Creekview Grizzlies Place 4th At State Wrestling Tournament

This team is special.  Most of the season, they have been short two or three wrestlers but they still get the job done.

This season they sent 9 wrestlers to State

Placed 4th in AAAAA - 1st time in the top 5

Placed 5 individual wrestlers (past record is 3)

Sent a wrestler to the finals for the first time

The Macon Centreplex was filled with Division 1A through Division 6AAAAAA wrestlers Thursday through Saturday last weekend.  Every one of them ready to battle for a State title.

The Grizzlies took Freshman Ryan Camp (106 lbs) , Freshman Grant Slater (113), Sophmore Justin Goss (120), Senior Justin Pettyjohn (152), Junior Hunter Smith (160), Senior Hunter Udall (170), Junior Joseph Sorrentino (182), Junior Logan Ridings (195) and Sophmore Brock Tupman (285).

Slater, Pettyjohn, Smith, Udall and Sorrentino would advance to the quarterfinals after a first round win.  The 4 remaining Grizzlies would have to wrestle back through the consolation brackets.  At the end of the day, Creekview was in 4th place as a team.

Day two would bring  an opportunity to advance directly to the semi finals for those that already won their first match.  Hunter Smith (160) advanced to the semis with a 10-6 decision over Tavares Russ.  Hunter Udall (170), would defeat Jermel Lewis of Woodland  7-2 and Joseph Sorrentino (182) would win with an 11-1 major decision over Grant Simonds of Flowery Branch to advance to the semis.

Hunter Smith lost by fall in his semi final to Kevin Bindschusz of Apalachee and Hunter Udall would be stopped by eventual 170 lbs Champion, Tyler Askey of Northgate.

Joseph Sorrentino would become the first Grizzly to ever make the finals with his 12-4 major decision over Jacob Allen of Ware County.

The consolation finals would help to put an eventual 5 Grizzlies on the podium, the most in Creekview history.  Grant Slater (113) 6th place, Justin Pettyjohn (152) 4th place, Hunter Smith (160) 6th place and Hunter Udall (170) 5th place.

Sorrentino met nationally ranked Brooks Climmons of Pope in the 182 lbs final.  Sorrentino suffered a technical fall of 24-9 to Climmons to take the State runner up title, a feat no Grizzly has accomplished until now.

Although Creekview will lose two of their best wrestlers (Seniors Pettyjohn and Udall), the future looks bright with much young talent now and more coming up next year. 

Creekview is on a roll under the direction of Head Coach Wyatt Wilkie and coach T.J. McNellie.   Rounding out the coaching staff are coaches John Judkins and Ty Brown.