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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

As the road to the state championship heats up, the Spain Park Jaguars, Thompson Warriors, Pelham Panthers and Chelsea Hornets competed in tournament action against highly-regarded wrestlers on Friday, Jan. 3 and Saturday, Jan. 4.

Spain Park hit the road to Nashville, Tenn. to compete in one of the biggest tournaments in the country in the Johnny Drennan ’85 Memorial. Meanwhile, Thompson split its wrestlers between the Texas Outlaw in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and the Mountain Brook Invitational at Mountain Brook High School.

Pelham and Chelsea both joined the Warriors in Mountain Brook in their quest for podium places and more momentum heading into region duals.

Read more below for a recap from each of the three tournaments.

 

Johnny Drennan ’85 Memorial

Spain Park’s Bradley Williams continued his undefeated season with a first-place finish in the Johnny Drennan ’85 Memorial at Father Ryan High School in Nashville, Tenn.

Williams went 5-0 in his matches with three pins and two decisions to win the 157-pound division, including an 11-5 decision over Nate Sanchez out of Chicago’s St. Ignatius College Prep in the finals.

Williams is now 36-0 on the season with five tournament titles, including the Scott Rohrer Tournament, Gulf Coast Clash, Spartan Invitational and Dick Clem Memorial.

Two other Jags earned at least three wins in the tournament. Josh Milazzo went 4-2 in the 138-pound division with a pin, technical fall and two decisions. London Ford finished 3-2 in the 120-pound division after earning a technical fall and two major decisions.

 

Texas Outlaw

The Thompson Warriors once again tested themselves against some of the best wrestlers in the country at the Texas Outlaw at Allen High School in Allen, Texas.

Kiowa Vines earned second place in the 150-pound division. He reached the finals with two falls and a 9-4 decision in bracket competition, including a first-period pin in the semifinals.

Jaiden Moore secured third place in the 165-pound division after making it to the semifinals off a technical fall and second-period fall during the bracket phase of the competition. He fell in the semifinals by a major decision but earned a first-period pin in the third-place match.

Jordan Weltzin reached the semifinals of the 138-pound division to earn fourth place. He earned two technical falls by scores of 20-5 and 15-0 in the round of 16 and quarterfinals but lost a pair of tight decisions by scores of 4-0 and 1-0 in the semifinals and third-place match, respectively.

Brody Logan was the only Warrior to place in the consolation bracket as he took first place in the 120-pound division. He earned a 15-9 decision, third-period technical fall and first-period pin to secure the title.

 

Mountain Brook Invitational

The Chelsea Hornets, Pelham Panthers and Thompson Warriors headed across town to compete in the Mountain Brook Invitational at Mountain Brook High School.

Chelsea’s Porter Schott was the lone county wrestler to win his division as he won the 217-pound division. He won all three of his matches by a first-period pin, including a pin at the 1:09 mark of the championship match against McAdory’s Jourdan Godwin. Schott is now 25-1 on the year.

Pelham’s Maddox McDaniel earned second in the 108-pound division after reaching the finals off a third-period technical fall against Mountain Brook’s Walker Springfield in the semifinals.

Thompson’s Lucas Turner took second place in the unbracketed 115-pound division. He defeated Mountain Brook’s Conner Leady by a 5-4 decision before losing to Enterprise’s Bayani Galvez.

Thompson’s Noah Burnham earned second place in the 287-pound division. Burnham earned two third-period pins to reach the finals, including pins against Mountain Brook’s Ben Allen and Vestavia Hills’ Jay West.

Chelsea’s Dalton Ellis secured second place in the 140-pound division after winning in the quarterfinals by a technical fall and semifinals by a first-period fall against Mountain Brook’s Douglas Johnson.

Pelham’s Thomas Peerson overcame a semifinals loss to win a pair of first-period falls and take third place. The latter of the pins came against his Panthers teammate Noah Duke at the 1:00 mark of the third-place match. Duke secured fourth place in the division as a result of the match.

Pelham’s Patrick Warner took third place in the 134-pound division. He made the semifinals off a major decision but had to defeat Chelsea’s William Hartsfield by a first-period pin and McAdory’s Nolan Hinkle by a 10-3 decision to secure third place.

Sam Powell of Pelham overcame a technical fall in the semifinals to win his consolation matches against Vestavia Hills’ Aiden Bean by a second-period pin and Hewitt-Trussville’s Asher Wiram by a 16-10 decision to earn third place in the 146-pound division.

Pelham’s Aaron Galloway also took third place, this time in the 159-pound division thanks to a first-period fall and a 9-3 decision in his consolation bracket matches. He reached the semifinals thanks to a second-period pin of Hewitt-Trussville’s Gabriel Turner.

Thompson also had a pair of fourth-place finishers in King Golson and Logan Treadwell.

Golsen earned fourth in the 192-pound division after reaching the semifinals thanks to a first-period pin. He would then fall in the semifinals to Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews.

Treadwell came in fourth in the 217-pound division after he pinned Hewitt-Trussville’s Colin Rogers in the opening round at the 41-second mark.