GA State Duals - Finals Matchups

Good morning, everyone.

Last night was a wild ride with some great back and forth duals. 14 teams have booked their ticket to the State Finals this afternoon at 3 pm. Below is the current brackets as of Friday evening. Below each bracket is a quick look at possible matchups based on the semifinal duals. Remember that coaches have routinely used the ability to move wrestlers around to create the best matchups. That is a definite possibility and the lineups below are not a given.

If you haven’t read any of the Fan’s Guides up to this point - here is a quick explanation.

Basically a Fan’s Guide is a look at each team in an effort to give the fan’s an idea of who might be wrestling at each weight for a team. It is not a prediction … I might provide a quick overview of who might have an advantage at a particular weight, but, in reality, coaches have an opportunity to move wrestlers around to create favorable matchups. Because of that … it is pretty difficult to give you an accurate assessment of each weight. As a result - the best I can do is give you one person’s opinion (mine - which isn’t worth much) about the overall dual. For example; I thought Creekview and Pope would come down to the last match … and it did. I didn’t really have an idea of who would win (or which individuals would be the difference), but I had a pretty good idea that I thought it would be super close. Pope beat Creekview 28-26 in a very fan friendly dual … lots of excitement. That match, in my opinion, showcased why duals are so exciting and why wrestling has a super product.

Class 7A

The skinny: Camden looks like the juggernaut of old. They will not be an easy out vs. Collins Hill. Camden has cruised in all 3 of their matches. Collins Hill is very tough at 120, 132, 138, and 160. Morrison has looked good at 285. Key matchups could be: Omega Clark vs. Richard Ransom at 170, Nathan Santos vs. Jordan St. Preuve at 152. Collins Hill can’t afford to give up bonus points at 106, 113, 195, and 220. Nathan Orum vs. Powell Gilbert will be a fun one at 120.

Class 6A

The skinny: Top seed Richmond Hill has looked super good through the tournament … beating 3 very good teams in Sequoyah, Coffee County, and Cambridge. Richmond Hill had to scrap in each match, but has seemed to be in control throughout each of their wins. Pope beat Valdosta and Brunswick before running into #2 seed Creekview. Pope built a lead vs. Creekview only to watch the Grizzlies take the lead in the next to last match. Pope won the last match 4-2 and the dual 28-26 to advance. Pope is solid all the way through … Richmond Hill has hammers at 126, 132, 170, 182, 195, and 285. Pope probably has the edge in the lightweights, Richmond Hill up top. Who gets bonus points and who wins the close ones will determine who wins the dual. I expect this one to be very close again … all of 6A is so close - expect this to come down to one of the final matches as well.

Class 5A

The skinny: Veterans took out Buford to advance to the finals. Their reward? A date with Woodland - maybe the best team in Georgia in 2020. Woodland has cruised so far with “easy” wins over Miller Grove, Walnut Grove, and Ola. We will see good vs. good with possible matchups of Farber vs. McCrary (or Jones), Cochran vs. Reynolds, Martin vs. Bishop, etc. Will Henson bump to face Morrissey? Woodland looks like they have the edge, but Veterans is a scrappy bunch that will be in it until the end.

Class 4A

The skinny: Woodward Academy as good as any team in the state in the middle of their lineup … Masters, Kilic, Mannella, Pace, Singleton, and Wiley. Gilmer has Caleb Waddell who can wrestle with anyone … but is “solid” throughout their lineup. Matchups will be huge. Will Woodward’s 106-126’s and 195-285’s win as many as they lose? That is a win for Woodward because the middle of the lineup will more than make-up for it. But if they lose all of those matches (106-126 and 195-285) - things could get dicey. I have to believe Woodward has the advantage because they have at least 18 points (at the very least) in the bank and probably believe they have 30ish points. Will we see Waddell vs. Singleton? or maybe Waddell vs. Wiley? Both are a possibility, but not a given … probably depends on what each coach needs when we get to those weights.

Class 3A

The skinny: Sonoraville was on fire vs. Jefferson in the semis. North Hall did what North Hall does … grinds you down and takes the win. This should be a great match. In a very unscientific poll - I’ve asked several people who they thought would win … it is 50-50. Knight x3, Stone, Brown, Bryan, etc. lead the way for Sonoraville. The top of North Hall’s lineup is stacked and that is where this dual might be won or lost. Adams, Eisenberg, etc. pair well with Pedraza and Whitmire down low. Will we see Eli Knight vs. Jack Whitmire?

Class 2A

The skinny: What a matchup! These are probably easily the two best teams in 2A and this final should be fireworks. Chattooga’s monsters from 195-285 will look to get them started (assuming we start up there like we have so far this tournament). Nunnally vs. Medina - outstanding. The energy level during the semis when watching these two teams compete was off the chart. Expect this match to be as intense as any in the building.

Class 1A

The two best teams meet in the 1A finals … Commerce is the historical juggernaut. Trion has looked unstoppable all weekend. What’s the saying when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object? Well that’s the 1A finals. Most people I’ve spoken with lean Commerce … after watching Trion in the semis - I personally - feel like they have the momentum. Lookout … this one is going to be fun.