Wrestling to host Blue Devil Invitational Dec. 3

Becky Taylor, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
·3 min read

Dec. 2—TIFTON — Tift County High's gym floor will turn from hardwood to mats Saturday morning, Dec. 3, for the annual Blue Devil Invitational wrestling meet. Twelve teams from 11 schools will compete in duals.

Weigh-ins begin at 8 a.m., according to Tift wrestling head coach Shawn Watson. Action will begin around 9:30 a.m. The Blue Devils will have two teams participate at the meet. Others coming in, he said, are Colquitt County, Berrien, Cook, Lowndes, Sumter County, Lee County, Union Grove, Thomas County Central, Turner County and Cairo. There will be four pools, with three teams in each.

This is the first appearance for Union Grove, which is located near McDonough.

Watson describes his team as "getting there" in 2022-23. They've competed so far at three big meets, the Swamp Duals, the Raja Bryan Invitational and Grapple on the Gridiron. The latter was Nov. 22 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium in Valdosta. Though he described the Swamp Duals as rough — it immediately came after football's end — he said the losses were to the tournament's top teams.

Tift was 4th at the Raja Bryan Invitational, which took place at Ola in Henry County. Abraham Soto won his weight class and Addison Braswell won hers. Damion Moate and Sergio Martinez each finished in 3rd.

Right now, Watson is still working on his lineup. Some duals have seen them have to forfeit because of a lack of a wrestler in a weight class. "Once we get those spots filled in, we'll be good to go," he said.

Tift is a young, but big program right now. Watson estimated he had 70 wrestlers and with only three seniors: Soto, Martinez and Donterrius Whitaker. Women's wrestling continues to grow, with four regularly competing and at least two more as hopefuls.

Going through his lineup, Watson listed potential starters in each weight class. Hayden Masterson and Cole Rutland at 106 pounds; Martinez anchors 113; Antron Johnson is at 120, with Caden Bowyer at 126. At 132 is Daniel Soto and D'Corey White and perhaps others; Tavon Wallace and White can go at 138. Javon Bateman is penciled in at 144 and Whitaker at 150. Dawson McMillan has been wrestling at 157 pounds.

Bryan Melton has been at 165 pounds, but is currently injured. At 175, Watson has Danny Freeman. Moate, who won region this spring, wrestles at 190, but Watson expects him to get down at 175. There isn't a weight class between 175 and 190 this time around for Moate to slide into. Abraham Soto wrestles at 215 and Mori Alexander is at heavyweight. Landon Jones may be available soon to help in that class after being banged up in football.

Braswell, Sadie Davis, Angell Dixon and Nathaly Rivera have been his girls competing so far. He expects to see Samantha Vicars soon on the mat.

After his own tournament, Watson finishes December with a varsity slate that mentions meets at Cook, Jefferson, Colquitt County and Union Grove.

Region duals will be at Thomas County Central in January. The individual region tournament takes place in February.