Collins Hill's payoff for year-round training, a merciless schedule and brutal practices arrived Saturday night. For the fourth consecutive year, the Eagles hoisted the state championship cup as winners of the Class AAAAA traditional wrestling title. They'll go for their fourth consecutive dual state title next weekend.
"I just feel like we train harder than anybody else," said Collins Hill coach Josh Stephen, who shepherded the Eagles to the title in his first season after replacing longtime coach Cliff Ramos.
Wrestling before 9,100 fans at Gwinnett Arena, many of them wearing green tie-dyed Collins Hill T-shirts and beating green noisemakers, the Eagles actually had a relatively disappointing final session. They entered seven wrestlers in the 14 finals, but only 103-pounder Sean Russell and 125-pounder Bazell Partridge won titles. Partridge, a senior, won his third state title in as many years.
Partridge typifies the Collins Hill ethic. Like many of his teammates, Partridge said he didn't take a single day off during his winter break, practicing at his club on Collins Hill's off days. Partridge, who planned to practice Sunday, said the Eagles' legacy has pushed him.
"I remember coming here when I was on JV and watching all the varsity kids wrestling their butts off to get to the finals and winning in the finals," Partridge said. "I wanted to get there one day."
The Eagles will enter next week's team duals championship with a record of 28-2 despite having gone to Pennsylvania (twice), Missouri, Tennessee and Florida in search of the best competition. Their only losses were to the No. 1 teams in wrestling hotbeds New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Stephen said. Having assisted Ramos the two previous years, Stephen didn't change the routine much.
"If things are working, you keep doing them," he said.
Collins Hill had 12 wrestlers place, six of whom will return next season. With 227 points, the Eagles finished easily ahead of second-place Camden County (134). The Eagles are more than halfway to matching McEachern's run of seven consecutive titles in the state's highest classification. Peachtree Ridge coach Danny Sinnott has had a close-up look at the Eagles' dominance. The Lions finished fourth, best in school history, but second in the 30024 zip code.
"It's a mixture of things," Sinnott said. "They've had great coaching, they have a really good youth program and they've had really good kids come there because of the wrestling."
Sinnott had two of the night's biggest stars on the center mat, where all the Class AAAAA finals were held. Tsvetomir Petrushev (171 pounds) and Michael Chapman (215) both completed undefeated seasons by winning their weight classes. With his grandparents watching the match at a neighbors' house in Bulgaria on the Internet at 1:30 a.m., Petrushev backed up his 2010 title by beating Benedictine's Jeffery Holmes with a reversal in the final 30 seconds of the match.
Mill Creek heavyweight Austin Hagan scored perhaps the night's biggest upset, surprising defending state champion Jacob Aiken-Phillips of Central Gwinnett in overtime. Aiken-Phillips, headed for wrestling powerhouse Cornell, hadn't lost in the past two seasons.
"It's kind of unreal to beat a kid like Austin," said Hagan, a Georgia Southern football signee. "That kid works so hard. He probably deserves it more than me, but it feels good."
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