Sports
Ramblers make it five
Southeast impressive with fourth-place showing at Area 6-3A duals
Wrestling in its home gym on Monday, Southeast Whitfield gave its best shot but missed qualifying for this weekend’s Class 3A state duals.
However, the Raiders did earn a fourth-place finish in the Area 6-3A duals behind Carrollton, believed by Southeast coach Neil Nichols to be the best showing at area duals in program history.
“These kids have come so far (from last year) and put so much heart into what they do,” said Nichols, whose team went 0-2 at last season’s 6-3A duals.
Runner-up Heritage-Catoosa and first-place LaFayette, winner of five consecutive area duals titles and the defending state duals champion, advance to Macon.
First-year program North Murray went 1-2 for an eight place finish in the 11-team field.
The Raiders began the meet — originally scheduled for Saturday but postponed until Monday because of inclement weather — with a 78-0 win over Cedartown but fell 40-26 to Carrollton to drop into the loser’s bracket. There, they eliminated North Murray, 50-27.
Facing Cartersville, Southeast fell behind early, 30-6, but went on an incredible run to get back into the match. Down by five heading into the final matchup, the Raiders needed a pin from 130-pound senior Alfredo Apodaca and he delivered against the Purple Hurricanes’ Ethan Alexander. Apodaca pinned Alexander in 55 seconds and the Raiders won 40-39 to advance.
“We started rolling back through,” Nichols said. “We got guys that were getting pins, major decisions and a few wins and I’m looking down (at the score) and we’re right back there in the match. These kids fought hard and represented Southeast well today.”
The win, however, was the Raiders’ last dual of the day. Heritage defeated Carrollton in the quarterfinals, knocking the Trojans into the loser’s bracket for a rematch against Southeast. The two schools didn’t wrestle again because of Carrollton’s victory in the first match, leaving the Raiders in fourth place.
Seniors Andy Pichardo (145), Cristian Perez (285) and Nick Didonato (140) went undefeated in the duals, finishing 4-0, 3-0 and 3-0, respectively.
“Our team, overall, showed a lot of heart,” Perez said. “At times, we were down but we never gave up. We just kept going after it. We definitely exceeded the expectations going in.”
Added Pichardo: “Today, I was surprised at how well we did. At the beginning of the year we struggled a little bit, but today we came together and we have improved so much since last year.”
Other top performers for the Raiders were Mario Rodriguez (119, 3-1), Tanner Phipps (160, 3-1) and Jesse Ortiz (3-1).
LaFayette defeated Heritage in the championship duals, 58-12; the Ramblers have won six titles in their past seven area duals. They haven’t lost an area dual — regular season or otherwise — since their days in 2A, when they lost to Calhoun in the 2005 6-2A area duals.
Lee Dendy, who coaches the Ramblers along with Sam Forester, is in his 10th season with the program and now has nine area duals titles spanning three classifications and three state duals titles, including the past two in 3A.
Dendy said Monday’s title win came down to experience.
“We pulled this one out with senior leadership,” he said, “dedication in the practice room and the guys before them that graduated that brought the tradition that helped them believe that they could do this.”
North Murray opened with a 48-28 loss to Ringgold and beat Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 57-21, in the loser’s bracket before being eliminated by Southeast.
North Murray’s top performers were Zach Penland (125, 3-0), Seth Stainton (130, 3-0), Jackie Abernathy (135, 3-0) and Austin Carter, who went 3-0 across three weight classes (189, 215 and 285).
Larry Cornelius was pleased with the Mountaineers’ effort.
“Overall, I thought we wrestled pretty good,” the coach said. “I’m proud of them.”
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