War Eagles place 6th at Clay Rotary
By Walt Jacobs
On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2nd and 3rd, before a capacity crowd, 38 teams from all over Florida gathered at Clay High to test their mettle in what some consider to be one of the toughest wrestling tournaments in the state.
With an abundance of highly ranked wrestlers competing, this certainly could be considered a preview of the degree of difficulty that can be expected at the FHSAA state championship in three weeks. Although they were without two of their starters, Coach Will Pafford’s War Eagles were able to attain a respectable 6th place finish as a team. Individually, Wakulla had four wrestlers place in the top six of their respective weight classes.
Matthew Thaxton placed 5th at 113, Bricyn Kennedy placed 5th at 132, and Brady Jackson placed 6th at 138 pounds. At 106 lbs., Brady Wilson secured 3rd place over Buchholz’s Gabriel Ramos, currently ranked 18th in 3A. On the girl’s side, Caitlin Hall placed 4th for the Lady War Eagles.
The War Eagles will spend the upcoming week preparing for the FHSAA 1A District 2 championship. The event will be held at Florida High on Feb. 15th and wrestling will begin at 11 a.m.
