17-2, 11-0, 4-3. Those are the scores of the matches Koby Milner wrestled before the finals of the GHSA 4A West Sectional tournament on Friday and Saturday. Each match represented another stepping stone on Milner’s march toward a state title. Each victory gave more credence to the thought that Milner, now 36-3 on the season, is the best 106 pound wrestler in AAAA. Milner won his first match over Jake Frost of Carrolton in impressive fashion. He used a variety of techniques to score a 17-2 technical fall. His next match came later on Friday night as he wrestled Cameron Hope of Griffin. Griffin clearly had a weight advantage on Milner but Milner once again proved his ability as he held Hope scoreless and came away with the 11-0 victory.

Milner’s semi-final match on Saturday placed him against Jake Lee of Sandy Creek, who was undefeated heading into the tournament. Many had predicted that this match would be the best match at 106 pounds in the entire tournament and the two did not disappoint. Milner found himself down early but stormed back to defeat Lee 4-3 and move on to the finals where he would meet an old foe: Domingo Reynoso of Gilmer.

61 seconds. That’s how long it took Milner to defeat Reynoso in their third match of the year. After a scramble that lasted nearly 40 seconds as both wrestlers tried to gain control, Milner locked Reynoso in a standing cradle and settled in for the pin. The win gave Milner 1st place in the sectionals and one of two number one seeds at state.

“I wish I could take credit for Koby, but that kid has worked hard and all we have done as a staff is nurture him along and help when he needs help. No one has worked harder. He can flat out go and he has a laser focus on that state title,”

stated head coach Grady Flanagan.

Also qualifying for state was senior wrestler Josh Massey. Massey’s road to the finals was not as easy. His first round match was against Dan Wornstaff of Pike County.

“We had seen some film on the Pike County kid and we thought we had a good plan for him. One thing you can never tell from film is how strong a kid is. Wornstaff was really strong and would have placed second if he didn’t have to wrestle (Matt) Waddell in the semis.”

Wornstaff would pin Massey and eventually finish third. Massey would be forced to wrestle under immense pressure for the next two matches. One more loss would end his season and his career. In his second match on Friday, Massey wrestled Collin Hurst of Thomas County Central. Hurst came out very physical in an attempt to throw Massey off his game but Massey answered back with some of his own physicality and eventually pinned Hurst to advance to Saturday. On Saturday, Massey faced Caleb Battles of Perry. In a tough, hard-nosed match, Massey ground out a win 5-4 to officially qualify for state.

All that was left was to wrestle for seeding. After losing to Tyler Storey of Bainbridge, Massey returned to defeat James Carroll of Veterans to take 7th.

“We could not be prouder of Josh. He has worked very hard this year and had to endure some tough losses along with very bad draws in tournaments. If he had been on the other side of the bracket, he would likely have been 4th. He is a young man who will surprise someone at state.”

Failing in his bid to qualify for state was Senior John Hobert. “John was a victim of wrestling in 7-AAAA with three very tough wrestlers in his weight class, all going to state. Coming in as the 4 seed from our area, John had to wrestle a 1 seed from another area. He had the kid on his back at one point but he is a one seed for a reason.

“That young man went on to take 1st in the tournament. Losing that match had a real effect on John and I think that carried over to the next match. He tried everything and just could not get the young man from Bainbridge turned for points. We are so pleased with John and hated for his Pickens career to end that way. He was the leader of this team and I don’t think anyone on the team was emotionless when he lost. He’s a great young man and has a great future ahead of him.”

– Coach Flanagan

Massey and Milner will travel to Macon for state on February 12th-14th. Should either of them place, they will be Pickens’ first state medalists since Aaron Lohman in 2011. Should either of them win, they would become only the second state champion in Pickens wrestling history. The last won was Chad Wigington in 2005.