5 Things to Know from the Deep South Duals - Boys

#1 Next Level Competition

So I wasn’t able to get to Birmingham this past weekend, but I watched a few of the duals online … and it seemed that the competition gets better and better every year at the event. In fact I had a few conversations and that was the first thing mentioned,

“Everyone was talking about the level of competition being higher than last year.  I was there last year and this year did seem to be improved.  This year there was a lot more parity between the states. Last year a Georgia club and HS coach said he thought the level of competition was akin to a mid/high level HS dual in GA. This year,  I heard 3 coaches say this year was far stronger. A lot of talent that will end up wrestling in college was on display.”

That is only a positive for the SE. Love to see the battles happen and the depth of competition.

#2 Palmetto State

South Carolina may not have the raw numbers that other states have, but they had some quality hammers in the mix this weekend.

  • Max Johnson was 8-1 at 113 - lost to West Virginia Runner-up Dallas Owens in sudden victory

  • AJ Delacruz was 7-2 at 120

  • Thomas Johnson was 9-0 at 138 with a solid 9-7 win over Georgia State Placer Hunter Keane

  • JT Spence was 8-1 at 195 with his only loss coming 3-2 to Josh Lange of Georgia

  • Qwentin Welborn was 7-2 with a win over Christian Bell and a pair of losses to Montevallo (D2 signee) Noah Todd)

#3 Days of All Star Team Numbered

This was a question that was posed to me and I thought I’d throw it back out there for everyone else. My opinion - no, but I do like the fact that many of these teams had a core group of individuals. Sure they picked up a few free agents, but we didn’t see teams of 14 athletes from 7 different states. Building that cohesion is something we should look to do more of. Ala the Community Division at the AAU Scholastic Duals where you have your core, but then can have a few others to fill spots. Looks like Deep South did it without putting that rule in place.

#4 Purge, Indiana Outlaws, Rich Habits

The Gold pool had some high-level wrestling with some really good individual matchups. Indiana reached into the Sunshine State to bolster their lineup and that was huge in them taking home the team title. Don’t get me wrong - Heaston, Butt, etc. were stellar, but Indiana doesn’t win it without Fleming Island hammers Kaden Schaefer, Matthew Kotler, and Christopher Chop. Tran beat Simon 4-3 in a matchup of Fargo hammers, Jarvis Little was 9-0, Hunter Keane was 7-2, etc. … these kids love competition and made the transition quickly back after competing a week before in North Dakota (there were others … just mentioning a few names I saw).

#5 Bradley Williams

There are a lot of wrestlers we could highlight on an individual level - we chose Spain Park rising Sophomore Bradley Williams. Williams went 7-0 with 7 falls at 145 including falls of Dane Kracht, Kaden Schaefer, and others. We could have gone with Tanner Tran as well … downing Fargo Finalist Kiyan Simon 4-3 as well as a solid 9-0 decision of Tyler Prinzo of Mt Pisgah.

BONUS

A few other names that had a solid weekend (again there is no way to highlight everyone that did well … there were 91 teams from all over) - also I won’t mention any names that were already mentioned above

  • Samuel Comes (9-0) at 106

  • DJ Clarke (9-0) at 113

  • Gavin Samons (6-0) at 113

  • Lee Camp (10-0) at 120

  • Jacob Bucci (8-0) at 120

  • Quinn Ivey (8-0) at 120

  • Marlo Clark (6-0) at 120/126

  • Jay Brown (12-0) at 126

  • Nathan Simpson (8-0) at 126

  • Carter Brickley (8-0) at 132

  • Colson Hoffman (10-0) at 138

  • Riley Brewer (8-0) at 138

  • Jaelen Culp (13-0) at 145

  • Zachery Little (8-0) at 145

  • Yanik Simon (8-0) at 145

  • Brian Papcun (7-0) at 145

  • Colson Elliott (10-0) at 152

  • Brady Campbell (8-0) at 152

  • Sam Sutton (7-0) at 152

  • Tyler McKnight (10-0) at 160/170

  • Jacob Barlow (9-0) at 160/170

  • Evan Roudebusch (7-0) at 160

  • Isaiah Unger (13-0) at 170/182

  • Christopher Chop (7-0) at 170

  • Jake Stacey (9-0) at 182

  • Chris Aud (8-0) at 182

  • Aidan Costello (7-0) at 182

  • Ronan Wunsch (13-0) at 195/220

  • David Mercado (9-0) at 195

  • Kendrick Curtis (10-0) at 220

  • Michael Heylinger (7-0) at 220/285

  • Brandon Johnson (7-0) at 220

  • Noah Todd (10-0) at 285

Jason FulmoreComment