Mat Leopards head to Choo-Choo

Region wrestling power, Jefferson, put five wrestlers through to first place and took the overall team title, followed by North Gwinnett and Gilmer County. Locust Grove placed fourth and hosting team Jackson County made it in at fifth.

Earlier at the Oglethorpe Patriot Classic Dec. 1 Banks County placed second as a team, behind the number one Jackson County Panthers.

Banks County had several placers in the Patriot Classic, including tournament champions Jordan Waters (119) Francisco “Moon Pie” Hurtado (135) and Jeremy “Corn” Greenway (171).

Earning second place finishes were Mason Patton (112) and Blake Reynolds (285). Viet Pham (130), Wes Faulkner (145), Hayden Dilbeck (160) and Tyler Flanagan (285) each placed third. Coming in at fourth were Taylor Wood (103), Kyle Ruark (125), Andy Baker (130) and Joe Denton (189).

Also during last Wednesday’s matches, Banks County faced Jonesboro and White County.

Defeating Jonesboro 68-6, Wood, Patton, Waters, Hurtado, Andy Baker, Tristen Guthrie, Javier Padron, Dilbeck, Kyle Standridge, Phillip Dean and Tyler Flanagan each received wins in the match.

However, White County came away with the upper hand against the Leopards, defeating Banks 47-25. Wood, Patton, Waters, Pham and Dilbeck earned wins over White County.

“We have been missing four to six former starters all season,” coach Kasey Hanley said, “We were missing six against White and Jonesboro.”

While the wrestlers still work through the early season schedule, the clock is ticking down to the first week in January and the Area team duals.

Banks County still has two more tourneys before Area as well as a pair of tri-matches to use as preparation.