Carrollton defeated Troup (78-12), Eagles Landing (63-16) and Mt. Zion (60-24) to go 3-0 for the day, but Wilman said too many of his guys ended up on their backs in several different weight classes, something that needs to be corrected when it comes time to face the upper-echelon teams in Class AAAA.
“I think we’ve got our work cut out for us. Definitely, throughout the day, there were certain spots in our weight class up and down the lineup that we really have to work hard at. We’re giving up way too many pins as a team. In a dual format, we can’t be doing that come January 11th or 12th. So I’m happy with the wins as a team, but also very disappointed with some of the performances individually,” Wilman said.
The Trojans had nine wrestlers finish 3-0 for the day, along with heavyweight Cole Glommen going 2-1 with two pins.
Carrollton’s 3-0 finishers included Bryan Johnson at 113 pounds (2 pins, DF), Christian Guiterrez at 120 (3 pins), Jake Adcock at 126 (3 FF), Rhett Hembree at 138 (3 pins), Jim Edgar at 152 (2 pins, FF), Taylor Lujan at 160 (3 pins), Dan Harris at 170 (2 pins, dec.), Travis Joyce at 195 (2 pins, FF) and Murphy Hagen at 220 (2 pins, FF).
Mt. Zion also had a solid team showing, defeating both Eagles Landing (55-29) and Troup (55-21) before falling to the host school in the final match of the day.
Eagle coach Michael Cleek said he was pleased with the performance, but noted there is still plenty of room for improvement in regard to where he wants the team to be when all is said and done.
“Carrollton is good, but I like to think that we can wrestle with anybody. Jeremy Brown, his matched where he got a little dinged up, that hurt us. That’s a 12-point swing. But I’ve got to give credit to coach Wilman. He’s doing a good job just keeping it rolling here. I expected no less. But I’m really pleased with my guys. They’ve come out and they’ve been working hard,” Cleek said.
“We’re still out of weight classes a little bit. We’ll work to get down there. But hopefully by this time next week, because of the weight allowance, we’ll be able to be where we should be.”
MZ heavyweight Will Sizemore finished 3-0, as did Ashton Robinson at 106 and Fernando Valles at 145. Javier Martinez finished 2-0 and didn’t wrestle in his final match after tweaking an injury earlier in the day. Brown, meanwhile, also won his first two matches and suffered an injury while battling Johnson of Carrollton and had to be taken to the hospital for further examination.
And with his own tournament — the 10th Annual Screamin’ Eagle — on tap for next weekend, Cleek is trying to get as much mat time as possible for his guys.
“Carrollton’s a class act. They ran a great tournament. I hate it for them that so many teams backed out on it. But sometimes when you’re as good as they are, people are afraid and they won’t come wrestle you. There’s schools around here that are afraid of them. But my philosophy is if we’re going to try to be the best team in the state, we’ve got to wrestle some of the best teams in the state. Carrollton, right now, is one of those teams and I give all the credit in the world to them. We’ll go back to the drawing board and practice some more and try to get better,” Cleek said.
For Wilman, his No. 1 concern right now is getting the lineup adjusted and set, along with getting senior Chris Foster a full bill of health for what is expected to be a mid-December return.
The Trojan coach said his team, which is ranked No. 2 in Class AAAA, will get a good measuring stick of where it stands over the next few weeks, as No. 3 Alexander comes to town for a dual match on Wednesday night and then Carrollton will see the No. 1 team in AAAA — Gilmer — on Dec. 15 at Rockmart.
“The next 10 days will be a really good idea for us to figure out where we really stand with regard to the competition right now. And it will help us make some adjustments moving forward,” Wilman said.
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