Falcons Take Second in Area Tournament

The wrestling team continued its stellar season Saturday as it hosted the Area 8-AAAAA Traditional Tournament and earned 181 points for a second place finish. The only team to top the Falcons was Parkview High School with 191.5 points.

Though Dacula did not take the top spot overall, head coach Wes Cooper said he was excited his team had five wrestlers take home area championships in their weight class - more than any other team.

The Falcons earning championships in their classes were Brandon Bullock in the 112-pound weight class, Aaron Reynolds in the 145-pound class, Locklin Hinton in the 152-pound weight class, Philip Bowman in the 171-pound weight class and Sam Hurst in the 215-pound weight class.

Dacula had to fight hard to take the second place finish. Going into the placement rounds, the Falcons found themselves 15 points behind Archer. But by winning eight of 10 of the following matches, Dacula passed the Tigers pulled to within 10.5 points of the eventual champion Parkview.

Though he would have liked to take the number one spot in the tournament, Cooper said he is satisfied with his team’s performance.

“Second place is a heck of a finish for us today,” he said. “There have been a couple times this year when we’ve finished in second place and we felt we let the tournament slip away from us.”

The next action for the Falcons will be at the AAAAA East Sectionals on Feb. 11 and 12 at Central Gwinnett High School in Lawrenceville. With the season quickly drawing to a close, Cooper said the Falcons’ performance in the area tournament will provide them with the momentum they need to round out the year.

“It’s a lot for these guys to be proud of and it’s a great confidence builder going forward,” he said.