Wolverines Claim Three Wins Before Christmas Break
By EDDY GIFFORD
Sports Writer
The Dade County High School wrestling teams were busy before a much-needed Christmas break with multiple matches for the Wolverines, Lady Wolverines, and Dade Middle School Wolverines.
Dade County hosted North Sand Mountain, Marion County, and Chattooga for senior night right before Christmas break.
The Wolverines started the evening off with a 78-0 win over North Sand Mountain before moving on to a region match up with the Chattooga Indians.
The Wolverines started off in a 24-0 hole as Chattooga is extremely good in the lower weight classes. Anderson Windsor finally got the Wolverines on the board with a win by fall at 138 pounds. Chattooga would get another win at 144 pounds to take a 30-6 lead before the Dade ripped off four wins in a row.
Kolt Owens won by fall at 150 pounds, Gideon Moore won by fall at 157 pounds, Kent Tajima won by fall at 165 pounds, and Mason Gann won by forfeit at 175 pounds. Chattooga would get one more win at 190 pounds, but the remainder of the dual belonged to the Wolverines as Jordan Castellanos, Gabriel Yarbrough, and Austin Sansom sealed up the 48-36 victory for the Wolverines.
The final dual of the evening was against Marion County. The Wolverines would win that contest 54-23 as Marion County only won four of the 14 weight classes. Sansom, Jude Evearitt, Ashton Case, Hayden Cureton, Rylan Whitehurst, Owens, Moore, Tajima, and Yarbrough all won their matches by fall.
Dade County ended the week by hosting the middle school league championship on Friday and Saturday. As further proof that wrestling is continuing to grow in Dade County, the Dade Middle School team improved the number of placers from one last year to six this year. Brian Winter was the champion at 72 pounds, ending his sixth-grade season undefeated. Another sixth-grade wrestler, Nolan Liles finished second at 78 pounds. Athens Crabtree finished third at 86 pounds, and Will Gadd finished fourth at 115 pounds. Corbin Sutton, who was undefeated in the regular season, was upset in the finals at 123 pounds, and Brayden Moreland finished fourth at 130 pounds.
After a much-needed Christmas break, the Wolverines will be back in action Saturday at Trion, and the Lady Wolverines will wrestle in the LFO Scramble on Monday, Jan. 6.
Coach Jeff Poston said, “I am starting to see us come together as a team. Our lineup is finally cementing itself in place. I am excited about how Kolt Owens has been wrestling the last couple of weeks as well. He gives us another hammer in the middle of our lineup. I am also excited about the number of girls we have now. We will actually get to attend the girls Area Duals this year. I would love to watch this girls program continue to grow and start competing at the state level.”
