By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
Five region wrestling teams meet at ECHS
The Region 2-AAAAAA wrestling duals championships will be held at Glynn Academy on Jan. 7, but a partial sneak preview will take place Thursday at Effingham County.
Rebels wrestling coach Nico Guggino has five of the seven region teams coming in for head-to-head action beginning at 10 a.m.
With region schools spread out in the Brunswick, Effingham and Augusta areas, competing teams and their wrestlers don’t always know a lot about each other.
And knowledge about competing teams is important because coaches can move their wrestlers up and down a weight class to potentially get maximum team points.
South Effingham, Effingham County, Evans, Grovetown and Glynn Academy are scheduled to wrestle Thursday.
Brunswick and Lakeside Evans will not be competing. The Pirates are the two-time defending region champions.
“I think we’re good enough to win this time around. Our kids are confident and we’re a disciplined team and when it comes down to it, we’re going to show up (to be a contender at region),” said SEHS coach Christopher Bringer after the Rebel Invitational on Dec. 10.
If the Mustangs can go undefeated Thursday, Bringer says he’ll have a strong argument to be seeded No. 1 on Jan. 7. South outscored Brunswick while winning the 32-team the Rebel Invitational.
Jockeying for position will be important for other teams to have their best matchups. The top four teams from the region tournament advance to state
“South and Brunswick obviously have the two top teams in the region,” Guggino said. “For us to get there, we have to get a lot better. Our kids work hard so hopefully we can get to that level eventually.”
ECHS boys sweep hoops homestand
Using a stifling defense to hold opponents to 37 points a game, Effingham County’s boys swept a recent three-game homestand to extend their winning streak to seven.
The Rebels (8-1) defeated Claxton 70-37 on Dec. 15, Richmond Hill 60-42 on Dec. 16 and Southeast Bulloch 42-32 on Dec. 17.
Keion Wallace led ECHS against Southeast with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Jeremiah “Paco” Lee and Hayden Eason had nine points apiece.
The Rebels will be back in action Dec. 28 against Cherokee at Pope High School in the three-day Hounds Holiday Hoop Classic. A champion will be crowned Dec. 30.
SEHS girls to
compete in McIntosh tourney
The South Effingham girls will be finishing the three-day McIntosh County Academy Holiday Invitational today.
The Mustangs (7-2) opened with Liberty County on Dec. 19. The tournament championship game and consolation games conclude today.
South was ranked ninth in a Class 6A in a Dec. 13 poll conducted by Score Atlanta. The Mustangs’ only losses came against Class 7A Camden County.
