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» | ; File photos
Clockwise from top left: North Forsyth's Cole Tenety grapples with Archer’s Gavin Smith in the Class 6A finals of the 2016 GHSA State Wrestling Dual
Championship; North Forsyth’s Riley Wheeler works to pin his opponent from Brookwood at the 2017 GHSA State Wrestling Dual Championships, where
the Raiders finished third; North Forsyth’s'‘Conner Carroll works against Camden County’s Michael Gibson in his championship match at 160 pounds at
this past season’s GHSA State Wrestling Traditional Championships; North wrestlers accepted the third-place trophy at this past season’s GHSA State
Wrestling Championships. : :
FROM 1B ,
titles, placed at the state traditional
tournament 10 times, and won 1,012
combined matches. Six eclipsed the
100-win mark for their career (Carroll,
Cross, Grimes, Leggett, Little and
Tenety). One (Carroll) won a state title.
As a team, they went 123-36 in duals
matches, including 15-0 against county
teams and 18-0 against area teams. They
won eight area championships. Three
times they finished top-3 at the state
duals tournament, including a runner-up
finish in 2016, and twice they finished
runner-up at the state traditional tourna
ment. - - :
The formation of the group (ga‘n
with Carroll and Cross. Both had multi
ple older brothers wrestle for North, and
in breaks of action at their tournaments
the two second-graders would take over
the matts and go head-to-head.
Carroll remembers those matches as
being one-sided.
“Back then it was me (winning),
always,” Carroll said.
By fifth grade, Cedric Touchstone and
Riley Wheeler had joined Carroll and
Fideles Christian girls win GICAA state title
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Photo courtesy of Fideles Christian
The Fideles Christian girls basketball team won the GICAA Division 11-AA state championship on Saturday, Feb. 17, with a 49-21 victory against Lanier
Christian Academy. Fldgles cruised through the state tournament with wins against Griffin Christian (71-16) and Cumberiand Christian (53-47). The team
finished their season with a 23-3 record.
Cross in the Raiders’ feeder program.
Then came Brantley Little and Nathan
Grimes in sixth grade, Cole Tenety in
seventh and Walid Abdullahi in eighth.
Andy Leggett came up through the West
Forsyth feeder program but joined North
as a freshman.
Most were contributing as freshmen,
and by the following season all were
varsity starters during what they agree is
their fondest memory as a North wres
tler — reaching the GHSA State
Wrestling Dual Championship finals.
The Raiders defeated Brookwood (33-
30) and Rockdale County (44-19) to
reach the semifinals against Mountain
View. That match went back and forth
until North clinched a 26-23 win to
reach the finals against Archer, the
three-time defending state champions.
The teams had met earlier in the year,
with Archer winning convincingly.
_ But, early on in the rematch, North
led 9-0 and later on 15-12. Archer made
a run, but Cross pinned his opponent at
195 to pull the Raiders within 33-24
with two matches remaining, including
a sure forfeit from Archer at 285.
“I don’t think we thought it was going
to be that close of a match,” Abdullahi
said.
Archer pulled out a 37-30 win. North
finished second. Still, it was a turning
point for the program and the group.
The result was the best finish ever for
the Raiders at the state duals, and it bur
nished the program’s reputation in the
state. And the nine sophomores in the
lineup that day officially became the
team’s linchpin.
“It’s kind of when this group took
over the team,” North head coach Travis
Jarrard said.
After their state finals experience, the
group settled for nothing less than a
state championship, and they accepted
any requirements Jarrard and the North
coaching staff put in place to achieve it.
That sophomore year, a new assistant
coach, Bud Sines, implemented more
regular and rigorous workouts outside of
practice.
Jarrard had offered extra strength and
conditioning training to previous teams
but to no avail.
“This group bought into it,” Jarrard
said.
Jarrard also altered the way he uti
lized his coaching staff. Assistants Josh
Montesinos, Rusty Transue and Jeff
Maher were assigned to different weight
classes, allowing them to become more
familiar with each wrestlers’ skills and
personalities.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
“I think this coaching staff each kind
of identified and grew into the roles that
we had with each kid,” Jarrard said.
Yes, a state championship eluded the
group for the remainder of their North
careers. But they all appreciate the total
ity of their legacy.
They took in new teammates, like
football players Cade Jensen and
Chavarria.
“I really appreciate Coach Jarrard and
all of them embracing us,” Chavarria
said, “and showing us that we’re actual
ly family.”
They started new traditions, like car
rying random items to the podium, such
as a box of Cheez-Its, at the area tradi
tional tournament. :
They brought North wrestling firmly
into the conversation of the best pro
grams in the state.
“I think four years of everybody being
together, I think we turned into a pretty
deadly team,” Little said.
And by the end, they got back life les
sons to take with them. »
“I think we’ve learned a lot about the
value of teammates, friends and how
you can build bonds with people
through hardship and through hard work
and struggle,” Carroll said.