Region 6-4A wrestling championship is Gilmer’s again
For the eighth consecutive season, the Gilmer High Bobcats are region dual champions.
Gilmer hosted the seven-team wrestling event last Saturday, which also served as a qualifier for this week’s state duals tournament.
The Bobcats posted a 2-0 record Saturday and rolled past the LaFayette Ramblers (60-17) in the semifinals before a come-from-behind win over Northwest Whitfield in the title match, 30-25.
GHS coach Josh Ghobadpoor discussed the finals, saying, “We’ve been watching Northwest all year and hadn’t had a chance to wrestle them yet, and my hat’s off to them. Just like us, year in and year out, they have a quality team and great coaches.
“They came ready to wrestle, and I feel this (Northwest) is one of the best teams to come out of our region since I’ve been a part of it (over the last three seasons). They jumped out on us, and we knew it was going to take everybody in our lineup. It feels great and this was a total team effort.”
Through six bouts, Northwest jumped ahead, 21-6. The Bruins seized momentum and were able to secure pins at 126 pounds, 152 and 160 while earning a decision at 145. Gilmer’s six points came from minor decision victories by Miguel Jacinto (132) and Brock Sumner (138).
“It really didn’t go the way we wanted, and we knew we were probably going to lose some of those, but we didn’t think we were going to give up as many bonus points,” Ghobadpoor said. “We had to battle and fight. We found ourselves in the biggest deficit we’ve had all year. Northwest has beaten all the teams that placed high at state last year, they wanted to win and we had to bring it every match.”
The Bobcats responded by winning seven of the final eight bouts as they chipped away at the Bruins’ lead.
Abel Jacinto (170) got GHS going with a 3-1 win before Caleb Waddell pinned his 182-pound opponent in just over a minute.
With the score 21-15 in Northwest’s favor, the Bruins were victorious by major decision at 195 for their final points of the match.
Behind 25-15, GHS went on a five-bout wining streak to close out its championship.
Bobcat Luke Morgan claimed a 6-2 decision at 220 pounds, and Sammy Tercero won 4-1 at heavyweight. Gustavo Morales (106) earned a 13-7 victory to trim the Bruins’ lead to a point.
With two bouts remaining, Gilmer’s Carson Bentley (113) picked up another decision, 9-4, to give GHS its first lead of the match, 27-25.
Senior captain Lucas Lopez (120) cemented Gilmer’s region title with a commanding 9-2 win.
“We battled back,” Ghobadpoor said. “It’s a testament to our guys for never giving up. It would have been very easy to get down on ourselves when we were behind 21-6.
“We kept trying to get the guys motivated so they didn’t get down and deflate. We just wanted to remind them we’re in it until we’re not, despite the scoreboard.”
The Bobcats mowed through LaFayette in the semifinals.
Carson Bentley, Lopez, Sumner, Waddell and Dylan Galloway (195) all pinned. Diego Jacinto (145) and Jose Velasquez (152) both earned minor decisions, while the Ramblers forfeited to Morales, Logan Bentley (126), Hunter Brown (160) and Abel Jacinto.
Both Northwest and Gilmer will advance to this week’s Class 4A state duals in Macon, which will be held at the Macon Coliseum Thursday through Saturday. A complete schedule can be found at Ghsa.net/wrestling.
Woodward Academy secured the top seed in the 16-team field and GHS is seeded No. 2.
Gilmer’s dual record is 23-2.