Gilmer High received a dose of dual and traditional wrestling ahead of Christmas break.
The Bobcats were in Cumming last Tuesday to take on Forsyth Central and Dawson County, and GHS earned respective wins of 48-30 and 64-6.
The host Bulldogs compete in Class 7A, and while they have made improvements in recent seasons, Gilmer began the dual with a 33-0 lead. The Bobcats lost three of the last four bouts where FCHS was able to secure bonus points.
GHS stormed ahead versus Dawson 52-0 and won 13 of 14 bouts, which included a pair of Tiger forfeits. In both duals, Gilmer took the mat with reserve wrestlers at several weight classes.
“We knew Forsyth has gotten better, and Dawson is much improved,” said head coach Josh Ghobadpoor. “The Forsyth match was kind of like the Haralson County match (from a week earlier). We got a really big lead but had a couple matches that were 12-point swings. It was still a good margin of victory, but we need to be able to close out a little better.
“Last year, Dawson had seven wrestlers at area, and they rolled out about 38 guys. It was a big turnaround in terms of numbers and quality of the kids and athletes. We were ready for it to be a tough matchup and knew we had to wrestle hard and did really well across the board.”
The victories improved Gilmer’s record to 21-7 on the season.
GHS headed west to Armuchee Thursday and Friday for the Garvin Edwards Hall of Fame Classic.
GHS filled 13 of 14 weights for the 16-team traditional tournament. Four Bobcats reached the finals and three claimed first place. Gilmer finished second in the team standing behind Gulf Shores, Ala., while Bremen and Ringgold tied for third.
“We wrestled well in some weights and in some others it showed we have some things to work on and improve on individually,” Ghobadpoor said. “We had eight in the top four, 10 in the top six, and we feel good about what some of those guys did.
“Gulf Shores had a very good squad, and we probably weren’t going to catch them. We had a couple starters at home, but the mat time for our guys was great.”
Gilmer’s champions included seniors Bregan Berry (132 pounds), Lleison Puac (144) and Carson Farist (165). Berry achieved his 100th career win at the event, and Puac’s title was his first.
Sophomore Manny Velasquez (113) reached the finals as well and was in control of his opponent. However, he endured an injury and was forced to retire from the match and placed second. Velasquez has one of the top winning percentages on the team, and he will be sidelined indefinitely, according to Ghobadpoor.
Bobcat freshman Braelyn Nelson (120) won the consolation finals for third place. Seniors Israel Francisco (175) and Bryson Shubin-Gibbs (215) finished fourth. Gilmer senior Alex Raymundo (138) and sophomore Bo Cronic (157) both placed inside the top six.
Teams were permitted to enter additional nonscoring wrestlers outside of the starting lineup, and Jovani Raymundo (165)was fourth.