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PAGE 2B - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007
Scenes From Recent CHS Wrestling Action
Thomas Sears punishes an opponent on the mat during recent Tiger wrestling action.
Commerce is off to a 9-0 start this year.
— Tiger Wrestlers Face Stout Competition This Week
Continued from Page 1B
One of those squads is Jefferson,
perennial state champion and top
ranked Class A team — one of the
premiere teams in the state.
A week later, the Tigers will travel
to the Dragons’ lair itself for the
Keen Classic.
“I’m pleased with what we’ve
done,” said Love of his squad’s
progress to date. “This weekend
we’ll see a little tougher competi
tion. If we come out in the top three
or four, I’ll be pleased.”
As for Jefferson, Love says the
Dragons are the standard by which
all wrestling programs are mea
sured.
“It’s always good to wrestle peo
ple with a tradition like that to see
where you stand and to give you a
reference point to show where you
want to be,” he says. “You’ve got to
wrestle good people to get better.”
That’s what Love has been look
ing for — improvement — and he
says it’s there.
“Our guys have improved tremen
dously in the last year and a half,” he
said. “Casey Drinkard (125 pounds)
has improved tremendously. Dustin
McClain (140) and Phillip Edwards
(145) have just come a long way in
the last year or so. Baxter Barnes,
our heavyweight, is improving
Sub-Varsity Reports
match by match. It’s not showing
much in wins and losses, but he’s
improving every match. He’ll be
okay for us in the end.
“To be honest, all of our guys are
wrestling well right now. We’ve just
got to keep getting better. We’re
wrestling with a lot of confidence
right now.”
Thursday Matches
Last Thursday, the Tigers hosted
Banks County and Athens Chris
tian, beating the former 50-24 and
the latter 57-20.
Winners against Banks County
included Addison Davis at 103, Dil-
lion Desean at 112, Doug Maloch
at 119, Drinkard at 125, Jon Cash
at 135, McClain at 140, Edwards at
145, Sears at 152, Tyler Austin at 171
and Andrew Minish at 215.
Winners against Athens Christian
included Davis, Desean, Maloch,
Drinkard, Nick Arostegui, Cash,
McClain, Edwards, Sears and Tyler
Austin.
Madison Co. Duals
The 10-team tournament was bro
ken into two five-team pools, and
Commerce swept through its pool,
beating Athens Christian, 60-18;
Hart County, 60-22; Central Gwin
nett 64-24; and Stephens County,
59-18. Then, the Tigers took on
Clarke Central, winner of the other
pool, and beat them 57-24 for the
title. Clarke Central finished second
and Madison County third.
“The good thing about this week
end, with a duals tournament you
take all of your guys,” said Love.
“Every kid got to wrestle. Twenty-
three guys got matches, so a lot of
junior varsity guys got varsity action
and won matches for us. It was re
ally a team effort.”
In spite of the Tigers’ season re
cord, Love continuously points out
that there’s more work to be done.
“We’ve got things we need to work
on and can get better at. We’ll focus
on our weaknesses,” he says.
The Tigers are ranked fifth in
Class A, but aside from Jefferson,
which remains ranked first, the
other teams are on the western side
of the state, Love says, so the Tigers
won’t see them until the state tour
nament. “We’re working hard right
now, and it’s showing,” he says.
“We’re starting to see the results of
a couple of years of working hard,
but we’ve got a long way to go, and
I think we know that.”
Bowen Returns
The Tigers will get Chase Bowen
back this week following his recov
ery from a shoulder injured in foot
ball. He’ll compete at 189, which
Commerce has had to forfeit.
Doug Maloch grapples with an opponent during a recent Tiger win. Commerce has
won its past two tournaments.
Casey Drinkard goes to work against a Banks County wrestler in the 125-lb. weight
class.
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CMS Wrestlers Beat ACS, Edged By Banks County Thursday
The Commerce Middle School
wrestling team beat Athens Chris
tian and fell in a close match to
Banks County in a rare home
match last Thursday.
“We got off to a huge lead against
Banks County, but then struggled
in the second half,” explained
Coach Darryl Ellrott. “The match
was very close, and we did end up
beating Athens Christian.”
Five Tiger wrestlers also placed
in the Junior Panther Invitational
Saturday.
“Weight class entries were lim
ited,” said Ellrott. “We could not
bring our whole team, and several
of our top wrestlers were out. We
were not in the running for the
top three in the 13-team field, but
we did bring home medals in five
weight classes.”
Trea Ward placed second at 138,
and Chance McClure was second
at 147. Kristopher Hart won fourth
in the 100-pound bracket, Taylor
Willoughby won fourth at 130 and
Mike Eason was fourth at 170.
The Tigers were due to travel to
Lexington yesterday to take on
Oglethorpe County Middle School
and Apalachee Middle School. Re
sults were not available by press
time. Prior to last week, the CMS
squad beat Clarke Middle, Clarke
United and Burney Harris Dec. 4,
winning 41 of 45 matches in a deci
sive victory.
On Dec. 8, the Tigers attended
the Bobcat Duals at Gilmer Coun
ty High School.
“This was a dual format with
weight classes and score kept var
sity style,” said Ellrott. “We defeat
ed Winder Middle School, then
dropped close matches to Gilmer
Middle and Lumpkin County de
spite forfeiting five weight classes
and wrestling everybody up. We
lost decisively to Jefferson Middle,
but won two more matches against
their top wrestlers than we did last
year. I was pleased with our com
petitive attitude.”