Colquitt wrestling team set to open on Saturday
Nov. 16—MOULTRIE — Colquitt County will take 45 wrestlers to its season-opening competition on Saturday when the Packers take part in the Raja Bryan Memorial Invitational at Ola High School in McDonough.
The Packers will then get a little recovery time before going to Douglas on Tuesday to compete in Coffee High's Trojan War.
Coach Benjy Scarbor welcomes back several wrestlers from the 2022-2023 team and will add to the Packers depth when Colquitt County football season is completed.
Among those he will be counting on is junior Russell Flowers, who has qualified for the Class 7A state tournament each of the last two seasons.
He was the Sectional champion at 150 last year and is expect to compete at 165 this year.
Seniors Eric Henson, at 138, and Billy Lawson, at 144 also give the Packers experience.
One of the program's most successful wrestlers is JaQuavian "Turk" Daniels, who won the Sectional championship and reached the state finals at 285 pounds last year, before falling just short against Carrollton's John Levy, who finished his junior season undefeated.
Daniels is starting at left tackle for the Packers football and will begin getting in wrestling shape when that season is over.
Others expected to wrestle but are still playing football are Matthew Dillon, Trenton Dunbar and JaMari Stokes.
Colquitt County also will welcome back Logan Paradice, a junior who won a state champion for the Packers as a freshman, but competed at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., last season.
He is expected to be eligible to wrestle again for the Packers on Jan. 17.
Scarbor likes his team opening in the Ola event, which will feature 30 teams.
"It's got some really good teams and a medium-level teams," said Scarbor, who is starting his seventh season as the Packers head coach. "It's good for us early in the season."
Colquitt will compete in five other tournaments before playing host to the Packer Classic on Jan. 6.
The Region 1-7A duals are scheduled for Jan. 13 at Camden County and the Class 7A state duals are set for January 19-20 at Buford.
The region traditional tournament will held Feb. 3 at Lowndes. Qualifiers will advance to the Feb. 10 Sectional.
The traditional state tournament will be held Feb. 15-17 in Macon.
Colquitt County also will sponsor a clinic on Monday, Nov. 20, led by coach Gerald Carr, an accomplished wrestler and coach of the Storm Wrestling Center in Perry.
The Packers roster includes freshmen Conner Avery, Michael Braswell, Esau Tabarez-Camarena, Connor Causey, Seth Dorsey, Jaxon Everson, Evan Flowers, Henry Galvan, Jesus Govea, Cruz Grijalva, Simon Gutierrez, Cotton Holloway, JaVon Jordan, Frederick Key, Cole Lane, Dalyn Monk, Cade Purvis, Angel Sanchez, Peyton Snyder, John Brady Tillman, Erick Velega, Jose Ventura Santiago and Ben Yingling.
The sophomores are Chentanna Barber, Cristobal Camarena-Moreno, Anthony Duque, Austin Gay, Britton Marshall, Quintarious Mitchell, Logan Murphin, Logan Rivenbark, Marjory Sanchez-Mazariegos, JaMari Stokes, Candelaria (Jennifer) Tercero-Bernabe and Joshua Vaughan.
The large junior class of wrestlers includes Alexander Baker, Diego Barrios, Carter Beck, Matthew Dillon, Aaron Dunn, Russell Flowers, Ismael Garcia, Luis Garcia, Mauricio Guerrero, DaCamron Hadley, Rafael King, Logan Paradice, De'Montrae Reeves, Tracy Stocker, Randy Smith and Landon Taylor.
The seniors are Ki'Myra Crawford, JaQuavian "Turk" Daniels, Trenton Dunbar, Eric Henson, Billy Lawton, Quince McCloud and LaQuavian Wheeler.
