Blue Devils hope Duals title just a start
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Coming off its second consecutive Class A State Duals championship on Saturday, the Bremen High School wrestling team was rewarded by having only one practice Monday, instead of its usual two on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
With a dual match set for Senior Night on Wednesday against Central and South Paulding and the Blue Devils’ goal of also repeating as traditional state champion in a little more than a month, such is the atmosphere for Bremen: little rest and getting back down to business.
And for guys like the Blue Devils’ Trey Travis, a senior who wrestles at 130 pounds, there’s the hope that the title-clinching 44-27 victory against Gordon Lee in the State Duals is just the beginning of a strong final stretch this season.
“Hopefully it’s a start. Hopefully we don’t get settled with it,” Travis said. “Hopefully we go out there and we still wrestle hard, wrestle to our full potential because I know all the other teams will.”
And though that mindset certainly starts with coach Tony Armas, even Armas took a moment to acknowledge just how impressive it was that his guys were able to beat the Trojans just five days after knocking them off for the Area 1-A West title last Monday in Bowdon.
“It’s hard to beat a team like that twice in six days,” Armas said. “It’s pretty difficult to do.”
The coach said after some injuries that slowed Bremen in the early part of the season, things began to “come together” in recent weeks.
“We finally got them all together, and you know, things just worked out for us,” Armas said. “Hopefully we can keep it together another four or five weeks.”
Blue Devil senior Slade Madden, who wrestles at 160 pounds, took special pride in his contribution to the finals victory, as he pinned Austin Goodlet, to whom he lost in the state finals a season ago.
“It felt good to get that stick against the kid that beat me last year in the state finals,” Madden said.
He, too, pointed out that Bremen is far from done chasing its goals this season, though he said the Blue Devils are clearly taking the right steps as the season inches toward its conclusion.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Madden said. “But I think we’ll be all right if we keep working hard.”
And with everything now building toward the traditional state tournament in February, Armas doesn’t expect his guys to be lacking any motivation.
“I think a lot of our kids are hungry for their individual state titles,” Armas said.
Some of the strongest pre-state challenges for Bremen will come in the Wildcat Southside Brawl at Whitewater this Friday and Saturday, an event where the Blue Devils were third last season, and in the Tomahawk Classic on Jan. 30 at Irwin County High School in Ocilla.
Armas said he still has one more date to fill, as well, and that he’d gladly face any strong teams from outside Class A to help further prepare Bremen for the type of competition it will face in February in pursuit of another traditional state championship.
“If Collins Hill called us up and asked us to wrestle...we’d do it,” Armas said.
Armas noted that Collins Hill will be in Easton (Pa.) this weekend at a tournament featuring the likes of Blair Academy (N.J.) and Apple Valley (Minn.), the top two high school programs in the nation.
“They’ll take some lumps between now and (state),” Armas said. “We will, too.”
But facing such competition, he noted, is one of the best ways to prepare for the kind of success the Blue Devils had on Saturday night and hope to duplicate next month.
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re ready for February,” Armas said.
After facing Gordon Lee twice already, Travis knows the Trojan wrestlers and Bowdon’s grapplers will be some of the toughest at the traditional state tournament, as well.
“Something tells me (Gordon Lee is) a better tournament team because they’ve got some studs,” Travis said. “And Bowdon’s got some horses.”
With that in mind, Bremen’s wrestlers know they can’t afford to relax any time soon if they want to make another addition to their trophy case in Gwinnett County next month.
“I want to continue competing like we have been, especially this past weekend,” Travis said.
With a dual match set for Senior Night on Wednesday against Central and South Paulding and the Blue Devils’ goal of also repeating as traditional state champion in a little more than a month, such is the atmosphere for Bremen: little rest and getting back down to business.
And for guys like the Blue Devils’ Trey Travis, a senior who wrestles at 130 pounds, there’s the hope that the title-clinching 44-27 victory against Gordon Lee in the State Duals is just the beginning of a strong final stretch this season.
“Hopefully it’s a start. Hopefully we don’t get settled with it,” Travis said. “Hopefully we go out there and we still wrestle hard, wrestle to our full potential because I know all the other teams will.”
And though that mindset certainly starts with coach Tony Armas, even Armas took a moment to acknowledge just how impressive it was that his guys were able to beat the Trojans just five days after knocking them off for the Area 1-A West title last Monday in Bowdon.
“It’s hard to beat a team like that twice in six days,” Armas said. “It’s pretty difficult to do.”
The coach said after some injuries that slowed Bremen in the early part of the season, things began to “come together” in recent weeks.
“We finally got them all together, and you know, things just worked out for us,” Armas said. “Hopefully we can keep it together another four or five weeks.”
Blue Devil senior Slade Madden, who wrestles at 160 pounds, took special pride in his contribution to the finals victory, as he pinned Austin Goodlet, to whom he lost in the state finals a season ago.
“It felt good to get that stick against the kid that beat me last year in the state finals,” Madden said.
He, too, pointed out that Bremen is far from done chasing its goals this season, though he said the Blue Devils are clearly taking the right steps as the season inches toward its conclusion.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Madden said. “But I think we’ll be all right if we keep working hard.”
And with everything now building toward the traditional state tournament in February, Armas doesn’t expect his guys to be lacking any motivation.
“I think a lot of our kids are hungry for their individual state titles,” Armas said.
Some of the strongest pre-state challenges for Bremen will come in the Wildcat Southside Brawl at Whitewater this Friday and Saturday, an event where the Blue Devils were third last season, and in the Tomahawk Classic on Jan. 30 at Irwin County High School in Ocilla.
Armas said he still has one more date to fill, as well, and that he’d gladly face any strong teams from outside Class A to help further prepare Bremen for the type of competition it will face in February in pursuit of another traditional state championship.
“If Collins Hill called us up and asked us to wrestle...we’d do it,” Armas said.
Armas noted that Collins Hill will be in Easton (Pa.) this weekend at a tournament featuring the likes of Blair Academy (N.J.) and Apple Valley (Minn.), the top two high school programs in the nation.
“They’ll take some lumps between now and (state),” Armas said. “We will, too.”
But facing such competition, he noted, is one of the best ways to prepare for the kind of success the Blue Devils had on Saturday night and hope to duplicate next month.
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re ready for February,” Armas said.
After facing Gordon Lee twice already, Travis knows the Trojan wrestlers and Bowdon’s grapplers will be some of the toughest at the traditional state tournament, as well.
“Something tells me (Gordon Lee is) a better tournament team because they’ve got some studs,” Travis said. “And Bowdon’s got some horses.”
With that in mind, Bremen’s wrestlers know they can’t afford to relax any time soon if they want to make another addition to their trophy case in Gwinnett County next month.
“I want to continue competing like we have been, especially this past weekend,” Travis said.
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comments (1)
« Wolf_Gang wrote on Tuesday, Jan 19 at 10:59 AM »
Congrats to the Blue Devils for their championship and the Red Devils for placing fourth. The larger schools in the county once again failed to qualify.