traveling to Dade Co. allowed us to see different competition that we will not see again until we get to the state tournament.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
