By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            Friday night at the Macon Coliseum will be mighty warm when the Class 4A finals bouts begin.

            West Laurens has six finalists.

            Jefferson has six finalists.

            Jefferson has been a dominant duals wrestling program for years. West Laurens, though, won the Class 4A duals state championship last month.

            Mighty warm.

            That battle highlights Friday night’s first round of finals, with classes 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A getting going at 6 p.m., along with consolation finals.

            Central Georgia has 10 wrestlers going for state titles so far.

            The initial action for Class A and AA starts Friday at 8 a.m. with girls at 1 p.m. Finals for those classes, and 7A, , and girls gets started Saturday at 10 a.m.

            The Class 4A competition will be heated, no doubt, capped by the 285 battle between West Laurens legend Chase Horne and East Hall’s Caleb Pruitt.

            Horne, headed to N.C. State, is 58-0 this season while Pruitt is 34-1.

            There are three other finals pitting West Laurens against Jefferson wrestlers.

            The Raiders’ Aiden Ingram is 54-4 while Jefferson’s Chaz McDonald is 30-3, at 126.

            West Laurens’ Drake Wood (58-13) faces Creed Thomas (38-3) at 152, with Evan Guyton (29-6) against Luke Cochran (37-3) at 195.

            West Laurens has three wrestlers going for third place and Jefferson has one.

            Perry’s Austin Thiel is in the final at 132, going for another title.

            Mary Persons’ Anthony Mannella sent Central’s Jalen Darden into the 3A consolations at 160 with a second-round 15-0 win after Darden opened with a pin in 4:21.

            Mannella reached the final with a fall in 2:54 over Tyler Crow of EA.

            Veterans has a pair going for championships in 5A, Latrell Schafer at 145 and Tanner Vorse at 152.

Finals matchups
Friday, 6 p.m.
Class 5A
145-Latrell Schafer, Veterans, vs. Tyler McKnight, Cass
152-Tanner Vorse, Veterans, vs. Caleb Henson, Woodland-Cartersville
Class 4A
126-Aiden Ingram, West Laurens, vs. Davis Dollar, Jefferson
132-Austin Thiel, Perry vs. Thomas Termini, Marist
152-Drake Wood, West Laurens, vs. Creed Thomas, Jefferson
170-Christian Boston, West Laurens, vs. Tyler Secoy, Columbus
182-Caden Snell, West Laurens, vs. Nolan Pozzobon, Marist
195-Evan Guyton, West Laurens, vs. Luke Cochran, Jefferson
285-Chase Horne, West Laurens, vs. Caleb Pruitt, East Hall
Class 3A
160-Anthony Mannella, Mary Persons, vs. Diego Jacinto, Gilmer

Third-place matches
Class 5A
120-Zachary Coumbs, Veterans, vs. Cooper Hoffman, Jackson County
132-Tyler Barb, Veterans, vs. Bryce Boland, Jones County
Class 4A
138-JT Bowers, West Laurens, vs. Kullum Irvin, Troup County
145-Noah Atkinson, Perry, vs. Demetrios Pappas, Marist
160-Jake Shepard, West Laurens, vs. Malik Conley, Arabia Mountain
220-Jathon Willis, West Laurens, vs. Kaleb Nicholson, Pickens
Class 3A
195-Jamond Jones, Peach County, vs. Owen Moss, Gilmer

Fifth-place matches
Class 5A
160-Logan Sherwood, Veterans, vs. Isaiah Skinner, Apalachee
Class 4A
120-Christian Brown, Rutland, vs. John Termini, Marist
182-Carter Yawn, Perry, vs. Omari McCree, Stephenson