Despite missing three regulars, Oxford still repeats as county champs By Nick BirdsongStar Sports Writer 01-27-2008
WELLBORN — Oxford repeated as champions at the 2008 Calhoun County Wrestling tournament held on Saturday at the Howard Waldrep, Jr. Sports Center on the campus of Wellborn High School. The Yellow Jackets prevailed without the services of three of their regulars.
"I'm proud of them," said third-year Oxford coach Matt Thompson, who was named county Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. "We had several people out for different reasons, but they all stepped up and did what they were supposed to do."
Oxford will now shift its focus to the eight-team sectional tournament it will host beginning Saturday at 9 a.m. The top four finishers in each weight division will advance to the state finals, set for Thursday Feb. 7 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.
"The intensity paid off and they pulled off some close matches,"
Thompson said, "Now, we need to continue to work on our technique and get better at that. We need to mentally prepare. At sectionals, there's a lot of pressure and not everybody can perform under it."
The 140-pound championship between Oxford's Matt Hudgins and Wellborn's Blake Gray was voted best match.
"It was hard," said Hodgins, a senior who managed to pull away with a one-point win in the match. "My forearms were cramping up, but coach kept telling me to suck it up and go after him. Coach just pushes me so much. He's one of the best coaches I've ever had. It doesn't matter whether I'm hurt or sick. It's just all in our practices and stuff."
For Gray, whose record dropped to 30-10 on the season, the hard-fought battle will serve as motivation to drive him in seeking his ultimate goal by season's end.
"It's my senior year and I want to win a state championship," Gray said. "So it helped me out a lot to wrestle a 6A guy (before sectionals). I know I need to improve."
Oxford also got first-place finishes from Eric Lee (103-lb. weight class), Nathan Sherman (119), Lee Lynch (145), Jerry Cooper (160) and Robert Sparks (215).
