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Team Scores (Top 20):

Buford and Mill Creek both advanced 5 to the finals, host Eastside followed that with 4. Buford had built a substantial lead heading into the finals and it would take a monumental effort from Mill Creek to narrow the gap … the same could be said for the distance between Mill Creek and Eastside for 2nd. Cass crowned more champs than anyone else, with 3, but couldn’t make-up ground on the backside. Cass was missing Jake Crapps and AJ Piatt or they might have been in the mix for a top 3 spot as well. North Paulding was 5th, Jefferson was 6th, West Forsyth (GA) was 7th with a trio of South Carolina schools (Belton Honea Path, Fort Mill, and Dorman) rounding out the top 10.

Buford put 11 on the podium and that proved the difference in their taking of the 2022 team title. Mill Creek finished with 9 on the podium and matched Buford in terms of Champs and finalists. It was a good look at a possible 7A showdown in Georgia with Buford, Mill Creek, North Paulding, and West Forsyth all finishing in the top 7.

106 lb. Final

What to know … DJ Clarke came in as the 5th seed and proceeded to beat the 4 seed Jonah Peirce before taking out Zach Chrobocinksi of Fort Dorchester - who beat the top seed in the quarters. Georgia State Runner-up Lee Camp took care of business on the bottom side … beating #6 seed Isaac Hoshide of Lassiter and #2 seed Max Hennebaul of Archer to make the finals. Camp’s two points in the opening period would prove the difference as he took the 106 lb. title. Teequavious Mills bounced back from a 6-5 2nd round loss to Chrobocinski to battle back for 3rd (beating Alex Allison of High Point who lost to Mills 9-2 in the opening round of the tournament).

113 lb. Final

What to know … Georgia hammers Mills, Belardo, Ibold, and Doherty joined South Carolina hammers Ricky Springs, Chris Thompson, and Cooper Strickland. Mills, the top seed, looked amything but a freshman in dominating on his way to the finals. Belardo and Ibold renewed their rivalry - this time Belardo got the 3-2 win in UTB to advance to the finals opposite Mills. Ibold battled back for 3rd. Strickland bounced back from losing to Belardo in the quarters to finish 4th.

120 lb. Final

What to know … This was an all - South Carolina affair with the top 4 spots going to someone from the Palmetto State. JJ Peace recently committed to American University and showed why he considered the top prospect in SC and one of the top prospects in the SE. Peace had to battle through a tough Jayden Morris in the semis, but entered the finals on a mission and took it to Eastside’s Ty Tice … racking up multiple takedowns before locking in the cradle and getting the fall at the end of the 1st period. Gianni Bottone finished 4th and has to be considered one of the besst freshman in the state after a solid performance that included win over Georgia State Champ Reed Walker and close losses to both Tice and Bottone.

126 lb. Final

Interesting weight class … the 2 seed - Kieron McCormack of Buford took care of things on the bottom side … three falls and a 16-0 tech fall of Carter Brickley to punch his ticket to the finals. The top side we watch a bit of chaos unfold. Top seed Blake Chanler dropped a tough 7-3 match to Schrader in the quarters and had to fight his way back thought to finish 3rd. % seed Aiden Eubanks of Ft Mill did the same thing on the bottom side of the top bracket … getting 3 falls including a 2nd period fall of 4 seed Ayden Whisler to advance to the semis. Schrader downed Eubanks 11-9 in sudden victory to advance to the finals. In the Finals - McCormack got up by several points on Schrader, but the young freshman was unfazed and kept battling back to eventual take control of the match with a tilt late in the 3rd period.

132 lb. Final

What to know … one of the top 3 most difficult weights at the 2022 Slam. Georgia State Champ Maddox McArthur took a very workmanlike approach to the task at hand … beating Dylan Stonebreaker of West Forsyth in the 2nd round before pinning Briant Whittherpsoon of Ninety Six. McArthur drew 4 seed, and returning South Carolina State Champ Blue Stffler in the semis … getting a hard-fought 6-5 win to advance to the finals (hoping to have that match uploaded in a few days). On the bottom side, Colt Schrader beat a tough Rowdy Duck 3-0 and then Norikus Cowan of BHP before getting Kaden Brown of North Paulding. Schrader took his semi with relative ease - a 7-0 decision over a tough Brown. Mcarthur vs. Schrader was quite a battle as you can see from the video above.

