FLOWERY BRANCH -- Making history last month by winning its first-ever Area Duals apparently wasn't enough for the Flowery Branch wrestling team.
The Falcons placed 11 wrestlers in the semifinals of the Area 8-AAAAA traditional meet and would come away with three individual titles on the way to a dominating team win Saturday at the Flowery Branch gym.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to next week's Class AAAAA East Sectionals at Loganville.
It was their first-ever area traditional team title and continues what has been the best season ever for Falcons' wrestlers to this point.
"It's really not about making history but about seeing the hard work we've put in as coaches and wrestlers pay off," Flowery Branch coach Shane Millwood said. "Our goal was to take as many as we could to the sectionals. We were hoping for all 14 but we got 11 to the sectionals and we're happy with that."
The Falcons won the team title with a total of 200 points, fueled by titles from Zach Winter (138-pounds), Grant Simonds (182), and Davante King at 195. They had three second-place finishes, four third-place finishers, and one fourth place. Loganville had the most individual champions with five, but placed just five others, none in second place, to finish in second place overall with 183 points.
Clarke Central had four area champions and finished third with 173.5 points. Heritage was fourth at 113, Winder-Barrow fifth at 102, Gainesville and Apalachee tied for sixth with 76 points, Cedar Shoals was eighth with 38 points, and Salem took ninth with 36.5 points.
"We're very happy to have three area champs but we left some points out there," Millwood said. "I thought the guys wrestled hard and gave it everything they had. Now we'll try to figure out how to help all of them advance to state."
Flowery Branch's Winter, a junior, brought home his first area title with an exciting pin of Winder-Barrow's Tristan Yaptengco at 138. Winter trailed 2-0 in the second period but managed an escape and then used a quick headlock and turn to get Yaptengco in a scaled-down angel move.
"I wasn't worried (about being behind)," Winter said. "Once I got him in the headlock I have a special move that works almost every time. When he went down I knew I had him.
"It feels great to get the championship. But my goal is to get to state. Hopefully I can have a good week at sectionals."
Falcons' sophomore Simonds dominated his match at 182 to win his first-ever area title. He built an 11-1 lead in the second period on a series of cradle moves but then switched to the nelson to finish off Clarke Central's Austin DeFoor.
"The cradle is my go-to move but I saw the opportunity to get the nelson on him and get the pin," said Simonds, who finished third in the area as a freshman. "I feel more confident this year. It's great to be an area champ but I want to win a state title."
But the most exciting match of the day was at 195, where the Falcons' Davante King knocked off two-time area champ Blake Mustard of Clarke Central in two overtimes. It came down to a final 30-second period with King holding on to a 3-2 lead.
"I just knew that at the beginning (of the second OT) that all I had to do was get up and then hang on. I was able to get an escape and then kept him from taking me down," King said. "I finished fifth last year in the area so this is just a great feeling.
"It also felt good to beat (Mustard) because he had beaten my training partner three times in the area tournament. Now, we're just focused on getting to state."
In other title matches for the Falcons, Ben Horton (126) dropped a tough 6-5 decision to David Fisher of Clarke Central; Anthony Williams lost 6-2 to Carver Goodhue of Clarke Central at 170; and R.J. Deyton was pinned by Clarke Central's Demond Stovall.
Also for Flowery Branch, Ronny Couch (113), Nolan Alspach (120), Brady Dyer (145), and Quinten Newman (160) all finished third in their respective weight classes. Daniel Boddie (132) finished fourth.
Gainesville did not push anyone through to the finals but will send five to the sectionals. Ken Flenoy (106) finished third while Tyrek Fleming (113), Chastin Newman (160), Tristan Cantrell (182), and Kash Jones (285) all finished fourth.
The semifinals went almost true to form with every top seed advancing to the finals. In fact, the top two seeds in all but two weight classes -- 145 and 182 -- advanced to the finals.
The host Falcons and Clarke Central posted the best semifinals performances with six wrestlers apiece making the finals and qualifying for the sectionals. Loganville had five advance to the finals and Heritage had four make the finals.
Area 8-AAAAA Traditional Tournament Results
At Flowery Branch High
Top four finishers, Sectional qualifiers
106
1. Cole Burton, Loganville
2. David Harris, Heritage
3. Ken Flenoy, GHS
4. Gavin Pieniaszck, Winder-Barrow
113
1. Tommy Pulliam, Loganville
2. Marco Harris, Heritage
3. Ronny Couch, FB
4. Tyrek Fleming, GHS
120
1. Andrew Geigrich, Clarke Central
2. Reggie Hurt, Salem
3. Nolan Alspach, FB
4. Austin Giles, Loganville
126
1. David Fisher, Clarke Central
2. Ben Horton, FB
3. Rory Barber, Loganville
4. Matt Lewis-Hardwick, Salem
132
1. Tyler McCance, Loganville
2. Landon McFarland, Winder-Barrow
3. Joe Timmons, Heritage
4. Daniel Boddie, FB
138
1. Zach Winter, FB
2. Tristan Yaptengco, Winder-Barrow
3. Nick Nagy, Loganville
4. Xaviess Smith, Clarke Central
145
1. Caleb King, Loganville
2. Julian George, Heritage
3. Brady Dyer, FB
4. Justin Skinner, Apalachee
152
1. Mitch Clemens, Heritage
2. Trey Dobbs, Apalachee
3. Josh Williams, Clarke Central
4. Jerome Vicidomine, Loganville
160
1. Jed Wheeler, Loganville
2. Kevin Bindschusz, Apalachee
3. Quinten Newman, FB
4. Chastin Newman, GHS
170
1. Carver Goodhue, Clarke Central
2. Anthony Williams, FB
3. Josh Hardy, Cedar Shoals
4. Stephen Head, Winder-Barrow
182
1. Grant Simonds, FB
2. Austin DeFoor, Clarke Central
3. Byran Morton, Cedar Shoals
4. Tristan Cantrell, GHS
195
1. Davante King, FB
2. Blake Mustard, Clarke Central
3. Cameron Myers, Loganville
4. Kris Colby, Winder-Barrow
220
1. Matthew Moon, Apalachee
2. Austin Stewart, Winder-Barrow
3. Dumario Price, Clarke Central
4. Daniel Foster, Heritage
285
1. Demond Stovall, Clarke Central
2. R.J. Deyton, FB
3. Agustin Salas, Winder-Barrow
4. Kash Jones, GHS
Team standings
1. Flowery Branch, 200.00
2. Loganville, 183.00
3. Clarke Central, 173.50
4. Heritage, 113
5. Winder-Barrow, 102.00
6. Apalachee, 76
tie, Gainesville, 76.00
8. Cedar Shoals, 38
9. Salem, 36.50
Thursday
February 6th, 2025
7:51PM
