Mat Canes Dominate Tournament

The ‘Canes traveled to Lamar County’s first annual duals tournament last Saturday and took first place out of an eight-team field, by defeating Upson-Lee 60-16, Pike 72-12, Rutland 48-25, and Crawford 52-30 in the championship match.

This victory extended the team’s season-to-date record to 29-5.

Head Wrestling Coach Andy Rewis said, “We managed to fill the two open weight classes we have had when Victor Bautista got down to 120 pounds and Austin New came in at 126.

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“It made us a much stronger team by not having to forfeit in these two weight classes. Oscar Sandoval continues to dominate his opponents and has an undefeated record of 30-0. Pat Clements also wrestled well and extended his record to 29-1. Brandon Barger also remains undefeated but was away from this match attending the All-Star Football Game.”

Prior to the Lamar match the team traveled to Milledgeville and defeated GMC 63-6 and Crawford 54-27.

Coach Rewis said, “We got some younger wrestlers and some kids who hadn’t seen a lot of action into these matches. Emory Cline at 138, Tony Seawright at 148, Trey Pitts at 182 and Danny Vilinueva at 195 all scored wins for us. Shaquille Wright wrestled as a heavyweight and sustained an ankle injury.

“These kids are the kind of athletes who are important to our program. They work hard and they come to practice, and they make us a better team.

“Filling those two slots at 120 and 126 pounds certainly helped our team and at the half way mark of the season we do have a better record than last year. Our lineup is beginning to come together and I’m excited about the second half.”

The team was scheduled to participate in the Battle of Jackson Lake Wednesday versus Jackson and Alcovy. Coach Rewis said this would be a fun match because the kids from all three teams know each other, however the results were too late to report in this edition.

Today, Dec. 22, the team travels to Gray for the Greyhound Duals Tournament with action beginning at 9 a.m.

After this match the team will take the Christmas break and be back in action on December 29 in Monroe.