Invading armies

Arab, Bob Jones wrestlers come into Calhoun County and win; Bob Jones sweeps through Clint McCall Duals, beating Oxford in finals, Arab grapples through Death Valley

By East Alabama Sports Today

Reigning state champion Arab put wrestlers in the finals of 10 of 14 weight division and won four individual titles to take Alexandria’s Grappling in Death Valley in standings that were strikingly similar to last year’s Class 1A-5A state championship.

The Knights scored 555.5 points to win the 16-team tournament Saturday. Cleburne County was second (429) and the host Valley Cubs were third (360). Only third-place Tallassee was missing from the top four from last year’s state championship tournament.

Arab won at 120, 138, 145 and 285, and finished second at 106, 113, 126, 160, 170 and 220.

Alexandria also won four weight divisions – 126, 132, 160, 195 – while Cleburne County and Weaver won two each. Lincoln and Homewood won the other titles.

Weaver freshman Cody Souder, the 106 champion, won the award for the most pins while winning winning the first championship of his high school career. Souder, the younger brother of three-time state champion Nick Souder, scored five pins in a total time of 6 minutes, 42 seconds.

His first three pins didn’t go any more than 34 seconds. He pinned Arab’s Jacob Holland, one of four wrestlers with four pins, in the final.

“It felt great to win my first one and get the most pins award also,” Souder said. “I’ve still got some stuff to improve on, but overall it was a great day.”

Alexandria’s Christian Knop won the loaded 195 division with four more first-period pins and a 7-2 decision in the final. Knop is now 15-0 for the season — extending his winning streak to 129 matches — with 13 pins, all in the first period and nine, like the four Saturday, in the first minute.

Weaver’s 220 champion Caleb Allison and Cleburne County’s 152 champion Shane Beason also had four pins in the tournament.

Bob Jones wins convincingly

Oxford reached the finals of its Clint McCall Duals Tournament, but was turned away in the championship match by Bob Jones 55-16.

The Yellow Jackets handily won their three pool matches – Stanhope Elmore (63-14), LaGrange (66-12) and Gulf Shores (51-18) – and reached the finals with a 36-33 win over Benjamin Russell.

Oxford coach Matt Hicks was pleased with the way his team performed in the pool portion, but the final two matches “we didn’t compete like we’re capable.”

The Yellow Jackets were down nine points in the semifinal match with two bouts to go and got pins from Chase Hicks at 113 and Landon Burrage (in 36 seconds) at 120 to pull it out.

“Those kids have been there before,” Hicks said. “We needed a pin and a win. We had a freshman who was fourth in the state last year get a pin and a junior who finished fourth also got a pin and that’s how we won that. I felt pretty good going into those two matches. The problem was we didn’t perform. We put ourselves in a position we shouldn’t have put ourselves in.”

It was all Bob Jones in the final. The Patriots won 11 of 14 weight classes, many in convincing fashion, which is about the way they wrestled the entire tournament. They reached the finals by beating Heard County (70-12) and Cedartown (70-10) in pool play and Troup County (46-26) in the other semifinal.

“We lost to Troup County early in the year; it was really important to get the win over them,” said Bob Jones coach Matt Sweatman, the former Ohatchee coach. “All of our guys competed really hard and four back-ups stepped up for some injured guys we were missing.”

Matt King (160), Jakob Chisolm (126) and Wesley Slick (132) won matches for Oxford in the finals. Chisolm went 5-0 in the event with five pins. King also went 5-0, with three pins, a major decision in the title match and a forfeit.

“We are nowhere close to where we need to be or should be; that is completely on me,” Hicks said. “I would be finish finishing fifth if we wrestled well, but we didn’t.

“It is my responsibility to have them ready and I didn’t. I need to look at what we are doing in practice because it isn’t working. I have great kids. They deserve better.”

CLINT McCALL DUALS
Championship Match
Bob Jones 55, Oxford 16
138 – Parker Snyder (Bob Jones) dec. Reed Hill, 6-5
145 – Jordan Whalen (Bob Jones) major dec. Carson Lindsey, 13-0
152 – David Onquit (Bob Jones) pinned Steven Chavero, 1:04
160 – Matt King (Oxford) major dec. Ricky Dean Scoggins, 16-5
170 – Cal Francovitch (Bob Jones) TF over Drake Boyles, 16-0
182 – George Francovitch (Bob Jones) pinned Brock Killian, 1:01
195 – Harold Gilmore (Bob Jones) won by forfeit
220 – Seth Dupree (Bob Jones) pinned Matthew Muncher, 3:26
285 – Caleb Lawson (Bob Jones) pinned Kobe Shumaker, 1:45
106 – Ethan Bordelon (Bob Jones) pinned Kaleb Shelton, 3:27
113 – Zaderian Toney (Bob Jones) major dec. Chase Hicks (Oxford), 13-3
120 – Kevin McGhaw (Bob Jones) dec. Landon Burrage, 3-0
126 – Jakob Chisolm (Oxford) pinned Zaevian Toney, 5:26
132 – Wesley Slick (Oxford) won by forfeit

GRAPPLING IN DEATH VALLEY
Team scores: Arab 555.5, Cleburne County 429, Alexandria 360, Ranburne 273.5, Weaver 269, Bob Jones 261.5, Ashville 260, Homewood 256, Piedmont 236, Wellborn 234, Lincoln 206, Southside 160, Hoover 111, ASB 69.5, Talladega 56, Ohatchee 41.

