1 of 9

The Spain Park wrestling team finished undefeated at the 2020 Swede Umbach Wrestling tournament. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By DAWN HARRISON | Special to the Reporter 

AUBURN – The Pelham Panthers and Spain Park Jaguars both put together strong performances at Auburn’s Swede Umbach Duals wrestling tournament Dec. 11-12.

Both emerged undefeated following the first night of the event on Friday to the contenders bracket.

Spain Park finished then went onto finish the tournament undefeated with a 6-0 record following another perfect day on Saturday.

On Friday night, the Jags defeated Bob Jones 39-24, Enterprise 55-15 and Auburn 50-22. On Saturday, they came back to defeat Opelika -15, Benjamin Russel 66-18 and Smiths Station 46-27.

Spain Park totaled an astounding 32 falls, three technical falls, 1one major decision, nine Decisions and 14 Forfeits.

They ended the tournament winning 59 of their 82 matches and saw three exceptional wrestlers go 6-0 to finish the tournament undefeated as well.

In the 106-pound weight class, Brad Williams began with a decision win over Jack Shaver of Bob Jones with a score of 6-1. Next he took down Evelyn Holmes-Smith of Enterprise with a technical fall with a score of 22-6. He then took down Cale Garner of Auburn with a pin and fall time of 2:30.

On Saturday, Williams showed his skill again as he pinned all three of his opponents.

Will Conlon also had a strong showing for the Jags, picking up a decision win, and two pins on Friday night, before coming back the next day to pick up two more pins in the 170-pound weight class.

Gage Hughes added 36 points for the Jags thanks to four pins against Bob Jones’ Josh Sutton with a fall time of 1:20, Enterprise’s Kaden Franke with a fall time of 3:12 Opelika’s Jack Pritchard with a fall time of 1:2, and Smith Station’s Robert Sanborn with a fall time of 3:17.

Pelham also had an impressive weekend and started the tournament strong with a 48-30 win over Buckhorn, and a 34-30 win over Benjamin Russell.

On Saturday, however, Pelham didn’t see as much success as they fell to Hewitt-Trussville 28-50, Enterprise 23-60 and Wetumpka 16-65. Pelham ended the tournament with 15 falls, one technical fall, three Major Decisions and seven Forfeits.

Standouts for the Panthers included Trae Peeler, Bryce Wanagat and Nico Ramos.

Peeler went 5-0 for the weekend with four pins, while Wanagat and Ramos both finished with 4-0 records.

While there was some exciting matches there was one exhibition match that was entertaining as well, and it came in a girls match.

Spain Park’s Yasmine Oliviera and Wetumpka’s Jade Eldridge faced off against each other, both with years of experience as Oliviera has been grappling in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since she was three and Eldridge began wrestling when she was about 5.

Both girls were evenly matched in both skill and weight as they went three periods with Eldridge eventually pinning Oliviera with only seconds left.

More 280 Reporter

Education Foundation shares $38K with teachers, raises more money through new promotion

Four local high schools ranked Top 25 in the state

Spain Park finishes perfect regular season with road win at Chelsea

Chelsea scores nine on Spain Park to win area finale