The Gilmer Bobcats’ stellar wrestling season rolled on with a traditional region championship.
The Bobcats were in LaFayette last Saturday for the seven-team event, and not much stood between the top three teams. Gilmer ended its day with 215.5 team points to LaFayette’s 214, and three Bobcats were crowned individual region champions.
The team’s traditional title is Gilmer’s 20th in 21 seasons. Prior to last season, the Bobcats were on a 19-year traditional region title run.
“It’s really incredible over the course of two decades,” said head coach Josh Ghobadpoor, who is in his eighth season at GHS. “That’s a testament to our program, the history and tradition it has and maintaining it. At any given time, if you don’t continue to work, and current wrestlers decide not to put in the effort, you can take a downhill slide in wrestling very quickly.
“I’m just really proud of our guys for stepping up. We took a team of really hard workers and grinders and we’ve turned them into a group of pretty solid wrestlers who are earning every bit of their success. That’s pretty awesome.”
Gilmer’s title was not decided until after the heavyweight finals. In the consolation finals, a Calhoun wrestler defeated a LaFayette grappler in quadruple overtime. His win denied LaFayette more team points.
“It was a close battle the whole day,” Ghobadpoor said. “We could have (won by a little more) if we win a few of those we should have won. A couple of those were head-up losses to LaFayette, who was right there behind us by a point and a half, which is extremely close. That’s (the difference of) one match, a pin somewhere, anything pretty much. It shows everyone the value of bonus points.”
Gilmer’s champions included Manny Velasquez (120), Adolfo Bautista (132) and Braelyn Nelson (138).
Velasquez opened his tournament with a pair of pins. He squared off against Heritage’s Kaden Taylor in the finals and earned a commanding 7-1 victory.
Bautista pinned his semifinal opponent after receiving a bye. In the finals, Bautista toppled Tyler Ward of Heritage, 7-3.
Nelson enjoyed a bye as well. He rolled to a 15-0 technical fall in the semifinals. Nelson defeated LaFayette’s Isaac Hamilton in the finals with a 12-9 decision.
A quartet of Bobcats finished as runners-up and included Deyson Lopez (106), Domingo Velasquez (144), Bo Cronic (165) and Denny Ramirez (285). Both Lopez and Velasquez had first-round byes and posted 1-1 records at the tournament. Cronic and Ramirez each pinned their first two foes before their finals loss.
Bobcats Daniel Escobar (113) and Harrison Chester (150) won a match before losing in the semifinals. Each notched two victories in the consolation bracket to place third.
Also reaching the consolation finals and placing third were Alex Alonzo (126), Dawson Richard (157) and Jovani Raymundo (175). The trio all posted 2-2 records.
ylen Haley (215) was 2-2 as well and took fifth. He will serve as a sectional alternate. Bryan Loarca also compered for Gilmer at 190 pounds.
Behind Gilmer and LaFayette in the team standings were Heritage (208), Calhoun (168.5), Northwest Whitfield (141.5), Adairsville (93.5) and Ridgeland (79.5).
“We lost a handful of matches in the third period that we were winning. That’s frustrating; you obviously want to see your kids build a lead so you can finish it out,” Ghobadpoor said. “At the end of the day, we had 10 guys who had never been to a region tournament, ever. We walked away with 12 guys locking up a berth to sectionals. We did some good things and some things we need to work on, but you can’t complain a whole lot when you win a region title in a very tough region.”
Sectionals will be Saturday at Chestatee. Wrestlers who finish inside the top eight of their respective weight class will qualify for the upcoming state tournament.
“I think we have good chance of getting a lot of guys through to state. It’s a tough sectional,” Ghobadpoor said. “This year, the top eight go to state instead of top six, so the state bracket will be 16 instead of 12.”