Gilmer High wrestlers earned another tournament title ahead of Thanksgiving.
The Bobcats made the trip to Woodstock last Tuesday for the Etowah Duals. GHS took the mat for five matches and came out ahead each time, and the Bobcats improved their seasonal record to 12-1.
Gilmer head coach Josh Ghobadpoor assessed the Cats’ second top placement of the season.
“It was a good tournament for us, and we rebounded after taking a loss the previous Saturday,” he said. “We were down a couple guys who could have helped us. We looked sharper and a little more crisp. It was a quick turnaround from the last tournament.”
The event followed the format of most dual tournaments, and the 10 teams were split into pools of five. Gilmer filled two of its 14 starting spots with backups, and multiple wrestlers were still following their weight descent plan and not yet in their preferred weight class.
GHS got its first win over former region foe Northwest Whitfield, 63-12.
“The day started off well. This was the second tournament out of three where we’ve had Northwest Whitfield in the beginning,” Ghobadpoor said. “When we wrestled them at the Alexander Duals, we came out flat, and at this one we were ready to wrestle.”
Next up was Class 2A’s Pepperell. Gilmer started the match with two pins before PHS reeled off five straight wins for a 24-12 edge. GHS lost just one of the remaining seven bouts for a 48-27 victory. However, Gilmer did suffer a loss when junior Diego Jacinto was illegally slammed, injured and unable to wrestle in the remaining three duals.
“We ended the match with pins by Dylan Galloway (220), Tony Olea (285), Juan Rafael (106), Carson Farist (113) and Arturo Gonzalez (120). It was a little bit frustrating Diego got banged up for no reason. It was a close match that could have gone either way, and you don’t want to see things end that way,” said Ghobadpoor.
The Bobcats faced Class 6A River Ridge next, who were short four wrestlers and forfeited 24 points to GHS. The Bobcats gladly won the rest earning bonus points along the way for an 81-0 rout. Gilmer then defeated the host Eagles (52-18) to earn a spot in the championship.
“Etowah is going to be a top 10 Class 7A program and maybe better than that. It was a really good win for us, and we wrestled really well right there,” Ghobadpoor said.
The championship match pitted the Bobcats against the Creekview Grizzlies. Sophomore Bobcat Bregan Berry (126) earned a pivotal win that helped GHS come out on top, 39-33.
“Creekview won state in 6A two years ago and are a tough team,” said Ghobadpoor. “They’ve been one of the better teams in this area over the past 10 years. That win won the duals for us.
“There are still a lot of things we need to improve on. This week we’ll have four weight class changes, and that is exciting knowing we’re going to have our strongest lineup of the year coming in Saturday.”
As for individual performances, Ghobadpoor noted, “I was really proud of Bregan. He had a great tournament overall and went 5-0 on the day. He beat a kid (from Northwest) he lost to two weeks ago. I went up and asked him, ‘Hey, do you want this matchup?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it,’ and he went out and pinned the kid.
“Another big factor was Juan Rafael back at 106, and he was 5-0, too. He had four pins and a tech. Having a kid like that who you can throw back into the lineup was really big.”
The junior varsity Bobcats also returned home with a first-place trophy. They were 3-0 on the day and defeated Cartersville, Etowah and Paulding County.
The North Murray Duals are next for GHS, and the event is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.