Sports Editor

The McIntosh Chiefs wrestling team, ranked seventh in the

state, participated in the Marietta duals this past weekend. They

defeated Paulding County 38-29, beat LaGrange 66-18 and

handed Chattahoochee a 41-30 loss. McIntosh then faced

Sequoyah, ranked number one in the state, and lost 57-16. "They are the

favorites to win the state tournament," said Coach Hutsell.

"They just wiped the floor with us." The Chiefs did take second

place however and they did it with one wrestler out due to illness

and another, Matt Waters, wrestling sick. The Chiefs look to

be healthy for the next two weekends. On Saturday, Feb. 6,

McIntosh hosts the area tournament. They are favored to win but

will face competition from Upson-Lee, LaGrange and

Fayette County among others. The following weekend is the

AAAA state tournament at McEachern.

Fayette County has hit some low points recently. They lost

several members of the team due to illness, injury and grades.

The Tigers hosted Starr's Mill and Pike County on Friday

evening and looked very uneven. Starr's Mill whooped up on

Fayette County and improved their dual record to an impressive

21-2. "There were about three matches that we should have won

and didn't" said Coach Bailey. "It's really a credit to Starr's Mill,

they wrestled really well." The Tigers handled Pike County very

well. Pike County is a first year team, so Coach Bailey had several

of his junior varsity kids wrestle. Sandy Creek was also at

the match on Friday but they did not wrestle Fayette County.

On Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Pope High School to

participate in the Pope Classic. Fayette County placed fifth

overall, in a field of 10 teams, despite getting off to a slow start. "We

went into Saturday with Friday still on our minds," said Coach

Bailey. "We started picking it up towards the end of the day and ended

up in fifth place." Fayette County had seven of their 12

wrestlers place in the top four at the tournament. Jared Bailey took

first place at 130. Jonathan Bailey, Brad West and Nick Salters

all took third place in their respective weight divisions. Paul

Gable and Phillip Macfarlane and Craig Barron all took fourth place

for the Tigers. Fayette County hopes to have some of their

injured wrestlers back in action for the Area tournament at McIntosh

this Saturday.

Starr's Mill had a productive weekend. On Friday, the

Panthers faced both Fayette County and Sandy Creek. The Panthers

defeated the Patriots, who were wrestling with only seven

people, 77-0. Four of Starr's Mill's wins were by pin or technical fall.

The Panthers won their match against Fayette County, 52-9. Starr's

Mill won every match, except the two that pitted them against

the Tiger's Jared and Jonathan Bailey. Gary James was the

only Starr's Mill wrestler to pin both of his opponents.

On Saturday, Starr's Mill hosted Creekside, Callaway,

East Paulding and Troup County in the Panther Duals. Starr's

Mill chewed through most of the competition, beating Creekside

76-6, Callaway, 68-12 and East Paulding, 66-13. The true

test came against Troup County, currently ranked number one in

the state. Starr's Mill lost their first four matches and then won

the next two on the strength of Bryan Kyser and Ariston Bowers'

performances. Troup controlled the next four matches but lost the

last three. Stephen Behringer won his match 6-5, Clint Barbour won

matches were extremely close, eight of them hinged on the last

takedown. Troup defeated Starr's Mill by a score of 32-22. These two

teams will not see each other again until the state tournament.

Starr's Mill finished the season with a record of 27-2 in dual meets

and head confidently into the area tournament this weekend

at Sandy Creek. Woodward is the heavy favorite but the

Panthers don't back down from anybody.

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