State of the Program ... Woodward Academy (GA)
Woodward Academy (Georgia)
Head Coach: Jeff Ragan (entering 8th season)
Staff: Anthony Rivera, Mickey Statham, Kevin Artis, Tommy Carney, Luke Underwood, Pete Fritts, Pete Chen
There might not be a better 1, 2, 3 punch in high school wrestling than Kilic, Filipowicz, and Singleton. All three are uber talented and will after the 21-22 season take their talents to a Division 1 program (Kilic to Arizona State, Filipowicz to West Point, and Singleton to NC State). But you can’t win a state title on 3 hammers alone. Ragan has been cultivating the rest of the pieces and will attempt to dethrone Woodland this season. Woodward also returns State Champ Colby McBride as well as State Placers Jaylin Tate, Ben Valdes, and Tristen Hill. That makes 7, but to beat Woodland (or some of the other 5A powers) they will need some others to step up and make some noise in 2022.
State Qualifiers Connor Phillips, Ryan Seeb, Ayden Lightner, Ian Wallace, and Noah Song will be counted on to score points. Ragan will also look to some new faces to step in and compete for varsity spots and state tournament points - they include Hayden Fritts, Heath Augustyn, and Robby DeHaven. If Woodward can get points (in both duals and at the state tournament) from the eight mentioned above - they will be tough to beat in 2022.
“With only graduating 2 seniors last season and returning 12 of our state qualifiers, as well as all of our 7 state placers, and all 4 of our state champions we are excited about the 2021-2022 season but we are also excited about some very talented new comers that will make our line up even tougher, giving us a very tough as well as balanced line up this season.”