When Fred T. Foard brought new wrestling head coach Mike Carey in this season, it was expected the Tigers would see improvement.
Saturday afternoon showed how much the Tigers have improved as Foard won the 9th Annual Tigerland Classic, outlasting Freedom 118-115.5 to take the overall team title.
The Tigers placed four wrestlers in the championship round with Jeremy Griffin winning the championship at 130 with a pin over Steven Mitchell from Hibriten at 5:12 and three other wrestlers finishing second.
While Griffin and his teammates did their part in helping Foard win, the match wasn't decided until Hibriten's Zoi Ouellette won a 4-1 decision over Steven Webb of Freedom to clinch the title in the 215-pound weight class.
Griffin, who is the lone senior starter on the Foard team, was all smiles after winning his division and realizes the team looks to him for leadership.
"We have all worked hard to get to this point with our wrestling program," said Griffin. "It has been exciting learning new things from coach Carey and I am happy I was able to get the win and help our team win our tournament. I have won points before in the tournament but never won a title. This is awesome."
In the 103 final Luke Richardson put West Caldwell on the board with a 6-5 decision over Jeffery Buchanon from Foard while Scott Hardiman gave Hibriten its first finals win at 119 with a 12-2 decision over Dustin Smith of Burns.
Freedom, which placed three wrestlers in the finals, won its first of two titles at 125 after Brett Boston scored a 15-3 decision over Eain Kirby of Hibriten.
At 135, Treigh Triplett collected West Caldwell's lone individual crown with a 12-2 decision over East Lincoln's Jordan Handy.
Challenger High School made history in the tournament after Jordan Steffey became the first wrestler from the school to win an individual tournament title with a 10-9 win over Drew Brodgen from Burns in the 140 final.
Dallas Winters brought home the Patriots second title in the 160 finals pinning Dylan Adams from Wilkes Central at 1:24.
Tripp Patterson was one of five Hibriten wrestlers to make the finals and was one of three champions for the Panthers defeating the Tigers' Dillon Johnson 6-2 in the 171 final.
West Caldwell's Larry Burgess lost a close 6-5 decision to Vincent Beam who won one of two titles for the Eagles as Matt Mitchell won the other one at 145 with a pin over Foard's Hayden Albert at 49 seconds.
Jeff Byrd was the lone wrestler from Draughn who made the championship finals and he lost a 4-2 decision to Brandon Carpenter from Lincolnton in the heavyweight final.
Zack Vest made the finals for the Warriors at 152 but Gene Goodson was able to score the pin for Lincolnton at 3:23.
The difference in the match according to Carey was the fact his entire team contributed to the win.
"I can't me more proud of my team," said Carey. "We had 13 of our 14 wrestlers score points for us today and we are getting better. We were not very technical at the start of the season but the guys are getting better and Jeremy is a great leader for this young team and it showed today."
Area wrestlers collecting third-place finishes in the classic were Cody Dillard from Hibriten with a 10-4 decision over Dylan Harnish of Hickory at 112.
Luis Lopez finished third for Freedom at 119 and Nick Barker placed third for Draughn at 125.
At 130, Andony Mejia gave the Patriots a consolation final win over Matt Wooten from West Caldwell and at 140 Tyler Carey won his match for the Wildcats.
Dalton Oberle gave Hickory its lone third-place showing with win at 145 and A.J. Devlin defeated Foard's Boe McArn 4-1 to take third at 152 for the Patriots.
Mason Webb finished third at 189 for Freedom with a 6-5 decision over Draughn's Logan Byrd and Thomas Hopkins finished fourth for the Tigers after he was pinned by Andy Benesh from Wilkes Central.
Boston and Ouellette were named Most Outstanding Wrestlers.
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