The McIntosh Chiefs had never lost the county duals meet.

Five days into 1999 and everything has changed. Sandy Creek and

Fayette County traveled to McIntosh on Tuesday evening for what

was typically a lesson in losing handed out by the Chiefs. Injury and

illness changed McIntosh's fate and has made the upcoming

regional tournament very exciting. Fayette County faced both

McIntosh and Sandy Creek at the county dual meet and for the first time

in ten years handed Coach Marty Hutsell and the Chiefs a loss.

McIntosh faced Sandy Creek to start the meet off and

handled them well. Carlos Dinkins, Daniel Graham and Larry

Fattarusso opened up the meet with three straight victories. John

Nieves won his match at 130 by decision by a score of 16-1. Eddie

Smith followed Nieves with a victory at 135. Sandy Creek won the

next two matches, beating Clay Carruth and Sid Braswell. Johhnny

Parmer pinned Braswell and appears to be one of Sandy Creek's top

wrestlers.

The Patriots were then forced to forfeit the matches for the

next four weight classes, due to illness and injury. The Chiefs were

without three starters due to illness as well, but, unlike Sandy Creek,

had some backup wrestlers available. In the match at 215,

Bob Suter, of McIntosh, pinned Andrew Clough.

Sandy Creek then faced Fayette County and kept it fairly

close. Out of the first seven matches, Fayette County had won four

and Sandy Creek had won three. Sandy Creek had to forfeit their

next several matches and lost. If the Patriots had a full, healthy

team, the results could have been entirely different.

In the final match of the evening, Fayette County

and McIntosh squared off. Coach Marty Hutsell was

essentially missing four starters, after Clay Carruth did not wrestle due

to illness. Coach Hutsell knew that it would make the match

very close. " It basically came down to the matches at 112 and 152,"

said Coach Hutsell. "We needed to win both of them and Daniel

Graham lost to Zach Nelson by a point." Graham had already

faced Nelson this year at the South Metro Invitational and beat him. It

will be a battle when these two warriors face off again at the

regional meet.

Carlos Dinkins continued wrestling well for the Chiefs but

Brandon Phillips, Nick Salters, Jonathan Bailey and

Landon Anderson all came through for the Tigers and won both of

their matches at the meet.

What makes the Tiger's victory on Tuesday so surprising

is that they had four freshmen wrestling for them. "I knew we had

to stay close and upset them somewhere if we were going to

win," said Coach Jim Bailey. "Zach really surprised us and fought

hard. Even the kids who did not win their matches fought hard

and avoided being pinned. It is what kept us in the lead."

Coach Hutsell obviously knew the injuries would hinder his

team but he also felt their performance was lacking. "The kids didn't

give 110 percent in various weight classes," Coach Hutsell

said. "They paid the price." McIntosh will be in the War Eagle

tournament at Woodward Academy this Friday and Saturday, while

Fayette County travels to Murray County for dual meets on

Friday and a tournament on Saturday.

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