Commerce High School wrestlers are winning, but still have room for improvement.
Last week, the Mat Tigers rolled over Oglethorpe County Wednesday night, then won the Apalachee tournament on the weekend.
Commerce wrestling coach Kendall Love said the boys are wrestling better, but still have some more work before the Area Duals in January. The key element that Love wants to improve on is the physical prowess of his grapplers.
“We are still losing some matches that I felt like we should have won,” Love said. “I feel like part of the problem is we are just not in wrestling shape yet.”
Commerce has two more matches this week before the break to help prepare the team for the Jan. 9 Area Duals.
“We will continue to work hard over the break getting ready for the Area Duals in early January,” said Love.
Friday night, the Mat Tigers host Stephens County and White County. The match begins at 5 p.m.
On Saturday, Commerce travels to Madison County to compete in the Madison County Duals starting at 9:30 a.m.
Last Wednesday, Commerce grapplers won 70-10 over Oglethorpe County. Putting the Tiger grapplers on top were varsity match winners Addison Davis, Doug Maloch, Trea Edwards, Casey Drinkard, Jon Cash, Dustin Mcclain, Justin Askey, Tyler Austin, Terrence Martin, Andrew Minish and Jake Hill.
At the Apalachee Invitational this past weekend, the Tigers faced several higher classification schools, but scored 659 points for a tournament win, 40 points over Apalachee’s 616 and over 100 points above North Hall with 547.
Love said that he felt the wrestlers were wrestling better, and a lot of the guys competed in as many as nine matches during the tournament.
Commerce posted four first places from Casey Drinkard (135 pounds), Nick Arostegui (140 pounds), Phillip Edwards (152 pounds) and Thomas Sears (160 pounds).
The Mat Tigers picked up three second-place finishes from Doug Malcoh (125 pounds), Jon Cash (145 pounds) and Josh Streetman (189 pounds).
Addison Davis (119 pounds) and Terrence Martin (171 pounds) won third places.
Other finishes for Commerce include Andrew Minish, fourth place at 215 pounds; Trea Edwards, fifth at 130; and Jake Hill, fifth place at 285.
