Michael Nelems placed 2nd in the 7AAA competition held in Gilmer County. He will advance to the sectional competition to be held at Locust Grove High School on Feb 12-13. Ryan Pangrazio (103), Drew Henry (130) and Aaron Shealy (215) all placed fifth and will attend sectionals as alternates. Dillon Wright (HW) placed 6th at area.

 

Fielding less than half of the regualar team, the Longhorns managed a 6th place finish out of 13 teams. Tyler Hall finished the highest with a 2nd place in the 119 class.

Other podiums:

Ryan Pangrazio-3rd place (103),

Quinn Crewdson-3rd place (112),

Michael Nelems-3rd place (125),

Gantt Bauer-4th place (215)

A huge thanks to everyone who donated time, food, and commitment. I had many parents from other teams and many other coaches that told me how well they enjoyed the tournament - even the officials. A big thanks to Scott Muse from Scott's Auto Center for great looking podium on 2 days notice.

Team Scores:
Jefferson -  335
West Forsyth -  252
West Laurens -  225
North Forsyth - 208
South Forsyth - 176.5
North Hall - 173
Chattahoochee - 170
Lambert - 109.5
McIntosh - 83
St. Francis - 66
Sequoyah - 51
Forsyth Central - 36
North Springs - 20

Individual Placements:

 

Both teams fared well this weekend at the Creekview Invitational. It was nice to see all the parents turn out to support the teams.

On the varsity team, Quinn Crewdson(112) lead the way with a 2nd place finish. Other placers were:

Ryan Pangrazio(103)- 3rd
Tyler Hall(119)-5th
Michael Nelems(125)-4th
Aaron Shealy(215)-6th

Longhorns Split On The Road:

The Longhorns returned to action on December 9 traveling to Dahlonega to face Towns County and Lumpkin County. In two tough duals, the Longhorns (11-4, 2-3) emerged with a split, defeating Towns County and losing to Lumpkin County.

The Longhorns opened up action with Towns County. After a series of forfeits, action began on the mat at the 125 weight class. True to form, the Longhorns rolled through the lower weight classes. With consecutive victories by Michael Nelems (125), Rob Morin (130), Drew Henry (135) and Eddie Worrell (140). the Longhorns took a 33-6 lead. This lead would be substantial enough for the Longhorns to maintain. The team went on to win 45-26.

The next opponent was host team Lumpkin County. The Longhorns jumped out to an early lead. With a tough fought win by Quinn Crewdson(112) followed by a major decision by Tyler Hall(119), a pin by Rob Morin(130) and a hard fought 7-6 victory by Eddie Worrell(140) the Longhorns were in the lead 16-12. Lumpkin though went on a run, sweeping through the middle and upper weight classes. Lumpkin went on to win 48-26.

The Longhorns (Varsity and Junior Varsity) return to action this weekend. Both teams will participate in The Creekview Invitational individual tournament on Friday and Saturday. The tournament will be held in Canton

Longhorns Take 2nd Place in Duluth!

Stepping outside of the comfort of 3A for the first time this year, the Lambert Wrestling Longhorns(10-3, 2-2) hit the road to take on 3A, 4A, and 5A competition in the Duluth Duals on December 5. In the initial pool, Lambert was matched against Mountain View, Meadowcreek, Greater Atlanta Christian and Duluth. “We saw lots of good individual match ups throughout the pool matches” Lambert Coach Kevin Contardi said.

First up for the Longhorns was Mountain View. After Lambert jumped out to a 16-0 capped off by a 2nd period pin by Eddie Worrell in the 140 weight class, Mountain View scored 18 unanswered points to take an 18-16 lead. Successive pins by Jacob Therier (171), Austin Marak (189) and Aaron Shealy (215) turned the tide allowing Lambert to regain the lead 34-18. Lambert would go on to win 49-29, winning nine of 14 matches including seven wins by pin. “Mountain View did an excellent job. They were so much better than they were three weeks ago. I think we took them lightly and then had to gain some focus which helped us throughout the day” Contardi said.

Next up for the Longhorns was Meadowcreek. After falling behind 12-0,Meadowcreek wrestled hard to tie the score 18-18. But a depleted Meadowcreek squad was forced to forfeit a substantial number of matches. The deficit created was too great for Meadowcreek to overcome. Lambert prevailed 60-18.

Lambert's third opponent was Greater Atlanta Christian. After falling behind early 6-3, Lambert went on an 11-1 run to beat GACS 65-12 through a series of pins, major decisions and forfeits.

In the fourth dual of the day, after falling behind 6-0 to the 5A Duluth Wildcats, Jon Swinehart(152) scored a 2nd period pin to start a run that saw the Longhorns win 10 of the next 11 matches. The Longhorns ended in strong fashion with first period pins by Ryan Pangrazio(103), Quinn Crewdson(112), Tyler Hall(119) and Rob Morin(130). Drew Henry(135)closed out the victories with a major decision. Lambert won 70-16.

