Woodland wrestlers win Region 7-AAAAA Duals; Cass and Adairsville advance to state

January 7, 2023

Three of the four local high school wrestling teams earned trips to the GHSA State Duals Championships by finishing first or second Saturday at region or area tournaments.

Woodland won the Region 7-AAAAA championship held at Cass with the host Colonels finishing as runner-up.

In the semifinals, the Wildcats defeated Calhoun 65-12 while the Colonels downed Dalton 38-33.  Woodland then edged Cass 36-34 in the finals to collect the title. Cass went on to defeat Calhoun 46-33 to determine the true region runner-up.

Disregarding forfeits, Woodland’s Nathan Cates (138 pounds), Hayden Santora (144/150), John Gill (215), and Sebastian Garcia (285) each went 2-0 on the day in their bouts. Amari Kinnemore (106) and Owen Jones (190) both won their only contested bouts and had one win by forfeit.

Cass wrestler A.J. Piatt was undefeated in his bouts at the Region 7-5A Duals.

Cass wrestlers Hunter Barrett (113), Lee Camp (120), Luka Jensen (126), AJ Piatt (144), Mason Tompkins (157), and Kriecg Roe (165/175) each won all three of their bouts on Saturday. Rowdy Duck (132) was 2-0 and had one win by forfeit.

Cartersville won one of three matches at the Region 7-AAAAA Duals and placed fourth.

Talan Nix was one of three Cartersville wrestlers to go 3-0 at the Region 7-5A Duals.

The Canes' win was a 42-39 victory over Dalton. The losses were both to Calhoun.

Will Benson, Talan Nix, and Grey Williams were all 3-0 in their bouts. Eaiden Neal won his only bout for the Hurricanes.

At the Area 5-AAA tournament at Bremen High School, Adairsville finished runner-up to the host Blue Devils.

The Tigers defeated Cedar Grove (78-6), Douglass-Atlanta (72-12), and Sandy Creek (66-18) in the first three rounds before falling to Bremen 49-25 in the championship match.

Howard Bailey (157) and Jett Johnson (285) both went 4-0 on the day for the Tigers.

Woodland and Cass will advance to the 16-team Class AAAAA State Duals Tournament on January 19-20 at Jefferson High School.

Adairsville advances to the 16-team Class AAA State Duals Tournament on January 19-20 in Dahlonega at Lumpkin County High School.