The PIckens High School wrestling team took a limited squad to this weekend’s Creekview Invitational at Creekview High School. This tournament is one of the toughest the state has to offer as it featured several state qualifiers and state champions from last year. With such a tough field, Coach Grady Flanagan chose to enter only seniors and one sophomore, Koby Milner, in the field. The rest of the team attended Creekview’s JV invitational on Saturday. The varsity wrestlers experienced limited success as many of them were drawn against the top seeds in the tournament. Despite that, Cole Millsap, Josh Massey, and Will Logan all picked up wins in the consolation bracket. The majority of the success the Dragons experienced on Friday and Saturday came in a familiar way. Koby Milner, seeded first in the 106 lb weight class, won his first match over Daniel Ruiz of Southeast Whitfield with a pin. He then had to wait until Saturday morning to wrestle again. The delay had no effect on him as he matched up against Devin Smith from Wheeler. While Milner was unsuccessful in pinning Smith, he was clearly the better wrestler as he worked his way to a 12-5 decision. Milner would have another long wait for the finals. In the finals, he faced off against Casey Burchett from Commerce. In what has become a common refrain for him, he pinned Burchett to win his third tournament championship this year.

Another Dragon turned in a great performance during the tournament despite being embroiled in some controversy. Senior John Holbert entered as the number 4 seed. He made quick work of Christian Martinez of Southeast Whitfield and faced the number 5 seed, Trey Wolf, from Cambridge. Wolf is the defending 7-AAAAA champion. It appeared that Holbert had the upper hand and was on his way to the pin as he had Wolf in a headlock. The official, however, called a technical violation for grasping the headgear and the two had to reset. Wolf eventually got the upper hand and pinned Holbert. In the consolation bracket, John earned wins against a wrestler from Wheeler and a wrestler from Tucker before facing Preston Kell of Buford in the consolation semifinals. John wrestled a very physical match and came out with a pin, earning him a rematch against Wolf. His second match against Wolf ran a very similar course to the first as it looked as if John would get the pin in the first period via headlock. Wolf, however, managed to roll through and wind up with Holbert in a headlock of his own to secure the victory. Holbert still managed a 4th place showing; his second in two tournaments this year.

While the varsity was wrestling, the JV was in action as 15 wrestlers made the trip. The Dragons won 31 of 49 matches on the day to secure a 1st place finish. Cass finished second and Towns County finished 3rd. Pacing the Dragons were Michael Hernandez, Kyle Tidwell, and Joe Massey, who all went undefeated. Lane Perry, Michael Casey, Christian Galloway, Chase Millsap, Mason McKenzie, Matt Bradley, Trey Lunn, and Tevis Hawkins all lost only one match. Austin Rathgeb, Kelton Gilbert, and Zack Swaim all picked up key victories to aid in the effort.

Article Contributed by
Grady Flanagan