Several of the DeKalb wrestlers who finished in the top two at the DeKalb County Wrestling Championships moved on to the State Sectionals this weekend.
This weekend’s GHSA State Sectionals feature 130 wrestlers (117 boys, 13 girls) from DeKalb County schools as they vie for a spot in the GHSA Traditional Wrestling State Tournament next week.
Dunwoody ran away with the Region 4-6A Region title with 350 points compared to 234 by St. Pius and qualified 14 wrestlers for the State Sectionals beginning Saturday at Houston County High School.
The host Wildcats picked up wins in the 165 and 215 classes to key the win. Alex Gromatzky defeated Alex Romano of St. Pius by fall to capture the 165 title for the first of the two wins. Luke Cole also picked up a win by pin fall as he knocked off South Cobb’s Jeremy Fahie.
Dunwoody went on to pick up seven second place finishes three third and two fourth to wrap up the title as they advanced a wrestler in each class to the State Sectional A.
Lakeside’s Bennett Hammett finished third in the 144 class to earn a spot in the State Sectional at Houston County.
Region 4-5A
Six gold medal finishes fueled The Tucker Tigers to the Region 4-5A title with a 61-point margin of 193 total to second place Decatur’s 132 in the event hosted by Chamblee High School.
Arabia Mountain was third with 124 points followed by Lithonia (117), Chamblee (76) and Martin Luther King Jr. (52).
Tucker’s Sergio Romero got the Tigers off to the early start by defeating Ian Cooper 8-5 in the 106 class. Nicholas Smash won at 120 and Prachan Dahal grabbed the top spot in 126.
The Tigers also took wins at 138 by Imraan Mumin (fall), 190 by Andrew Moreau (fall) and Antez Starks at 285 (fall). The Tigers also picked up points along the way with two silver medal finishes, four bronze and on fourth place to qualify 13 wrestlers for the State Sectional A at Harris County High School on Saturday.
Arabia Mountain put seven Rams into the sectional led by first place finishes from Zion Burroughs (113, fall), James Carter (157, 4-0 decision) and Langston Blakely (175, fall). The Rams also had three runner-up finishes and one third place along the way.
Lithonia finished fourth overall in the team standings but pushed nine Bulldog wrestlers into the State Sectional A. Obi Ndidi led the way with a win in 215 (fall). Three Bulldogs picked up silver medals, two bronze and three fourth place finishes.
Region 6-4A
The Southwest DeKalb Panthers (167.5) and Stone Mountain Pirates (159) finished second and third, respectively, in the Region 6-4A Tournament team standings while placing nine wrestlers each into the Class 4A State Sectional B at Chestatee High School on Saturday.
Southwest DeKalb’s push to state involved three first place finishers in Jordan Allen (126, 10-3), Isaiah Scott (215, 6-3) and Amir Ferguson (285, 2-1). The Panthers had four second places, one third and one fourth place on the day at Holy Innocent’s.
Stone Mountain’s performance included a win by Dontavious Perry at 106 (10-6) along with a second place, five third place finishes and two in fourth.
Stephenson came in fourth in the team standings and qualified seven wrestlers for the sectional. Badesire Lubala (157, fall) and Jalen Diggs (165, fall) panned out with gold on the day. Three Jaguars garnered silver medals along with a bronze and a fourth-place finish.
Miller Grove finished sixth overall led by a gold medal performance from Tyrone Williams (144, 9-7). Quinton Stevens (132) won silver and Joshua Bowden (175) earned a bronze to give the Wolverines three qualifiers.
Druid Hills also put three through to the sectional including gold medal winners Deonte Smith (120, technical fall, 21-3) and EhteeKaw Soe (150, fall). Linden Franklin was fourth in 106 to also qualify for the sectional.
Clarkston got a third-place finish by Abdul Panjshiri (113) and a fourth place by William Housch (126) to qualify both for the sectional.
Region 5-3A
The Cedar Grove Saints finished third in the Region 5-3A tournament behind Bremen and Adairsville while qualifying eight wrestlers for the Class 3A Sectional B at Coahulla Creek High School on Saturday.
The Saints got three silver medal performances by Kierre Kelley (126), Carlton Reed (132) and Abdul Hawkins (285) as three of their six qualifiers. Semaj Piotter (150), Zachariah Carter (157), Cameron Tinch (190) and Paul Banks (215) all picked bronze medals to move on to the sectional. Christopher Jacobs (165) moved on to sectionals with a fourth-place finish.
Region 5-AA
Columbia (7), McNair (7), Redan (7) and Towers (5) combined to qualify 26 wrestlers for the Class 2A Sectional B at Putnam County High School on Saturday.
Columbia (119) had the best performance finishing third in the region behind Callaway (129) and Eagle’s Landing Christian (120). The Eagles picked up three gold medals by Mickel Huerta (120, fall), Thawbaan As-Siddiq (144, fall) and Pharrell Griffin (175, fall).
Columbia also had one silver, two bronze and on fourth place finish to add to the scoring.
McNair took fifth with 104 points powered by William Underwood’s gold at 157 along with two silver, two bronze and two fourth place finishes.
Redan tied McNair with 104 points in the team standing led Amadou Dieye’s gold at 126 (fall) coupled with one silver, two bronze and three fourth-place finishes.
Towers picked up 99.5 points to finish just behind its DeKalb counterparts in seventh powered by gold medal performances by Javari Greene (132) and John Griffin (138). Two silver medals and one bronze were also brought home by the Titans.
GIRLS – Area 4
In the All-Classification Girls Area 4 Tournament DeKalb picked up 13 qualifiers led by Stone Mountain which finished second with 57 points behind Shiloh (66).
Stone Mountain picked up three gold medals including Naw Htoo (100, pin), Say Paw (110, pin) and Jessica Denkamba (135, pin). The Lady Pirates also earned a bronze by Nishimwe Alice (125) to qualify four for the state sectional at Harris County this weekend.
Arabia Mountain and Stephenson tied for 12th with 29 points with the Lady Rams picking up a gold by Aniya McIver (155), a silver by Ariyonna Amin-Williams (170) and a fourth place by Brook Freeman (140). Stephenson pulled out a silver by Chan’Niyah Byrd (235) and a bronze by Cherish Jackson (170) to pick up two qualifiers.
Southwest DeKalb, Clarkston, Lithonia and Towers all qualified one wrestler for sectionals. Southwest DeKalb’s Ayla Evans claimed gold at 235 (pin). Lithonia’s Serenity Evans (120) and Towers Laniyah Walker (140) both wrestled to silver medals and Clarkston’s Nawada Adam (130) finished fourth.
See links below for Region/Area Results and all State Sectional qualifiers: