ZACH Moore assured a happy ending for both himself and his team at the state wrestling meet.
In his final career match, Moore won the Class AA 120-lb. title Saturday at Gwinnett Arena to secure a sixth-place team finish for the Panthers. The team’s goal going in was to finish in the top 10.
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For Moore, it was a fitting final chapter.
“Zach deserved the state championship as much as anybody,” coach Jason Powers said. “This championship was the culmination of four years of hard work.”
Moore beat Chattooga’s J.J. Blankenship 4-2 to win the title. He reached the finals by beating Model’s Tyrell Turner, Elbert County’s LaShaun Heard and Rockmart’s Dennis Wolfe. Moore, Jackson County’s fourth champion in the last five years, had his sights set on this moment long ago.
“Zach really began to focus his sights on the state title two years ago and spent a lot of off season time on the mat,” Powers said. “After a tough state tournament last year, he worked even harder to ensure that he would be ready for the state tournament this year.”
Moore’s title highlighted a state tournament Powers described as “one crazy emotional rollercoaster for me.”
Powers called Thursday one of his toughest days as a coach at state, with only three of six Jackson County wrestlers winning in the first round.
But the Panthers regrouped.
The team started Friday action by winning all three of its consolation matches, while two of the three winners’ bracket wrestlers — Moore and Daivon Ledford (160 lb.) — moved to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, wrestlers in the consolation brackets continued to pick up points. Three of four — Michael Shekey (106 lb.), Conner Andreasen (126 lb.) and Bryan Burnette (145 lb.) — moved to the consolation quarterfinals. Burnette ended up reaching the consolation finals, where he lost to finish fourth.
Ledford lost in the semifinals and then again in the consolation semifinals before picking up a win in the fifth-place match.
Then came Saturday night when Moore capped the weekend with the individual title.
It was certainly a hard-fought senior season for Moore, who had the battle wounds to prove it. He broke his nose the day before the area tournament and cracked a tooth in his semifinals match at state.
“I always tell my wrestlers that something is going to step in your way of becoming a state champion and Zach was no different … However, he did not lose focus, and he is now the 2012 state champion at 120 lbs in AA,” Powers said.
Jackson County finished the tournament with one champion and two other placers — Burnette (fourth) and Ledford (fifth).
“This is very similar to the placement of our wrestlers last year when we finished 11th as a team, but the main difference was all of the wrestlers that we had do well in the consolation rounds that did not place,” Powers said. “Getting two wrestlers to the round before placing and the other wrestler earning points was the key to our sixth place finish as a team.”
Jackson County finished with 68.5 team points, behind only Jefferson (232), Greater Atlanta Christian (88), Lovett (87), Morgan County (85.5) and Elbert County (79) in Class AA.
With his team back in the top 10, Powers hopes this serves as a springboard for next year when the Panthers move back up to Class AAA.
“I am extremely proud of how the individuals on the team developed throughout the year and all of our hard work paid off in the end,” he said. “Next year we will be aiming for an even higher place as a team and as individuals.”
