GAINESVILLE — They weren’t looking to make any particular statement. Nevertheless, defending Class 3A State Duals wrestling champion North Hall put on an impressive display Saturday morning in the State Prelims round at the Lynn Cottrell gym.
The Trojans routed both LaFayette (64-12) and Oconee County (70-12) while losing just one actual match on the mat while advancing to next week’s Class 3A State Duals.
“We’re just trying to wrestle hard and keep improving. I thought we were good today,” North Hall coach David Nichols said.
Despite not carrying a 106-pound wrestler this season, the Trojans were impregnable in the lower weights. Christian Cortero, Dalton Thompson, and Connor Free all registered two pins below 126. Jack Whitmire, in two different weight classes, also got a pair of pins for North Hall.
Senior Dalton Battle, an Applachian State-signee who recently topped the 200-win mark for his career, got a pin and a major decision for the Trojans as well.
North Hall is expected to be slated as the top seed for Class 3A when the field is reseeded for the State Duals, which will be held at nearby Cherokee Bluff.
“I thought we wrestled well the entire day,” Battle said. “Our goal is to get back and defend our title. We don’t care who we have next, we just want to get into the finals. But as the defending champs we feel we’ve earned the right to be the top seed."
In both matches, the Trojans started strong and virtually clinched before either LaFayette or Oconee County could secure a single match win.
Against LaFayette, Jacob Pedraza opened with a tough 9-8 decision win and then Eli Domingo and Whitmire followed with pins. Damon Campbell also battled back to get a 10-8 decision with Nolan Sorrows earning a major fall win. It was eventually 46-0 before LaFayette got forfeit wins at 285 and 106. Cortero, Thompson, and Free closed out the match with quick pins.
Against Oconee County, it was nearly identical. Whitmire got things started with a pin and after a forfeit at 145, Campbell and Sorrows and Hunter Adams all got pins sandwiched around a major decision win for Battle for a 34-0 lead. Oconee got its only actual win with a pin at 195 and North Hall closed out the match with Cortero, Thompson, Free, and Pedraza all securing pins.
“Our team is really coming together at the right time, especially when you consider all the things like Covid that have been going on for all teams,” Nichols said. “Just really proud of this group.”
