The South Effingham wrestling team won its second consecutive GHSA Class 6A boys team duals championship on Saturday – representing the first two state team titles for any sport in school history.
That’s the bottom line.
Take a closer look at Saturday’s result, and the Mustangs’ achievement was made with absolutely no wriggle room. None.
South Effingham defeated Glynn Academy on the fifth tiebreaker after each team finished with 33 points.
“It was razor thin. It was crazy,” SEHS fifth-year coach Christopher Bringer said Saturday night after the Class 6A meet hosted by North Forsyth in Cumming.
The Mustangs had defeated the Red Terrors by about 18 points exactly one week earlier for the Region 2-6A crown at SEHS.
“We beat them pretty good,” Bringer recalled. “We knew at the time it was a big prediction we were probably going to be the two in the state finals. That’s the way it worked out.”
The Mustangs made their way through the bracket to the finals by handling Rockdale County 67-6 and Newnan 74-0 on Friday, then topping host North Forsyth 48-13 in the semifinals Saturday.
SEHS had defeated North Forsyth 36-28 in the 2023 championship match, but this year’s final was even tougher.
Glynn Academy adjusted its lineup over the 14 weight divisions to avoid repeating the matchups of a week earlier with South Effingham and perhaps getting a better outcome.
“They actually changed their lineup quite a bit from last week,” Bringer said. “What they did was really smart.”
Bringer said the Red Terrors chose to forfeit the match at 157 pounds against his son Moose, a junior and an elite talent, and move their “best” wrestler to 165 for a better chance at victory. It worked, as Glynn Academy won at 165 and 175.
“It really helped them out, which made (the overall match) closer than it would be,” the coach said. “So a pretty smart move for Glynn.”
SEHS had an early lead when Shomari Bailey claimed an 11-7 decision at 150 pounds in the opening match. Moose Bringer later won by forfeit. Senior 190-pounder DaMyon McFarlin won by pin at 1:35; senior C.J. Lord captured an 8-7 decision at 215 pounds; senior heavyweight Ashton Anderson won by pin at 3:37; and junior Emilio Santana posted a 10-3 victory at 120 pounds.
Every match outcome was critical, of course, but perhaps most dramatic was the one featuring the other Bringer son, freshman Bear, at 132 pounds. In his first duals state meet, Bear Bringer faced a rematch with senior Ryan Alfau, the son of Glynn Academy coach Ryan Alfau.
Coach Bringer said Bear had won their region match by two points, but “he was getting beat pretty good” by Alfau on Saturday.
“All of a sudden, (Bear) was able to get a reversal with like 5 seconds left to tie it,” the coach said of the 10-10 match in regulation. “Bear pinned him in overtime (at 6:11). If he doesn’t do that, we don’t win (the title).”
The coach said the first tiebreaker was team unsportsmanlike conducts, the second was coaching misconducts and the third was flagrant fouls, “so rarely do those ever become a factor.”
The fourth tiebreaker was wins, and each team had seven.
The fifth tiebreaker was most of the maximum six-point victories. SEHS had a 4-3 edge, thanks to Moose Bringer’s win by forfeit, McFarlin and Anderson’s wins by fall and Bear Bringer’s clutch OT win.
Christopher Bringer said there’s a lot of mutual respect and pride between the teams coming out of the same region and reaching the finals.
“I felt bad personally that a team had to lose,” he said. “Glynn Academy wrestled so well. I honestly thought they wrestled better than us. We just happen to be better at a few positions. The coaching staff, those kids at Glynn Academy were just amazing. They’re a very young team. I think they only have two seniors, so definitely that’ll be the team to beat next year.”
South Effingham has many seniors, and the season isn’t over. The traditional wrestling postseason is ahead in February. The Mustangs finished second in the state in 2023.
“I thought at the beginning of the year, we might be better to win that one than maybe the duals title because of the fact we’re bringing so many people back that have a lot of experience in that tournament,” Bringer said.
“I feel really, really good, but we had a lot of kids that didn’t wrestle today that need to get better, get for that,” he continued. “We wrestled not to lose today, and we’ve got to have some kids get a little bit better in the next few weeks, before they make that run for that third state title.”
Around the state
The Coastal Empire had more representation at the state team duals championships on Friday and Saturday.
In Class A in Franklin, Bryan County lost to host Heard County 66-18, then to St. Francis 55-24.
In Class 3A in Dahlonega, Calvary Day edged Harlem 40-39, then lost to Columbus 63-6, then defeated Pike County 42-35, then lost to Upson Lee 54-30.
In Class 4A in Gainesville, Benedictine defeated West Laurens 46-36, then was edged by Lovett 36-34, then beat Wayne County 56-18, then was edged by host Chestatee 39-36.
In Class 7A in Buford, Richmond Hill was edged by North Gwinnett 30-28, then routed East Coweta 70-9, then fell to Archer 33-28.
PHOTO Credit: GHSA Twitter social media page
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