Christian Malone
VALDOSTA — Valdosta High’s wrestling team gave head coach Benjy Scarbor a great birthday present on Saturday: a Region 1-AAAAA championship.
Valdosta won the region title with a superb performance on Saturday. Six Valdosta wrestlers won individual championships, three more finished second and four other Wildcats finished third.
“That was nice,” Scarbor said. “I was glad to bring it back home with us ... It sure felt good to win both the duals and the individual (region) title.”
The Wildcats’ 231.5 points were 36 more than second-place Tift County. Lowndes finished third with 166 points.
Valdosta’s Chris King became the 215-pound region champion when he pinned Jared Lafferty of Warner Robins in the final. Ramone Durr defeated Coffee’s Aaron Drew 1-0 in the 130-pound final. Durr got the lone point of the match when he escaped from Drew’s hold in the second period.
Valdosta’s Javon Scott won his third region title in three years at VHS, scoring a technical fall against Trey Cranford of Warner Robins in the final. Scott took a 10-0 lead in the first period, and closed out his victory with 1:33 left in the second period.
Valdosta’s Marshawn Sharp won the 112-pound title, pinning Jeremy Bozeman of Tift with 18 seconds left in the second period. It was Sharp’s second region title in two years.
Valdosta freshman Clarence Williams won the region title at 119 pounds, defeating Jay Durden of Lowndes 5-3. Valdosta’s Jarquez Brown became the 189-pound region champion when he pinned Travis Register of Colquitt County with 25 seconds left in the second period.
Valdosta’s Rashun Brown (135 pounds), Darshawn Sharp (103) and Terance Fountain (285) each finished second. Robert Jones (125), Joshua Holliman (152), Kris Brown (160) and Eric Alexander (171) all took third in their weight classes.
In all, 13 Valdosta wrestlers qualified for the state sectional tournament, which will be held next weekend in Tifton.
On Saturday, Lowndes finished third with a team that had just two seniors. The Vikings qualified 12 wrestlers for sectionals.
“I thought they wrestled well overall,” Graybeal said.
Lowndes senior Dion Crenshaw won the region championship at 285 pounds, pinning Fountain in the final.
“Dion had a real good tournament,” Graybeal said. “He worked hard. He deserved it.”
For Lowndes, Seth Ennis (125), Sid Green (145), Brandon Bell (152) and Dillon Wynn (160) each finished second.
Jake Croft (103), Mark Stubbs (135) and Trevor Scarborough (215) each finished third. Taylor Alligood (130) and Sam Washington (189) both took fourth.
Tift had five region champions: Zimmie Mack (160), Nathan McCall (103), Adrian Martin (125), Devon Smith (152) and Trey Hicks (171). Colquitt County’s Marquavious Clark won the region title at 145 pounds.
