JACKSON County just missed its target of advancing eight wrestlers to the state sectionals with seven qualifying during this past weekend’s Area 8-AA tournament at Elbert County.
The Panthers boasted two area runners-up, J.T. Wood (113-lb.) and Zach Moore (120-lb.), as Jackson County finished fourth in 8-AA with 133 points.
Bryan Burnette (145-lb.) and Daivon Ledford (160-lb.) added third-place finishes, while Michael Shekey (106-lb.), Lane Robertson (170-lb.) and Conner Andreasen (126-lb.) all finished fourth in their respective weight classes.
The state sectionals are this weekend in Dublin.
“I am proud of how we wrestled this past weekend,” coach Jason Powers said. “It was not our best tournament of the year, but advancing seven out of 10 wrestlers to the sectional tournament out of our area is nothing to look down upon.”
Also placing at area but not qualifying for state was Tre Velasquez, who took fifth in the 195-lb. division.
The Panthers, who finished fourth at last-year’s 8-AA traditional tournament, placed behind Jefferson (329.5), Banks County (220) and host Elbert County (204).
“The biggest thing this past weekend was to advance,” Powers said. “This weekend we must do more than that to set ourselves up nicely for the state tournament. I expect us to wrestle much more aggressive this weekend and I expect that we will do well.”
Powers said the goal now is to advance all seven Panthers to the Gwinnett Arena for the state tournament.
“This is going to be a tough task but I feel that it is very possible,” Powers said. “Our area is definitely one of the toughest in Class AA, if not the toughest. Therefore, I expect some of our three and four seeds to knock off some of the higher seeds from different areas.”
Powers points out that Jackson County is well-traveled this year as far as tournaments. The program did so to gain experience against teams from all over the state in preparation for the postseason. Powers believes that will pay off this weekend.
“Numerous of our wrestlers have already beat higher seeded wrestlers in their weight class,” he said. “This should give us somewhat of a mental edge going into the tournament. As long as we wrestle our match and not our opponents match this weekend, we should fare well at sectionals.”
