The road to Macon starts now as the state sorts out its Area Tournaments and sends this year’s qualifiers to next weekend’s sectionals. The top four wrestlers in each weight class of the Area action will advance to sectionals. The traditional state championship is a numbers game as the more wrestlers a school qualifies for state, the better the chance they will have to score a state title. This truth can significantly increase the importance of this weekend for the deeper areas in the state that are tougher than others.
In Area 7-AAAAA, a stacked field with Creekview, Woodland-Cartersville and Cambridge will go head to head and in Region 4-AAAAA, Union Grove and Ola will highlight the field. Camden County has dominated its Area with 17 straight titles and its 74-0 shutout over Ware County in the Area duals last month could give the Wildcats a chance to send a large group to next week’s sectionals. Camden County placed second in Class AAAAAA last year with 183.5 points behind Archer’s 249 and will be the favorite to complete the season sweep of AAAAA in the championship in two weekends.
Last year’s seniors graduated some of the top wrestlers in the nation and a new star-studded field will get their chance to reach the podium. Collins Hill’s Ryan Millhof took the individual state title at 126 pounds for his third straight championship last year and is now at Oklahoma. Collins Hill also lost Sean Russell to Edinboro University and that should free up another weight class in AAAAAA (120-pound). Russell joined rare company last February as he became a four-time Georgia state champion. The accomplishment put Russell in rare company as just the 27th wrestler in state history to win four state titles. Russell finished with a 240-11 career record with the Eagles and used a 23-8 technical fall over Mountain View’s Adam Flatt in the 120-pound championship last year. Flatt finished last season at 53-4 with three of his losses coming to Russell. With Russell now with the Fighting Scots, the Davidson-signee (Flatt) is looking to wrap up a decorated varsity career on top. Mountain View dethroned Collins Hill for the Area 8 dual title last month, however, Collins Hill got revenge in the loser’s bracket semifinal the next week and eliminated the Bears with a 30-25 win. All eyes will be on these two schools as they compete at Norcross in the Area 8 tournament this Saturday.
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