Alabama State Finals
Ashville Claims the 1A-4A Title after downing Deshler
Ashville’s run to a 1A-4A State Title
Downed Dora 45-31 in a close match to advance to the Final 4.
Ashville won 8 of the 14 matches, but it was falls by Owen Meads, Gavin Hare, Tyler Ebner, Bryan Hampton, and Dylan Harris, and Layden Olson that sealed this one.
Beat St James 40-24 to advance to the Finals
Another close match where Ashville looked to their hammers to get them the win. Ebner, Meads, and Mason Wilson each got falls, but it was tough close decisions by Dylan Harris (over Ariel July 5-2), Travis Smith (over Brooks Bacheler 1-0), and Bryan Hampton (over Pruitt Conner 8-6 sudden victory) that proved the difference.
Beat Deshler 39-27 to capture the 1A-4A State Duals title
Owen Meads did it once again with a fall and the top of the lineup came through in a big way to seal the win. This was a hard fought win and Deshler kept it close with wins down low by Pennington and Balentine, but in the end the big dawgs came through for Ashville.
Arab takes down McAdory for the 5A-6A State Title
Arab’s run to a 5A-6A State Title
Arab started things off in style on a week ago Thursday with a 68-6 win over Hartselle and a 51-16 win over Scottsboro.
Arab drew Mountain Brook out fo the bottom quad on Tuesday night for a banger in their home gym In the semifinals.
This one went pretty much as expected with both teams putting up points and taking turns holding the lead. A win by Woody Fipps over Patrick Lawler was huge for the Spartans, but it was a string of wins at the top of the lineup that would prove the difference. Kaden King, Caleb Roe, Jonathan Pugh, and Mohamed Al-Khawlani put up 17 points and put Arab into the lead 24-18. After Springfield got the win at 106 for Mtn Brook, Jaxon Ivey was able to pretty much it with a 4-3 win at 113 over Bill Bradford.
Arab mounts the combeack to down McAdory 31-29
We began at 285 and the Knights watched McAdory run out to a commanding 21-6 lead after the first 6 weights. A forfeit to Dakoda Long at 138 made it 21-12 and then the Knight turned to their hammers to get the ball rolling. Josh Roe won a great match with Christion Griggs 11-9 in sudden victory and Caleb Roe downed Savian Graham 7-5 (also in sudden victory) to push Arab to the title.
Thompson tops Vestavia for the 7A State Title
Thompson’s run to a 7A State Title
Thompson began with a 67-6 dismantling of Enterprise and followed that up with a hard fought 41-33 win over Smiths Station to advance to the Finals.
Thompson didn’t dominate as they have in the past, but they put in an outstanding workmanlike performance and shined at individual weights to down Vestavia 39-19. I think is it important to define “dominate” because it can mean very different things. Thompson can go out and put up 12 falls in a dual … and really destroy (or dominate) the competition. That didn’t happen here - instead they won 9 matches (7 of which by points) … perhaps another form of domination, but in my mind much more “workmanlike” in their approach to getting the job done.
Coaches Shawn Weltzin and Riley Pike have developed Thompson into the program that all others in Alabama compare themselves. They have won state titles by destroying the competition and they have won state titles by the narrowest of margins … this dual title was a testament to 14 wrestlers stepping up and doing their job.
I thought the key to a Thompson win was taking care of business from 106-132 … Vestavia was likely going to get points from others in the dual, but if they wanted to hang in there they would need to win 2 matches in those weights (that’s what I expected). They weren’t likely going to get a win vs. Yanni Vines at 126 - Zach Flurry gave it a go, but in reality Vines looked ready to take his talents to Columbia next year and dominated 17-5. It was the younger Vines, Kiowa, vs. Cale Tucker at 113 and a matchup of 2021 Runners-up in Nick Dempsey and Carson Farris that (I thought) were key for Vestavia. One was close, the other not as much. Vines held on for a 4-3 win over Tucker and Dempsey dominated 12-4.
Harris Mitchell got Vestavia a win at 160 with a 8-7 TB1 decision of Will Garrett, but Vestavia’s backs were to the wall by that point in the dual and they were running out of time (just 5 matches remained and they trailed 23-10 and were looking at a loss at 170 to Carson Freeman).
I leave you with this … Thompson downed Vestavia a year ago for the dual title … and Vestavia came back and took the tournament title. Rest assured that Thompson celebrated their win and then turned their attention to bringing that tournament title back to Alabaster.