The Oglethorpe County wrestling team posted two dual wins and closed the Doug Eberhardt Classic with a competitive loss on Friday.
The Patriots opened the meet with a 56-9 victory over Duluth and followed with a 59-17 win against Eastside before picking up a 48-33 loss to T.L. Hanna of Anderson, South Carolina, which is ranked 11th in Class 5A in that state.
In the final dual, OCHS opened the match down 18-0 after forfeiting three weight classes. The Patriots then won six of the 11 matches.
“Unfortunately, we lost that dual. But, man, it was a great high school dual meet,” OCHS coach Steve Mason said. “The tensions were high, the intensity was there, like on the edge of ‘Is this match going to turn into a fight or not?’ Both teams were into it. But at the end of the night, when the match was over, we all shook hands and had a great time and went home.”
Oglethorpe County’s earlier success was driven by consistent individual performances.
Five Patriots finished the invitational undefeated. Walker Compton went 3-0 at 106 pounds, while Luke Holbrooks, Keyvon Gresham, Paris Crowder and Kendon Brown also finished 3-0.
Mason pointed to Gresham’s recent stretch at 138 pounds as a standout.
“The last few weeks, he’s really turned it up a notch,” Mason said. “He’s always been a good wrestler, but maybe had some self doubt, and I think he's starting to overcome that and perform the way we know he’s capable of.”
Compton, a freshman, also drew praise from his coach.
“He’s an experienced wrestler, but he’s still a freshman,” Mason said. “He competed super hard and I was very proud of him.”
Several Patriots — Andrew Goller, Christian Harris, Ethan McLean, Tanner Mckie and Damien Suarez — finished with 2-1 records. Suarez, a second-year wrestler, has recorded wins over state qualifiers this season.
“He’s the most improved kid on our wrestling team, and he’s beat a few state qualifiers this year,” Mason said. “He’s close to jumping to that next level and putting himself in a conversation to be a pretty good wrestler and, I mean, he has no experience. So getting him to just believe, ‘Hey, you’re you’re good, you know you can do this.’”
Oglethorpe County competed Friday without a full lineup and has not fielded its entire roster at any event this season due to injuries or illness.
The invitational is held annually to honor Doug Eberhardt, a former Oglethorpe County wrestler and who died from cancer in 2009 at the age of 39.
“It was just a good night honoring Doug Eberhardt and his legacy, not only in Oglethorpe County as a wrestler, but just what Doug meant to our community,” Mason said. “That was special for me, special for us every year, to be able to honor Doug and what he meant to so many of us.”
The weekend also included competition for Oglethorpe County’s girls wrestlers at the Lady Panther Invitational in Jackson County. The Lady Patriots went 3-0 in dual meets Friday before competing in an individual tournament Saturday.
Oglethorpe County finished ninth out of 27 teams in the event, which included teams from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Emily Wisham and Akira Owens placed third in their weight classes, and Tori Miller finished in the top six.