In going 4-0, the Longhorns advanced to the championship where they wrestled pool winner North Gwinnett, a AAAAA school. Lambert found a worthy opponent in the Bulldogs. North Gwinnett prevailed, defeating Lambert 54-19. The highlight of the dual for Lambert saw Michael Nelems (125) score a major decision in what started out to be a tough match. “Coach Daniel is in his second year over there. He's doing a great job; that team is so much better than they were last February. We were hoping to make it competitive as far as team score went. North Gwinnett won more of the close matches than we did. If we could have won one or two more close matches the score would be much tighter. Any time you can start out with a 10-3 record is pretty good, especially being a first year school and not having seniors. We have two tournament finals appearances as well. We are off to a good start but have to continue to improve drastically if we want to be a Power House in wrestling” Contardi said.

Lambert stays on the road Wednesday going to Dahlonega to face Lumpkin County and Towns County. On Friday and Saturday, the Longhorns travel to Creekview High School in Canton for an individual tournament.

Longhorns Win, Hands Down

The Lambert Wrestling Longhorns returned to action on December 2, hosting area opponents Pickens County & Johnson, Gainesville. The Longhorns (6-2, 3-2) looked to bounce back from a tough day in area competition last week. “Anytime you get back on the winning side of things is good; just have to keep it going now” Lambert coach Kevin Contardi said.

The first opponent of the evening was Pickens County.” Pickens has a pretty solid team” Contardi said. The Longhorns though were equal to the task. The match began with the strength of the Longhorn line up, the lower weight classes. “The strength of our line up is 103-135 and Pickens did a good job of staying off their back in alot of those weights. So I thought the dual would be closer. We won all the close ones” said Contardi. Lambert earned major decisions by Quinn Crewdson(112 pounds), Tyler Hall(119) and Michael Nelems(125) followed by pins from Rob Morin(130), Drew Henry(135) and Eddie Worrell(140) to jump out to a quick 31-0 lead. A strong performance in the middle portion of the line up by Jon Swinehart (160), Alex Therier (171) and Austin Marak (189) sealed the match. The Longhorns iced the victory with a 2nd period pin by Ryan Pangrazio, going on to defeat Pickens in unexpected fashion, 54-18.

The second dual of the evening against Johnson, Gainesville began in much the same fashion with pins by Hall, Morin, Henry and Worrell as the Longhorns jumped out to an early 36-0 lead. Johnson though rattled off 24 unanswered points, making the dual competitive. A pin by Aaron Shealy (215) late in the third period of a 1-0 match clinched the dual for the Longhorns. ”Johnson got on a hot streak. We have some inexperience in the middle of our line up. They wrestled great against Pickens but made some mistakes against Johnson and Johnson made them pay for the mistakes. You got to expect that from first year kids, just hope we can work on staying solid and mistake free for 6 minutes” Contardi said. Lambert went on to win 54-30.

The Longhorns return to action on December 5 wrestling outside of area. They will face 3A, 4A and 5A opponents at the Duluth Duals. Next week the Longhorns travel to Dahlonega on Wednesday to face Lumpkin County and wrestle December 11 at Creekview.

We now stand at 2-2 in Area 7AAA and 6-2 overall.

No recap at this time.

Starting The Season Off Right !

Wow!!! Can it get more exciting? Coming all the wayback from a 33-6 deficit in the championship round versus Locust Grove, our Longhorn Wrestling Team tied the score going into the last match and capped off the day by winning the deciding match, the last match of the tournament!

Congrats to Coach Contardi, Coach Sagel, Coach Hannaford & our student/athletes for taking the championship in the Shane's Rib Shack New School Duals, going 4-0.

Coach Contardi's Recap:

Here were the pool finishes:
Pool A: Franklin Co, Mtn View, Grovetown
Pool B: Lambert, North Murray, Johns Creek (LHS Scores: 64-15 over JC; 51-22 over North Murray)
Pool C:Locust Grove, Walnut Grove, Langston Hughes

Crossovers: In order
7-9: grovetown, Johns Creek, Langston Hughes
4-6: Not sure: but think Mtn view over N. Murray, not sure about Walnut Grove
1-3: Lambert, Locust Grove, Franklin County.

Started out w/ Locust Grove with a big win over Franklin. Watching both of these teams I was very impressed by the quality of wrestling from Locust Grove (truth be told, not sure if we had a shot against them). Franklin seemed to be very physical (felt we had a shot, but didn't need to fold against the physical kids). Locust Grove won by a big margin. Locust Grove gave up one forfeit and only lost one or two matches.

In the Lambert vs Franklin match. Lambert started out with a pin from Michael Nelems and a major from Rob Morin. After that Franklin rattled off 21 unanswered points for a 21-10 lead. Then as John Swinehart showed alot of heart w/ a huge come back win for a pin and got LHS on a roll winning 7 out of the last 8 matches.

LHS vs Locust Grove. This was a great dual. After 7 matches Locust Grove was up 33-6 and it didn't look to good for the Longhorns. Austin Marak (189) got a big pin in the 3rd period. Then LHS and Locust Grove double forfeited at 215 lbs as LHS moved Aaron Shealy up from 215 to wrestle heavy weight. Shealy got a big pin in the 1st period and that really got the longhorns "Snowballing". Coming into the best part of the line up Ryan Pangrazio at 103 won 10-6. Locust Grove avoided Tyler Hall at 112 w/ a forfeit, and the move didn't pay off as Quinn Crewdson pinned at 119 to tie the score up 33 all. It came down to Michael Nelems from LHS and Brown of LG.

These two kids gave it their all in an excellent hard fought match, Nelems prevailed w/ a 5-0 victory and sealed the win 36-33 LHS.