Camden captures region traditional crown, Tift’s Moate wins at 182

Published 5:30 pm Saturday, January 29, 2022

TIFTON — Camden County won the Region 1-7A traditional tournament Saturday at Tift County High School, placing 13 of 14 wrestlers in the championship round.

The Wildcats scored 283 total points and won first place in eight weight classes. Colquitt County took second place at 205, the Packers winning three solo championships. Lowndes, with two champions, scored 186 and Tift was fourth at 151. The Blue Devils won one individual title, Damion Moate at 182 pounds.

“That just excites me,” said Tift head coach Shawn Watson of Moate’s championship.”I told him he had a chance … he made the most of it.” Moate was red hot from the start, never letting his Camden County opponent take command. The final score was 12-6.

“As a sophomore, that’s awesome,” said Watson. Moate had been one of a handful of Tift County wrestlers considerably underweight for their classes. Watson said Moate had been at 170 all season, but he had bulked up to 178 Saturday.

Camden and Lowndes each had five wrestlers finish second. Four Colquitt wrestlers did the same.

Moate was the only Tift wrestler to compete for a championship, but after a rough first round, the Blue Devils found their footing in the consolation matches.

Antron Johnson (106 pounds), Sergio Martinez (113), Caden Bowyer (120), Timothy Wright (138), Donterrius Whitaker (145), Davarius Smith (160), Zach Carter (170), Dalton Hancock (220) and Abraham Soto (285) each earned third place. Soto’s match came down to the last few seconds. He trailed by two points with 30 seconds remaining in the third period, 6-4, but got a takedown to tie it, then a final three for a 9-6 victory.

Wright, Whitaker, Smith and Carter all won their third place matches by pin.

Antron Johnson barely missed a chance to wrestle for 106-pound championship, dropping his semifinal match 8-7. Moate advanced to the finals with a 14-6 major decision over Colquitt County.

“We’ve had some guys battling through some things,” Watson said. “We definitely ended on a better note than we started.”

Watson said all 14 Tift County wrestlers made weight, enabling them to qualify for sectionals next Saturday, Feb. Feb. 5 at Lakepoint in Cartersville.

First and second places from each weight class were:

106 pounds: Bradley Patterson (Camden) over Braedon Hodges (Lowndes), 19-2.

113 pounds: Hunter McCullough (Lowndes) over Carson Poston (Camden), 4-1.

120 pounds: Riley Dahlgren (Camden) over Ethan McCullough (Lowndes), 9-2.

126 pounds: Ethan Sellers (Colquitt) over Tyson McCullough (Lowndes), 16-2.

132 pounds: Logan Paradice (Colquitt) over Anthony Santos (Camden), pin.

138 pounds: Porter Bryant (Camden) over Nathanial Taylor (Colquitt), 15-2.

145 pounds: Konlin Weaver (Camden) over Michael Bledsoe (Colquitt), pin.

152 pounds: Elijah Griffin (Camden) over Canyon Hebb (Lowndes), 9-3.

160 pounds: Jeremy Paradice (Colquitt) over Christopher Zuzich (Camden), pin.

170 pounds: CahMari Johnson (Camden) over Jesus Grijalva, pin.

182 pounds: Moate (Tift) over Christopher Schwarting (Camden), 12-6.

195 pounds: Grayson Lewis (Lowndes) over Britt Blair (Camden), 9-7.

220 pounds: Deonte Dozier (Camden) over Grant Laskey (Lowndes), pin.

285 pounds: Anthony Yancey (Camden) over JaQuavian Daniels (Colquitt), pin.