Road to the championship: Martin recaps how middle school wrestled its way to 2nd state title

Published 3:00 pm Friday, March 11, 2022

TIFTON — Two months ago, the Tift County middle school wrestling program continued its rise as one of Georgia’s powerhouse programs. The Blue Devils won their second ever state championship in the sport, defeating Jefferson in the championship, 48-38.

Head coach Zac Martin recently recapped the year and what made this group of young Devils so great.

The run to the title began as school started in August.

“The coaches begin to speak to kids and see if they are interested in being a part of the wrestling team,” said Martin. He credited assistants Britt Wilson and Billy King with doing “an amazing job” in encouraging kids to join. Wilson boosted the lineup even more than usual by talking several football players into giving wrestling a chance. “The bigger our team is, the stronger we can eventually become,” he said.

Practice began in October. “I knew we had a chance to be very good again,” said Martin. The Blue Devils wrestled early tournaments at Colquitt County, Cook and Valdosta, winning them all easily. Now, he knew they might not just be very good, but very special.

Thanksgiving arrived and left. Tift put more miles on the buses, traveling tournaments further away from home. This was by design. “I like to try and find the most difficult teams I can,” he said,” “to test our kids and see where we stack up.”

Up in the mountains at Ellijay, 28 of the 29 Blue Devils participating scored third place or better, with many winning first place. Martin said he began receiving emails from other coaches wondering just how good this Tift team was. Before they could get too confident, the flu bug joined the roster, racking up an impressive record in short order. Tift considered staying home, not going to Jackson County, but the coaches decided to push ahead.

“The Jackson County tournament ended up being one of the best tournaments we went to all year,” said Martin, more than impressed with quality of wrestlers and teams involved. But even against these teams and flu-riddled, the Blue Devils captured third and were only six points out of first place, behind Social Circle and North Hall.

Still, Martin worried about how third place would effect them. He needn’t. “The captains of our team did an incredible job stepping up and being leaders for our team when they needed it most. They rallied the team and the kids came back focused and determined to work harder than ever.”

Tift won its conference, winning 13 of 21 weight classes. The title was its ninth in 10 years. They even set a new mark. In three of the finals, he said, it was Tift County versus Tift County.

The state tournament was set for Jan. 15 in Tifton. Martin said the 2022 event was the first ever held south of Atlanta. He believes that one of the reasons for having it locally was the rest of the state beginning to take notice of the Blue Devils.

“We have done well at this tournament, never finishing lower than 4th,” he said,” but this is an extremely difficult tournament to win.” Tift’s program is a rising powerhouse and sits now with the more established programs as places like West Laurens, Jefferson, Gilmer and Chestatee. “No guarantees of us placing at all,” Martin said.

Tift was the No. 2 seed as the tournament began, earning them a first round bye. They faced Gilmer’s Clear Creek in the second round, coasting 70-14, setting them up for Chestatee in the semifinals. The Blue Devils won that dual by 30 points. In the other semi, No. 4 Jefferson upset No. 1 Woodland.

Devils wrestlers began the Jefferson series with three consecutive pins, an 18-0 lead. Jefferson evened the count at 18-all, but Tift went up 30-18. That was ended up being enough buffer to win, though Jefferson pulled as close as 30-27 before the locals were able to extend the lead again.

They won the title in the face of adversity. COVID limited the number of available wrestlers, causing much shifting in weight classes. Both heavyweights were sidelined and despite giving up weight, the Blue Devils kept going.

“We had another incredible season that would not have been possible without the coaching staff we have, the parents supporting us, the administration at multiple levels allowing us to travel and push these kids to new heights, and of course the kids we have on our team,” said Martin. “This is a special group of kids that bought into our philosophy of family and hard work. They are an amazing example of the thought that you can do anything with hard work. Our captains, Austin King, Bryan Melton, Cedric Snead, Kobe Peirce, Cole Rutland, and Dustin Alexander did an incredible job of keeping the team together and holding each other accountable. This season would not have been the same without them.

“As a coaching staff we always talk about being a family and my coaches, Billy King, Britt Wilson, and Rayder Schemmel, each do a great job of pushing these kids to work hard while also making it fun. Our goal is to make sure every wrestler that walks through our door feels valued, like they are a part of something special. I personally believe the family atmosphere is a major reason why we have been so successful not only this year but the past 10 years. “