106 Results
Championship Match: Cody Souder (Weaver) 11-0, Fr. pinned Jacob Holland (Arab) 22-1, Fr. (2:49)
3rd Place Match: Brady Denham (Wellborn) 15-1, Fr. pinned Nick Spears (Ashville) 13-5, Fr. (2:25)

113 Results
Championship Match: Austin Creamer (Lincoln) 12-0, So. def. Joseph Martin (Arab) 20-3, Jr. (Inj.)
Third place Match: Landon Broome (Hoover) 12-6, So. dec. Aden Whittaker (Alexandria) 7-4, Fr. (12-3)

120 Results
Championship Match: Dakota Collins (Arab) 17-4, So. def. Jaden New (Alexandria) 8-1, 8th. (DQ)
Third place Match: Myles Lucas (Hoover) 11-7, So. pinned Bailey Henry (Ranburne) 9-5, Jr. (2:07)

126 Results
Championship Match: Kaleb Matthews (Alexandria) 8-1, So. dec. Bronson Jackson (Arab) 16-5, 8th. (8-4)
Third place Match: Dazhoen Finley (Lincoln) 8-3, So. dec. Namath Pitts (Wellborn) 10-5, Jr. (1-0)

132 Results
Championship Match: Fletcher Swindall (Alexandria) 9-0, Jr. pinned Matthew Williamson (Cleburne County) 8-2, Fr. (1:15)
Third place Match: Koby Edge (Ashville) 6-2, Sr. pinned Michael Ford (Homewood) 7-6, Jr. (3:18)

138 Results
Championship Match: Garrett McClendon (Arab) 21-2, Jr. dec. Preston Jarrell (Cleburne County) 11-1, Sr. (6-5)
Third place Match: Jacob Johnson (Hoover) 3-1, pinned Dylan Harris (Ashville) 7-7, 8th. (0:58)

145 Results
Championship Match: Clay Jones (Arab) 22-0, Sr. dec. Zachary Williamson (Cleburne County) 11-1, So. (SV-1 5-3)
Third place Match: Tyquavious Jones (Bob Jones) 13-2, Jr. pinned Dalton Mckay (Ashville) 13-4, Jr. (2:30)

152 Results
Championship Match: Shane Beason (Cleburne County) 11-0, Jr. pinned Christian Doss (Piedmont) 3-1, Jr. (4:59)
Third place Match: Johnathan Morgan (Arab) 13-5, Jr. pinned Mason Vann (Ashville) 11-5, So. (0:27)

160 Results
Championship Match: Aaron Whittaker (Alexandria) 11-0, Sr. TF over Patrick Harden (Arab) 14-5, Sr. (17-2)
Third place Match: Matthew Lindsey (Wellborn) 13-4, Jr. pinned Roy Streiff (Homewood) 6-8, Fr. (0:23)

170 Results
Championship Match: John-Mark Crocker (Homewood) 16-5, Fr. dec. Sam Atchley (Arab) 9-3, So. (4-3)
Third place Match: Geordan Carter (ASB) 15-3, Jr. pinned Cameron Tillman (Ashville) 12-4, So. (1:59)

182 Results
Championship Match: Cade Smith (Cleburne County) 11-0, Jr. dec. Caleb Russell (Weaver) 8-1, Jr. (10-6)
Third place Match: Nick Mothersele (Bob Jones) 10-4, Jr. dec. Brandon Howard (Arab) 18-5, Jr. (18-8)

195 Results
Championship Match: Christian Knop (Alexandria) 12-0, Jr. dec. Carlos Miguel Figueroa (Homewood) 18-1, Jr. (7-2)
Third place Match: Christian Seale (Cleburne County) 10-2, So. dec. Hamza Dorsey (Bob Jones) 5-2, Sr. (6-4)

220 Results
Championship Match: Caleb Allison (Weaver) 10-0, Jr. pinned Jack Tindall (Arab) 17-3, Sr. (2:37)
Third place Match: Evan Cooper (Piedmont) 5-1, Jr. pinned Gaje Hull (Ashville) 13-4, Sr. (1:34)

285 Results
Championship Match: Gage Mason (Arab) 14-7, So. pinned Josh Guyton (Bob Jones) 6-2, So. (5:59)
Third place Match: Brandon Rogers (Cleburne County) 8-3, So. dec. Levi Ledbetter (Ranburne) 10-3, Jr. (3-1)

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