Last weekend at the Macon Centreplex, history was made as the Collins Hill Eagle wrestling team became the first school in Georgia to win three consecutive Class AAAAA state titles. Collins Hill claimed the victory with a 38-9 whipping of Pope in the dual state finals. Collins Hill scorched its way to the title with victories over Johnson-Savannah (84-0), Centennial (58-11) and Valdosta (60-6) and lost just six individual matches the entire tournament. In the finals, Bazell Partridge, Joseph Doyague, TJ Mitchell (committed to Virginia Tech), Steven Bradtmueller, Joel Smith (committed to Arizona State), Jamie Hentica, Nick Holbert, Mac Bennett, Thomas Delain, Drew Ferguson and Devante Brown all scored victories to secure the title for the Eagles. Mitchell’s win was the 200th of his career. Overall it was Collins Hill’s fourth dual state title since 2002. Next month the Eagles will attempt to defend its traditional state championship, only after facing the No.1 team in the country, Blair Academy out of New Jersey in the Final Four dual tournament, which will be held in Pennsylvania this weekend. Coach Cliff Ramos’s Eagles are ranked No.11 in the Amateur Wrestling News’ nationwide poll.
Last year, before his team won the 2009 traditional state title, I had a chance to interview coach Ramos. This is a look back at the story I wrote after speaking with the Coach!
Over the past decade, two teams have achieved unparalleled success in Georgia High School wrestling. The Dragons of Jefferson County have dominated in Class A and now in Class AA while the Collins Hill program has built a dynasty in Area 7-AAAAA and Class AAAAA. How do the two programs do it? Everything starts with Collins Hill coach Cliff Ramos and Jefferson County coach Doug Thurmond.
The class of Class AAAAA Collins Hill features many all-stars. Senior Taylor Knapp, who is ranked No.10 in the country on Amateur Wrestling News National’s No. 22 Collins Hill team, leads by example. Coach Cliff Ramos said that Knapp is just one of the many seniors that does “a good job, especially in practice.” John Allgood is another senior that Coach Ramos was quick to cite as being so strong for this team. “There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that make this program successful.” Coach Ramos credited the “six outstanding assistant coaches, supportive parents and a fantastic youth program,” in helping the program win two straight team state championships and three since 2005.
Thirteen Collins Hill wrestlers qualified for state sectionals and two of Coach Ramos’s juniors were his picks to go on to win state individual titles. TJ Mitchell and Joel Smith were favored to win state while Gary Tiller, a previous state runner up (152lb), will try to overcome injuries to win what he missed out on last year. Nine other individual region champions will join those three in seeking state championships. Look out for Bazell Partridge (103), Nick Holbert (171), CJ Collins (215), and Allen Willard (130). These wrestlers have been pushed all season by the team’s nine seniors who help keep the team motivated, which at times can be pretty tough according to Ramos. “We’ve wrestled all over the country and sometimes you come back to the in-state meets and motivation is tough.” Knapp, named most outstanding middleweight in the recent Sham Slam and Caleb Sawchuck were huge in clinching the dual state title when the team knocked out Pope 47-9 to win the team crown. Coach Ramos is proud of the fact that his program has done something no other Class AAAAA team in any sport has done: finish in the top three every season since 2000.
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