Lyons, GA. – February 17, 2023 | Coach Todd Allen
It is the goal of every wrestler to reach the State Championship podium and Toombs County will finish with six there this weekend. As the dust settles on the first day at the Macon Coliseum only those that are podium bound continue on to tomorrow.
Those reaching the “All-State” title for the MatDawgs are 106 lb. – Jahir Lopez, 126 lb. – Giovanni Yescas, 138 lb. – Dabvn Wadley, 190 lb. – Tank Morris, 215 lb. – Wil Watts, and 285 lb – Brock Nobles. The six placements will tie the MatDawg school record for the most placements in a given year. After dropping their first matches of the day Lopez, Yescas, and Nobles all three pulled out two wins each to earn a spot on the podium. “These 3 guys embodied the heart of champions and showers really what Toombs County wrestling is about! After losing their first matches they dug deep and showed real heart and resiliency to make it back to the placement rounds. I’m so proud of their grit!”, says Coach Allen of Lopez, Yescas, and Nobles’ rally back to place.
For Dabvn Wadley it was a different route to the placement rounds. After a quick 36 second pin in the first round and a convincing 8-4 victory in the second round Wadley had already solidified a spot on the podium. In the semi-final bout the sophomore Wadley faced off against a senior from Haralson County. After two periods it was a 1-1 match and after some controversial events in the 3rd period, regulation ended with it tied 3-3. In the sudden victory overtime period the match abruptly ended with a controversial stalling call with 15 seconds left and Wadley broken heartedly defeated. “It is unfortunate. To have the match end how it did is upsetting. Especially considering there was controversy with the score in the 3rd, but those kinds of things are unfortunate and sometimes happen. Dabvn will learn from this and be a better wrestler because of it.”, said Coach Allen of the heartbreaking loss.
The final two MatDawgs have not only solidified a placement in the top six, but have made the State Championship finals earning themselves a top two placement. Wil Watts and Tank Morris wrestle tomorrow morning in the State Finals match. Tank Morris will face off against a wrestler from Model High School that he has split 1-1 with this season. Wil Watts will face off against an opponent he has seen many times and going 3-1 against. These two will be looking to write their names in the Toombs County history books and bring back another State Championship for the MatDawgs!
The team is currently in 3rd place with 95 points behind Fannin with 140.5 points and Rockmart with 206 points.
You can follow along the MatDawgs’ success on trackwrestling here:
https://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=678545132
