Mt. Zion Invitational: Darlington Wrestling’s First Tournament Win in at Least 17 Years, Perhaps Ever
The Darlington Wrestling team has proven its strength in the weeks since the Christmas holidays. Competing against 12 teams at the Bowdon Invitational Tournament Saturday, Jan. 8, the Tigers captured fourth place. Scoring points for the team were Ken Duffey, Matt Johnson, Chris Draudt, Adam Seiz (placing third at the 189-pound weight class), Peter Hicks (third at 112), and Stuart Minshew (second at 275). Jason Eberhard captured the championship at the 103 pound class.
The following Monday, the wrestling team dropped matches to Adairsville 50-24 and Calhoun 48-33, but squeaked by Trion 40-34. On Friday the wrestlers stormed out against Bowdon in the first home meet, winning all but two matches 60-12.
The big event came Saturday, Jan. 15, when the Tiger wrestling team amassed 146.5 point to capture its first ever team championship trophy at the Mt. Zion Invitational in an eight team field. The Tigers were behind Callaway and being pushed hard by Heard County going into the finals in both the consolation and championship brackets.
Both Darlington and Callaway had six wrestlers in the finals. However, Darlington had only two in the consolation finals whereas Callaway had three. Each team with a wrestler who wins his final match scores points for his team. This meant Callaway had more chances to score than Darlington, which was handicapped by the loss to illness of senior Young Choi.
With Darlington 12 points behind Callaway, it was necessary for the Tigers to win most of their matches and Callaway to lose several of theirs for Darlington to overtake the lead. The crucial matches were at 140 and 275, where Michael Meadows and Minshew both wrestled Callaway head to head.
The Tiger wrestling team came through like champions in their final matches. Both battling illness themselves, Phillip King placed fourth at 215, and Johnson pinned his opponent to place third at 145. In his highest tournament finish ever, Draudt placed second at 171. The Tigers finished with five champions –Eberhard, Hicks, Meadows, Seiz, and Minshew – all scoring falls in their final matches, and shut the door on Callaway and stopped Heard County, which won three finals to place in runner-up status overall.
In a tri-meet against St. Francis and quad-A Chattahoochee Tuesday, Jan. 18, the Tiger wrestlers fared well against St. Francis, with Eberhard pinning his opponent at 112, Hicks pinning his man at 119, Johnson at 140, Draudt defeating his opponent at 171, and Minshew pinning his man at 275. The team did well against Chattahoochee, with Eberhard and Minshew winning on pins and Hicks and Seiz beating their opponents on points.
They traveled to Douglasville, Friday, Jan. 21, for a tri-meet at Chapel Hill High School, a AAAA class team. Although the game was fiercely competitive and close, and the outcome was in doubt the whole meet, Darlington lost 40-42. Things turned around for the tigers when they competed and conquered A classification Mt. Zion with a final score of 60-24.
In addition, Head Wrestling Coach Steve Killian notched his 100th win, Friday, Jan. 21, with the victory over Mt. Zion. Killian, who has been head wrestling coach at Darlington for 14 years, credits this milestone to the contributions and support of past and present Darlington wrestlers, managers, parents, and fans.
