South Forsyth High School

Pittman wins area title for South

Six War Eagles, eight Raiders advance to sectional

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Forsyth County won’t have any shortage of representation at this weekend’s Class AAAAA East Sectional.

A total of 14 local wrestlers from North Forsyth and South Forsyth qualified for the event by earning a top-four finish at the Area 7-AAAAA Championships Saturday at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee.

South saw six of its own qualify, including one area champion.

War Eagle Joe Pittman achieved the best result for his school, winning first place in the 171-pound weight class.

“Joe Pittman remains undefeated on the year and wrestled an excellent finals match against [Nick] Holburt from Collins Hill,” South coach Zack Elrod said.

“It is the match we have been looking forward to this year, and Joe rose to the challenge.”

Joining Pittman at sectionals will be teammates Kevin Hendrix (2nd, 215 pounds), Ryan Marionneaux (2nd, 103 pounds), Ryan Prisco (3rd, 125 pounds), Devon Polsin (4th, 152 pounds) and Garrett Smith (4th, 189 pounds).

“All of the boys wrestled well this weekend,” Elrod said. “They have been working hard all year to get to meet their goals and ... they took their first step towards reaching them.”

The War Eagles finished in sixth place as a team with 99.5 points.

Although no one clinched an individual title for North, 12 of the 13 Raiders who competed at the area championships finished in the top five.

Eight earned the right to move on to sectionals with a top-four finish, led by runner-up showings from Dylan Cross (2nd, 112 pounds), Ryan Cross (2nd, 130 pounds), Chris O’Conner (2nd, 135 pounds), Ryan Carroll (2nd, 152 pounds) and Brian Kennedy (2nd, 189 pounds).

John Michael Brown (4th, 125 pounds), Will Robinson (3rd, 145 pounds) and Zack Coker (3rd, heavyweight) also qualified for the Raiders.

Despite North’s strong showing, coach Travis Jarrard said the coaching staff came away from the area championships with mixed emotions.

“It’s a little bit bittersweet because we’d like for all of them to go, especially Chris Ray (5th, 140 pounds) ... knowing that had he not been injured, he would have definitely qualified,” Jarrard said.

“At the same time, you’re happy for all the others.”

The Raiders (158 points) finished second as a team behind nationally-ranked powerhouse Collins Hill (301 points).

Jarrard said the performances of Carroll, Robinson and Coker stood out on the day.

Carroll earned second after entering the tournament as the fifth seed, Robinson earned third by defeating an opponent he lost to earlier in the season, and Coker scored four pins on the day.

“Not that the other kids didn’t have tremendous accomplishments, but those three really stood out,” Jarrard said.