Alabama 5A-6A State Semifinals
McAdory downs Gulf Shores 37-24
It was over when … Savian Graham downed Lucas Salcedo 5-1 at 195.
McAdory controlled much of the match … Gulf Shores had some highlights including a fall from Weston Reed, but couldn’t get any momentum until the dual was in McAdory’s hands. William Miller started things off for McAdory with a hard fought 5-4 win at 113 over Dathan Butt and Kyle Simmons tied it up for Gulf Shores with a 7-0 decision of David Angel at 120. McAdory began to take control as their hammers - Hudson Waldrop and Cross Earley each got wins (Waldrop a major and Earley a fall) to push McAdory’s lead to 13-3. McAdory gave up a forfeit to Taylor Cheek at 138 before getting a fall by Christion Griggs at 145 and a 5-2 decision by Keandre Poellnitz over Jacob Killough at 152 … putting the score 22-9. Weston Reed got a fall for Gulf Shores at 160, but that was immediately countered by a fall from Marvin Barrera by McAdory at 170.
McAdory led 28-15 heading into two of their hammers in Aiden Knight and Savian Graham. Knight got a fall at 182 over Keeshon Siaosi and Graham downed Salcedo 5-1 at 195 to put the dual out of reach … McAdory led 37-15. Hollis over Hudgens, Schepker over Wilson, and Guthrie over Miller were all hard fought and a preview of some individual state tournament matches in February, but those 3 wins would not be enough as McAdory won 37-24 to punch their ticket to the state finals.
Arab downs Mountain Brook 31-27
It was over when … Cabe Dunn earned a major over Douglas Johnson at 120 (in reality it was Jaxon Ivey’s 4-3 decision of Bill Bradford that sealed it as Dunn was going to be favored at 120).
Back and forth match with Arab finally punching through and getting their trip to the 5A-6A Finals. This time the race to 8 was right … as Arab was able to get to 8 and secure the win. The two teams traded wins early and it was Woody Fipps win over Patrick Lawler at 152 that really seemed to put the momentum on Mountain Brook’s side as they led 9-7 after 4 matches. Note … it was recorded as a 4-4 win for Fipps - not sure what happened in that situation. Ortis and Robinson both got wins (Ortis had a fall) for Mountain Brook as they pushed their lead to 18-7. Arab’s Kaden King got a huge win over Michael Lorino at 182 and ignited the momentum for Arab as they won 4 in a row to take the lead 24-18.
Stephen Springfield got the 7-2 win at 106 and the dual was now 24-21 heading into a critical matchup at 113. Jaxon Ivey had a first period takedown and a second period reversal (of Bradford’s reversal) to got up 4-2 heading into the 3rd period. Ivey was hit for stalling twice as the match drew to a close, but Bradford couldn’t get the takedown and Arab took the win 4-3 and a 27-21 lead. Dunn handled Johnson at 120 and then Arab forfeited to Andrews and Arab won 31-27 to advance.
