’Hounds Region Hopes Injured by Adam Carrington-Marietta Daily Journal (with modifications by Tim Burson) February 02, 2014 MARIETTA — In Saturday’s AAAAA Region 7 traditional wrestling tournament at Kell High School, the Pope Greyhounds watched Cambridge’s Malik McNeil’s pin his opponent in the 285 lb division and the chance for an 8th straight Region championship disappear. But if the Greyhounds weren’t counting points and aware at that moment that their title hopes were dashed—their minds were probably on their fallen teammates-Tyler Haskin (132 lbs) and Zeke Weber (182 lbs)—who were being x-rayed and told of broken bones suffered in their matches Saturday at Kell. Cambridge, with five Region champions and three runner-ups out-totaled Pope with four Region champs and 4 runner-ups: 253 to 249.5. Creekview was third overall with 228.5 points, with Sprayberry and Forsyth Central tied for fourth at 125. Haskin (132 pounds) suffered a broken hand in his semifinal-round match with Kell’s Brian Link—even though Haskin finished the match with a pin. Haskin forfeited his championship match against Creekview’s Justin Goss. Minutes later Pope also lost Weber (182) who broke his leg 5 minutes into his semifinal against Northview’s Keewan Williams and couldn’t continue. The Greyhounds will be without Weber, who will undergo surgery on Sunday as Pope continues defense of its 3 consecutive state traditional championships in the coming weeks. Haskin also may be unable to wrestle again this season. Pope produced four area champions and four runners-up Saturday, but losing Haskin and Weber proved costly for the team. The Greyhounds were denied a Region title for the first time since 2007 when Cambridge, (a second-year program), claimed this championship. “Most of the kids wrestled pretty well, and we were winning the tournament,” Pope coach Jim Haskin said. “But when you lose two of your best wrestlers, you lose big points. It’s unfortunate.” Despite coming up short Saturday, Pope is expected to have strong representation with at least 9 wrestlers competing at the sectional tournament qualifier--next week at Cambridge. Josh Tazzetta, a junior, (113) captured his second Region Championship with a late third-period reversal in the championship round to win an intense 2-0 decision over Forsyth Central’s Nathan Kistler. Jake Adcock, a junior, (138) won his first-ever Region title with a technical fall over Cambridge’s Will Britain. Davis Burson, a junior, (152) pinned Forsyth Central’s Knight Bankston in 2:39 to take his first Region title. Senior-Jake Henson (160) clinched a 9-0 major decision over Kell’s Calvin Irby. With the win, Henson became Pope’s first 4 time Region Champion. Seniors-Sam Skinner (126), T.J. Collins (145), Colton Lombardy (170) joined Haskin as runners-up for the Greyhounds. Seth Gorman, a junior, (285) placed third, and sophomore Walker Yarborough (120) was fourth. While Haskin finished second in his 132 weight class, he’s not expected to participate in next weekend’s sectional at Cambridge. Pope’s powerhouse wrestling program now faces a different kind of adversity. Not only will Pope face the same Cambridge grapplers who advance from Region 7 at the East Sectionals, but 3 other regions (2, 3 and 8) will be sending their representatives who finished in the top 4 in the 14 weight divisions in those region tournaments. Early coverage reports that Clarke Central and Gainesville are each sending 12 grapplers to the East Sectional tournament at Cambridge. Last month Pope won its 3rd consecutive State Dual Championship following Creekview’s elimination of Cambridge in the AAAAAA Region 7 Duals tournament. Sprayberry will send four wrestlers to the sectional, led by Darius Burton, who won a 9-2 decision over Northview’s John Kenyon at 195. Alex Labarre (106) and Christian McLellan (220) finished second in their respective brackets, and Jacob Speeth (138) was third. “We got a couple of surprise guys come through, which was great,” Sprayberry coach David Church said. Kell didn’t have an area champions, but will send six to the sectional tournamnent. Matthew Springfield (120) and Calvin Irby (160) were second, Link and Cody Ashway (145) were third and Alec Prokop (138) and Julian Johnson (285) both finished fourth. Pope’s Junior Varsity also took second place in the Region 7 tournament. Creekview finished first among the JV teams. Details are not readily available. Callen Lombardy, Xavier Rodriguez were among the Greyhounds who claimed JV titles. Other details are not readily available. East Sectional at Cambridge Region 2 Region 3 Region 7 Region 8 Evans Greenbrier Grovetown Houston Co Jones Co Lakeside, Evans Northside, W.R. Warner Robins Effingham Co. Glynn Academy Groves Jenkins Richmond Hill Ware Co Windsor Forest Cambridge Creekview Forsyth Central Kell North Springs Northview Osborne Pope Riverwood Sequoyah Sprayberry Apalachee Cedar Shoals Clarke Central Flowery Branch Gainesville Heritage, Conyers Loganville Salem Winder-Barrow West Sectional at Allatoona Region 1 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Bainbridge Hardaway Harris Co Lee Co Northside, Columbus Thomas Co Central Creekside Drew Forest Park McIntosh Mt. Zion, Jonesboro Mundy’s Mill Northgate Ola Starr’s Mill Union Grove Whitewater Allatoona East Paulding Hiram Lithia Springs New Manchester North Paulding Paulding Co Rome South Paulding Villa Rica Woodland, Cartersville Arabia Mountain Clarkston Dunwoody Lakeside, DeKalb M.L. King Miller Grove North Atlanta Southwest DeKalb Stephenson Tucker Region 8 Results Early reports have Clarke Central’s as Region 8 champions—sending 12 grapplers to Cambridge (Region Champs freshman Justin Barnett -106; and junior Josh Williams-160. Clarke Central’s Second-place finishers are freshman Vangahly Touray-120); sophomore Patrick Isip-126; sophomore Owen Graham-(170, senior Blake Mustard-195; and junior Norman Lagos-285. Third place included seniors C.J. Laguines-145, Paul Eckhardt-152; senior Austin DeFoor-182; junior T.J. Ellison-220. Tomas Jimenez finished fourth in the 113-pound division. TWELVE RED ELEPHANTS ADVANCE: Rodney Timmons won an area title at 138 to lead 12 Gainesville wrestlers that advanced to sectionals at the Area 8-AAAAA Traditional meet Saturday at Davis Middle in Flowery Branch. Kash Jones (220) and Triston Cantrell (182) each placed second. Ken Slenoy (113), Tyrek Slenning (120), Chastin Newman (170), Anthony Costantini (195) and Edgar Arroyo (285) each took third. Fourth-place finishers for the Red Elephants were Daniel Hicks (126), Tristen Garrett (145) and Terrell Knight (152). Eric Castruitia placed fifth at 132 and will serve as an alternate. Gainesville finished third overall. Flowery Branch was second, finishing only behind Clarke Central. Area 8-AAAAA’s qualifying wrestlers advance to Class AAAAA East Sectionals on Friday and Saturday at Cambridge High in Milton Region 6 Resullts Ola qualified 10 athletes for Class AAAAA West sectionals among the top four finishers while Whitewater had nine. Whitewater had seven finalists to Ola’s six. Among them were three head-to-head battles between the Region 6 rivals at 106, 132 and 160 pounds.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 17:14:52 +0000
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