The competition was intense during the Sawnee Mountain Duals, held Saturday at Forsyth Central.

Ten schools wrestled at the meet, with North Forsyth finishing third with a 4-1 record and the host Bulldogs putting up a fight during a 1-4 day.

Pope won the tournament, Jefferson finished second and Milton came fourth on the day.

“Saturday might have been one of the craziest days of wrestling I have ever been a part of from a team standpoint,” North coach Travis Jarrard said.

The Raiders earned tight wins over Cass (32-31), Kell (35-33) and Milton (31-28) en route to their third place finish.
North also beat Walton 43-33 and lost to Jefferson 47-17.

“So many little things throughout the course of the day contributed [to the wins]. ... I was exhausted and I didn’t wrestle,” Jarrard said.

Jarrard pointed out how Cass lost a point on a team deduction, which ended up being the final margin. At different points in the Milton match, the Eagles were one point from a technical fall or a major decision, which combined would have evaporated North’s three-point advantage.

Wrestling against Kell, North’s Brian Kennedy (2-0 on the day) came off the team’s disabled list with a wrist injury but managed to win by a pin, earning six crucial points for the Raiders in a two-point team victory.

Other notable Raiders on the day were Chris Ray (5-0), Chris O’Connor (5-0), Ryan Carroll (4-1), Ryan Cross (4-1) and Steve Hill (3-2), who filled in from the JV for a starter who was testing.

Dylan Martin, John Brown and Will Robinson all made contributions as well, Jarrard said.

With the closeness of the matches involved, Jarrard said it was critical for his wrestlers to maintain focus in matches they didn’t win to prevent pins, technical falls and major decisions, which award more team points than simple wins by decision.

“It’s a big factor in dual wrestling,” the coach said of the strategy needed to limit the team points surrendered in losses.

“I can honestly say I was very proud of the way we wrestled this weekend. ... It was definitely a team effort all the way across the board,” Jarrard said.

For host Central, the only win of the day came against Habersham Central, but coach Marlo Miranda was pleased with how his guys fought. Central fell to Pope, Kell, North Gwinnett and Milton, and all but the Pope dual were decided within the margin of a single match.

“We’re real young still, so I was just happy not to be in the basement,” Miranda said.

“I thought the kids did a great job. ... Except for the Pope match, they were in every match they wrestled.”

Heavyweight Jacob Nesmith led the way for the Bulldogs, going 5-0 on the day.

“I have to say he was probably our wrestler of the tournament, and he had a really tough match against the kid from Pope,” Miranda said.

As coach of the host school, Miranda said he intentionally sought out tough competition, including Jefferson, who has won the state title in duals in either Class A or Class AA every year since 2002, and Cass, who shared the Class AAA state title in 2008.

Walton, Kell and Pope are also strong programs in Class AAAAA, the coach said.

Miranda had originally scheduled state champions from Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama, but had all the out-of-state teams cancel, citing economic factors.

“My philosophy is to put the kids against the best. I want them to see the best,” Miranda said.