Middle School Wrestling – The last wrestling match of the season for the OCMS wrestlers was at George Walton Academy in Monroe. This tournament was the season finale for the Peach State Wrestling League of which Oglethorpe County is a part.
Social Circle proved to be the king of the hill during the tournament coming in first; OC came in fifth with four wrestlers winning medals. “It was a very tough tournament,” OCMS wrestling Coach Sam Simpson said. “Social Circle came in first, Morgan Co came in second Madison Co and Athens Christian tied for third and we came in fifth, and I was pleased with that.”
In the final tournament medalist for the Patriots included Trent Smith (75), fourth place; Trent Ashworth (147), fourth place; Cade Overstreet (171), fourth place and Dustin Todd (190) third place. Coach Simpson said that since Todd is a seventh grader he is looking for great things from him next year, especially considering Todd has been wrestling “up”, that is, wrestling heavier competitors than him.
Another wrestler Coach Simpson was impressed with is sixth grader Trent Smith. “Trent only weighs 61 pounds soaking wet. The smallest class we have in the 75lb class so Trent was giving up 15 pounds in most of his matches. I was proud of him winning fourth overall at the tournament,” Coach Simpson said.
Coach Simpson has been competing with 23 wrestlers all season five of which were eight graders. He has twelve returning seventh graders and the remaining wrestlers are returning sixth graders. So he’ll have a predominately eight grade wrestling team next year. “You know, in wrestling you wrestle in a weight class, that means that a sixth grader may be wrestling an eighth grader, it just depends on who is in the weight class,” explains Coach Simpson. “Social Circle had a mostly eight grade team so most of our guys were wrestling eighth graders; some of our sixth graders, too. Since we’ll have a mostly eighth grade team next year I’m looking for good things from them.”
Of the eight graders this year Coach Simpson said that Tyler Sharp, Trent Ashworth, Garrett McCormack and Tyler Hooper will probably go on to wrestle at the high school level. They will be a good addition to Coach Cordell’s team if they do. “Coach Cordell has a young team and has holes in several weight classes that these guy could fill, said Coach Simpson. “So they might get to wrestle next year in these weight classes.”
Coach Simpson works closely with Coach Cordell in planning what to teach the newcomers. Coach Simpson said that Coach Cordell gives him about 15 things he wants the middle school guys to learn and that’s what Coach Simpson teaches. On the other end, the younger end, Coach Simpson said they don’t actually go to the elementary school to recruit. But they do have a USA wrestling program going in the county with about 25 wrestlers, many of which are younger than middle school.
In order to be competitive many sports now have club teams, summer workouts, etc. and middle school wrestling is no exception. Although the dates are not yet finalized, Coach Simpson says there will be summer workout session for middle school wrestlers. Usually it’s four weeks in durations, three or four days per week and they send out flyers to the elementary school and as young a first graders.
Another aspect of OC wrestling is the USA program, which is not affiliated with the school, starts kids much younger than middle school age. Coach Simpson said he has several kids that not only wrestle or him but the USA program as well; Trent Smith who started wrestling two years ago and is a returning sixth grader along with Trent Ashworth among others. USA wrestling meets two nights a week under Coach Cordell’s tutelage at the wrestling room at the high school. They have meets on Sundays and it goes on all year long. Coach Simpson says it’s a good place to get started in wrestling.
OCMS wrestling has always had a pretty good crowd of boys on the team. Many of them are new and inexperienced. But when they get their first win, which may take most of the season, there is a new sense of dedication on their part to work harder so they can win again. Coach Simpson is looking forward to next year and so are many of the wrestlers. The middle school Patriots should do well.
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