Bryan County wrestling program quickly making progress in just its second season

PEMBROKE — To say the Bryan County wrestling program has taken a quantum leap forward would be putting it mildly.

In only their second year of competing, the Redskins find themselves in the field of 32 in the GHSA Class A Team Dual State Sectionals Tournament on Saturday at Trion High School. Trion is located in Chattooga County in northwest Georgia.

Bryan County finished third last weekend in the Area tournament behind Screven County and Dublin to earn the right to move on. At Trion, the top eight teams will advance to the state championship finals on Jan. 22 at Commerce High School.

The Redskins will face No. 2 seed Marion County in their first match with the winner advancing to take on the winner of No. 1 Trion and No. 4 Bowden County.

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“We’ve had a phenomenal season,” Bryan County coach Zach Ledbetter said. “We had only four returnees from last year and we currently have 23 boys wrestling. Most of them are freshmen (11) and six of them start.”

Unlike Richmond Hill High School — the Wildcats are also in the field of 32 in Class 6A as a No. 3 seed — which has one of the top wrestling programs in the state, the sport is relatively foreign to north Bryan County.

Ledbetter, who did not wrestle beyond middle school, was hired as the wrestling coach in the summer of 2020 to get the program started and he obviously has it going in the right direction.

“We finished the season last year with eight boys and four of them came back,” Ledbetter said. “John Wanzer, Jet Lewis, Tarrell Singleton and Raul Parrish returned and they’ve done more than wrestle for us.

“All four of them have worked on recruiting their friends to wrestle and helped out in a lot of ways that you don’t see on the surface.”

The Redskins took their lumps last year as no one had ever wrestled other than Wanzer, now a senior, who had wrestled at South Effingham High School before transferring to Bryan County shortly before his junior year.

“We won our first duals match ever on Dec. 9,” Ledbetter said. “We had two team wins that night and later we had three team wins at home.”

In team duals this season, the Redskins are 8-12 and, Ledbetter said, came within two pins of finishing second in the area tournament.

Singleton, a junior wrestling at 220 pounds, is Bryan County’s top performer with a 19-8 record.

“He’s had a phenomenal season,” Ledbetter said. “He’s a really good athlete — he’s a starter in football and was first-team defense on the all-region team — and he was the area champion last year.

“Right before the end of the season last year, everything clicked for him,” Ledbetter said. “This year he has taken on the captain’s role. He has a tremendous work ethic and never takes a minute off. He sets a great example in the room.”

Lewis, a sophomore, has a 9-8 record which Ledbetter said is no indicator of his ability.

“Jet weighs 215 pounds and should be wrestling at 220 except we have Tarrell there,” Ledbetter said. “He wrestles up at 285 which means he’s giving up 50 or pounds per match. He’s an outstanding wrestler.”

Wanzer, a co-captain with Singleton, is a leader in the room and has helped with the younger wrestlers, Ledbetter said. He is 8-8 and Parrish has seven wins. Both have been plagued by injuries: Parrish has a hyperextended knee and Wanzer has been dealing with back issues.

“One of our key guys is Colton Gunter at 126 pounds,” Ledbetter said. “He’s come into his own with five wins in our last eight matches. He’s a junior and this is his first-year wrestling.

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“We’re ecstatic about where we’re at. The kids are buying in. For a second-year program, we’re growing and learning.”

Ledbetter was able to hold a week-long camp last summer for grades 3-8 with 28 campers getting introduced to the sport.

“We’ve got eight of our campers on the varsity team,” Ledbetter said. “The middle school now has a team. If we can keep them all in the program, we’re going to be fine.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bryan County High School wrestling program in GHSA state tournament