TIFTON — Tift County had 12 wrestlers out of 14 weight classes advance to the state sectionals Saturday at traditional area tournament at the TCHS Arena.

The Blue Devils also saw four grapplers win an area title — including Zimmie Mack, Devon Smith, Trey Hicks, and Justin Hasty.

The top four finishers in each class advance to the state setionals, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Lowndes High School.

Tift County’s Nathan McCall advanced to the sectional with a fourth place finish in the 103 pound weight class.

The sophomore began the day with a bye, which matched McCall up with Marshawn Sharp of Valdosta.

Sharp and McCall went toe-to-toe, with Sharp gaining the advantage with a late move to score points.

From there McCall moved into the consolation round, easily defeating Justin Brown of Houston County with a pin.

The win sent the sophomore into the third-place match against Colquitt County’s Jose Zunun, with Zunun winning the match by decision.

McCall will take a 37-12 record into the sectionals next weekend.

Valdosta’s Sharp defeated Lowndes’ Dallas Brown for the area championship at 103.

In the 112 pound division, the Blue Devils sent Jeremy Bozeman to the mat, and the freshman responded with a third place finish.

Bozeman defeated Coffee’s Matt Lewis by pin, then fell to Valdosta’s Robert Jones in the next round.

Bozeman, however, responded in the consolation bracket.

The freshman dropped Colquitt’s Matthew Deal by pin, then defeated Northside’s Ladarius Richardson with a 7-1 decision to seal third place.

Bozeman improved to 42-11 on the season.

Jay Durden of Lowndes defeated Valdosta’s Jones to claim the championship.

Corey Tomlinson put together another strong effort for Tift in the 119 class.

After receiving a bye to start the day, Tomlinson fell to Rashad Brown from Lowndes by a decision — sending the junior to the consolation bracket.

From there, Tomlinson defeated Houston’s Hunter Heck by pin, then defeated Coffee’s Donavan McNabb with a second period pin, to take third place.

Tomlinson will go into the sectional round with a 30-18 record.

Valdosta’s Javon Scott improved to 44-4, defeating Brown for the 119 title.

Romaz Jones advanced to sectionals after defeating Lowndes Kaleb Thomas with a third period pin. Jones is currently 23-7 this season.

Earlier in the day, Jones lost to Coffee’s Bobby Land by decision.

Land went on to win the championship match by pin.

In the 130 pound class, Taff Jones picked up a fourth place finish to advance to next week’s sectional round. Jones lost a very even match to Valdosta’s Jonathan Hunter.

Tyler Armstong won the championship for the Lowndes Vikings over Coffee’s Aaron Drew.

Alan Coleman also advanced to the sectional round, after a fourth place finish in the 135 pound weight class.

Jacob Drawdy fought hard through injury, but fell to Lowndes’ Ryan Beasley in the 140 pound championship match.

Drawdy defeated Brice Strob from Coffee by pin, then defeated Valdosta’s Kris Brown by a 6-0 decision to reach the title match.

The defeat to Beasley was only Drawdy’s eighth in 46 tries.

The Blue Devils’ Zimmie Mack found himself in the 145 pound final, matched up against Lowndes’ Kade Williamson.

Williamson had defeated Mack in the finals of the Blue Devil Invitational on Jan. 24.

Mack took an 8-4 win in the match, to secure the area championship for the sophomore. Mack opened the day with consecutive pins of Corey Costa, and Josh Holliman of Valdosta.

Mack will enter the sectionals with a 38-5 record, while Williamson dropped to 41-8 this season.

Devon Smith also won an area championship, defeating Jake Davis of Valdosta by an injury default.

Davis, hampered by an arm injury, could not continue in the match — giving Smith the title.

Smith defeated two other wrestlers by pin to get to the championship match — and will take a 41-11 record to Lowndes next weekend.

The Devils made it three-in-a-row, as Trey Hicks defeated Lowndes’ Dillon Wynn 11-4, to win the 160 pound championship.

Hicks, 34-1, on the season, was never seriously challenged in his two matches.

The one loss came at the Irwin Invitational, where he wrestled one weight class up — at 171 pounds.

After losing two matches earlier this season to Houston’s Derek Carter — including the final at the Blue Devil Invitational — Justin Hasty finally took down the rival in a 2-1 decision to win the 189 pound final.

“It was an awesome win for him — personally,” Tift County head coach Shawn Watson said.

“We told Justin that Carter was a very good counter-wrestler. We wanted him to stay on his feet.”

Hasty improved to 45-7 on the year, while Carter fell to 29-1.

Finally, at 215 pounds, Clint Lawson qualified for the sectionals with an 8-5 decision over Warner Robins’ Jared Lafferty.

Lawson will enter the tournament at Lowndes next week with a 30-16 record.

“To get 12 wrestlers in sectionals — that is quite an accomplishment,” Watson said.

As a team, Tift County finished in third in points, behind tournament champion Lowndes, and second-place Valdosta.