South Effingham tops North Forsyth for the Georgia 6A Duals Crown
Photo Credit: Amber Cloy
My conversation with Coach Bringer
Final Bracket
South Effingham came in the 2 seed and each of the top 4 seeds advanced through the opening round with little trouble. North Forsyth downed Lee County and Woodward Academy beat Glynn Academy 49-22 on the top side. Creekview downed Newnan 57-11 and South Effingham topped Lassiter.
Lassiter’s lightweights gave them a 13-0 lead after the first 3 matches, but South Effingham’s Jacob Stellhorn, Brandon Bringer, and Eli Wood broughth them back (and into the lead 15-13) after the first 6 matches. Lassiter and South Effingham traded wins at 1444 and 150 before South Effingham took control up top and didn’t look back as they advanced wit ha 57-11 win.
Top seed Trion advanced to meet East Laurens on the top side and Social Circle beat Temple to setup a showdown between Pisgah and Social Circle in the bottom semi.
Taking care of the business vs. Creekview
South Effingham’s Stephen Tootle set the tone for his team with a hard fought 14-12 sudden victory win in the opening round to make it 3-0. Brock Salas won for Creekview and we were tied 3-3 in what looked as if it was going to be a close dual. Jacob Stellhorn and Brandon Bringer gave South Effingham two major decision wins before Creekview’s Jonathan Yeager and Austin Hamm pushed them into the lead 15-11. That’s when Nicholas Sessions and crew took over … Sessions had a fall at 150 and Ashton Tootle won a close 8-7 decision before Enrique Santana had a tech fall at 165 to put South Effingham up 25-15 with 5 matches remaining. DaMyon McFarlin came up with another big win in overtime for South Effingham and William Christmas added an 11-0 major decision to push them further up 31-15 and nearly out of reach. Jackson Locke’s decision for Creekview was huge for 2 reasons … 1. it helped Creekview to get back on track, but 2. it sealed the win for South Effingham as they led 31-18 with 2 matches remaining. The final score was 44-18 in a much closer dual than the final score indicated.
South Effingham vs. North Forsyth for the Title
Back and forth it went … Gryder beat Stellhorn 7-4 and then Bringer and Wood added points for South Effingham. Dmitriy Vostrikov had a fall for North Forsyth and Henderson added a major only to watch Ashton Tootle and Enrique Santana answer back for South Effingham. With the score 19-13 in South Effingham’s favor - DaMyon McFarlin might have had the biggest win to that point with a 3-1 sudden victory decision of William Verdirame at 175. Colin Kelley and Collin Miller added 9 points for North Forsyth and Ashton Anderson had a fall at 285 and we headed to the final 3 weights with a very close dual. Arcadian Eaton’s fall at 106 tied it up at 28-28 leaving Stephen Tootle and Emilio Santana to bring it home for South Effingham in the final two matches.
Video Credit: Trackwrestling
Top 4 6A Duals Teams:
South Effingham
North Forsyth
Woodward Academy
Glynn Academy