138 lb. Final

What to know … best weight of the tournament. Quarterfinals were super tough with matchups that included Gorman vs. Wysong, Morris vs. Murray, Danforth vs. Dollar, and Mills vs. Mullins. Buford’s Gorman showed why he is nationally-ranked and one of the best in the SE. He beat Wysong 11-6, Morris 14-0, before pinning Mills in the finals. The consi semi matches, placement matches, etc. were outstanding and making the podium at 138 was a huge accomplishment.

145 lb. Final

What to know … another outstanding weight and we got to see Denson vs. Pope once again. Gavin Pope came from the 4 seed to knockoff top seed Marley Washington 11-7 in the top semi, Denson came from the 3 seed to beat South Carolina State Champ Georgia Maholtz 6-4 SV1 … those two wins setup another edition of what is slowly becoming the match to watch in 7A. Denson and Pope have battled at least twice now this season with both matches being pushed to overtime. Denson came away with another win and is certainly the person to beat in Georgia 7A 144 at the moment. Washington topped Maholtz 6-5 to take 3rd.

152 lb. Final

What to know … Tyler Xavier McKnight of Cass was outstanding and if he hadn’t shared the middle set of weights with Bambinelli and Gorman - he could’ve been named your Middleweight OW - in my opinion. McKnight was seeded 3rd, but dominated his way to the semis with 3 falls before downing Santiago Rueda 6-3. In the finals he took out #5 seed Jaheim Mills who beat 4 seed Jacobee Connell of Lassiter and top seed Lukas Crosby of High Point to advance to the finals. Cap Benson bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to McKnight to take 3rd with an impressive 8-3 win over Santiago Rueda.

160 lb. Final

What to know … 138 might have been the toughest weight, but the most dominating performance was probably Dominic Bambinelli at 160. Bambinelli had 2 falls, 2 tech falls, before pinning Delaware State Champ Luke Bender in the first period to take the title. Bender came in unseeded and promptly took out Jack Wyland 13-2 in the 2nd round, Ryan Jelectic of Mauldin by tech fall before topping 2 seed Tyler Nelson 7-3 in the semis. Bambinelli was wrestling on another level and it showed - earning the middleweight ow over Gorman, McKnight, and others.

170 lb. Final

What to know … felt like we separated Georgia and South Carolina into two brackets at 170. Cass’s Zachary Daniel McKnight took care of the Georgia side with win over Grayson Santee and Joey Bertrand to advance to the finals. Gabe Juarez took care of the South Carolina side by beating Carpenter and Lane Schrader to make the finals. McKnight easily took care of business in the finals and Juarez was eventually dq’d for multiple stalling calls … Juarez simply couldn’t keep McKnight on the mat where he wanted to do work in turning him and gave up stall calls by not releasing or returning McKnight to the mat.

182 lb. Final

What to know … Fort Mills’ TJ Miller came into the final 14 matches as the lowest seed to make the 2022 Slam finals. He was seeded 8th and promptly beat top seed Josh Lange 3-2 before pinning Matthew Rogers of West Forsyth in the semis. Miller faced #3 seed Baron Leonard who had 3 falls to make the finals. This weight got “blown up” from the beginning with the top 2 seeds falling in either the 2nd round or the quarters.

195 lb. Final

220 lb. Final

What to know … Sirard and Debbout traded headlocks in the finals - with Sirard getting the one that was in-bounds and got the fall quickly in the 1st period. Top seed Sirard finished with 4 falls to take the 220 lb. title. North Paulding’s Rhyen Miller lost in his opening match in the 2nd round to Joshua Neblo and had to battle all the way back through the consis to take 3rd - with a 5-4 decision over Neblo.

285 lb. Final

What to know … The top seeds advanced to the finals … eventual Champ Sam Rwibuka had to outlast Mill Creek’s Aaron Garcia 6-4 in the bottom semi - in what could be a preview of February in Georgia 7A. Rwibuka downed top seed Jeremiah Jackson with a series of drag to single legs in an entertaining 285 lb. finals.

Southern Slam Recap