Region 1-AAAAAA Duals title puts Lee County wrestling back in spotlight

The Lee County Trojan wrestling team is back in the state duals postseason spotlight.

After missing the state duals meet the last two seasons following seven straight appearances, the Trojans ended the brief drought Saturday, winning the Region 1-AAAAAA Duals in Valdosta.

The Trojans won all three of their dual matches, including a highly anticipated contest with rival Valdosta, a recent regional thorn to Lee County. The region title is the 16th for Lee County, but the first since 2014-15.

The region title allows Lee County (20-4 in duals this season) to host the opening Class AAAAAA State Prelim Duals round this Saturday. The meet starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Lee County High School gym. Tickets are $8.

The meet was supposed to be a four-team event, but Trojan coach Tom Matheny said Region 4’s No. 4 team, Lee County’s pre-drawn bracket opening opponent, might not come, making it a three-team event. The opening-round match features Effingham County, Region 2’s No. 3 team, against Grovetown, Region 3’s No. 2 team, with the winner facing the Trojans in the championship. The championship winner advances to the AAAAAA State Duals Championships on Jan. 30 at Lassiter High School in Marietta.

The Trojans enter the Prelim Duals after their first region title in six seasons.

“It was a great accomplishment because we haven’t been there in a couple of years,” said Lee County head coach Chris Morton, who along with Matheny team up to make up the Trojan Double M coaching staff. “These (wrestlers) have been doing an awesome job. They have a lot of heart.”

Both the Trojans and Wildcats, as anticipated, dominated Northside of Warner Robins and Houston County in their other matches Saturday at Valdosta’s Newbern Middle School, making their dual against each other for the region crown.

Behind solid contributions up and down the lineup, Lee County led nearly the entire match in winning 42-26 over Valdosta, which had to bump up a number of kids after one wrestler missed weight.

The Trojans earned six victories by pinfall, but perhaps just as important is they never allowed the Wildcats to seize momentum. Valdosta won six individual victories, including one forfeit, but Lee County allowed only one pin, losing the other four by decisions. The effort to force decisions gave the ’Cats just 14 points compared to a potential 24 and kept them from gaining momentum off explosive pins.

“The No. 1 key — and I have always said this — is that we cannot give up the pins,” Morton said. “Just don’t give that up and we will be in a lot better shape. That is all heart and they came through.”

The dual was the second in the three-round event. The Trojans opened with a dominating 75-6 win over Northside and Valdosta hammered Houston County 66-15 in the opening round.

The Lee-Valdosta dual began with Trojan junior Justin Gregory taking a 9-6 win over Valdosta’s Javen Moore at 145 followed by Valdosta junior Cedric Stewart, who qualified as an individual for state last year, beating Lee senior David Lowe 6-2 in the 160-pound weight class.

The Trojans then took command with victories at 170, 182 and 195 pounds to build an 18-3 advantage over the Wildcats.

Sophomore Adien Chilson, a state qualifier last year, won the 170-pound match with a pin against Joshua Wright 48 seconds into the second period and junior Bradyn Suber earned the 182-pound win by pinfall 25 seconds into the second period over Mikel Anderson.

Senior Dylan Burke faced Valdosta junior Josh McCutchen at 195 in a battle of state individual qualifiers from last year. Burke took a narrow 3-2 win, scoring all three points off McCutchen penalty infractions.

McCutchen, who finished sixth at state year, was on top of Burke a lot of the match and attempted several roll overs, but the Trojan wrestler fight through most of them, refusing to let his shoulders touch the mat for near fall back points.

“We could have lost that match just as easily, but he kept scrapping,” Matheny said of Burke’s defensive efforts. “(McCutchen) had some arm bars and cross wrist rolls, but he (Burke) fought out of them.”

Valdosta won at 220 and 285, cutting Lee County’s lead to 18-15. D’Avion Davis, a junior who qualified for state last year, earned a pin 33 seconds into the second period at 220 over the Trojans’ Reese Wright, a junior who has been wrestling for just three weeks after coming out after football. L.B. Neloms, another state qualifier last year, received a forfeit for VHS at 285.

That flipped the match to the lower weights — a strength for Lee County. Sophomore Riley Brewer, a state qualifier last year, pinned John Nelson 1:13 into in the 106-pound match and Alex Tabb pinned Gabe Sears at 120 pounds 25 seconds into the second period.

The freshman Tabb had a big day, earning all three victories by pins. He was one of only three wrestlers to win all his matches via a pin and he scored 24 points during his matches, second most to Houston County’s Lee Sutcliff’s 25.

The wins by Brewer and Tabb built the Trojan advantage to 30-15 and Lee County would hold a two-match score lead or better the rest of the way.

Lee County junior Jose (Abraham) Olalde lost the 120-pound match, but fought valiantly against Valdosta standout Darrell Rochester, a state runner-up two years ago. Olalde refused to get pinned despite Rochester having five potential pinfall situations. The Trojan junior almost went the match’s distance too before Rochester ended it with a 20-4 tech fall decision with two seconds left.

“Abraham came off the mat and told me, ‘I did not want to give up the pin,’” Morton said of a conversation as Oladle came off the mat.

“Our kids were pumped and excited at how hard he fought,” Matheny said of Olalde. “We didn’t look at that as a loss.”

The 126 match featuring Lee County junior Drake McMinn, a two-time state placer, and Valdosta’s Kaleb Davis, a state qualifier two years ago, was a controversial one that featured six caution violations, three stalling warnings, three penalty points plus one misconduct violation on the Lee County bench. Davis, behind three penalty points and a late reverse, took a 5-4 win.

Trojan junior Dallas Brewer then delivered the team-clinching win for LCHS, dominating the 132-pound weight class against Valdosta senior John Walsh, a state qualifier last year. Brewer earned a first-period takedown for a 2-0 lead and opened the second period with an immediate reverse from the bottom position, quickly turning the reverse into a pin 21 seconds into the period. The win gave Lee County an insurmountable 36-23 lead.

The victory was a part of big day for Brewer, one of the three individuals with three pins. He also earned the co-quickest pin of the six matches held, using an ankle pick takedown to help secure a 24-second pin over Northside of Warner Robins’ Andrew Jackson. Valdosta’s Tyler Lamon also had a 24-second pin at the meet.

Following Brewer’s win, Trojan senior Kobe Bailey, a state qualifier last year, earned a third-period pin over Cameron Bradley at 138. In the final match, Valdosta’s Lamon, a third-place individual state finisher last year and fourth-place finisher two years ago, took a 4-2 win over Lee senior Logan Frost at 145.

After beating Valdosta in an emotional match, Lee County didn’t let down and finished off its title with a business-like 62-18 win over Houston County. The Trojans went 8-2 in contested matches, earning six wins by pins, another by a tech fall and one by a decision in addition to receiving three forfeits.

For the day, Lee County won 24 of 31 individual matches contested, including eight in each of the three duals. The Trojans won 19 of the 24 by a pin.

In addition to Dallas Brewer and Tabb winning three matches all by pins, Riley Brewer, Gregory, Chilson, Suber and Burke went 3-0 on the day with Chilson and Suber earning two pins. Bailey went 2-0, while Oladle, McMinn, Frost and Lowe all went 2-1 with Oladle claiming two wins on pins.

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