MACON — Colquitt County High wrestlers have won eight state championships over the years and the Paradice brothers now have four of them.
Logan Paradice captured his second state title at the GHSA State Championships that concluded Saturday in Macon, pinning one opponent and defeating two others on major decisions.
Paradice, who did not return to action in this, his junior season, until mid-January, won all 17 of his bouts in dominating fashion at 150 pounds.
He won the state championship at 132 pounds as a Colquitt County freshman in 2022, when he lost just twice all season, but did not wrestle for the Packers last year.
He joins older brother Austin, who now wrestles at UT-Chattanooga, with two state championships.
Austin won in 2021 at 145 pounds and in 2022 at 160.
Ja’Quavian “Turk” Daniels finished second in the state for the second year in a row at 285 on Saturday, again falling victim to Carrollton’s John Levy.
Daniels finishes his senior season with a 48-4 record, which includes the 8-2 loss to Levy, one of the nation’s top young wrestlers, in a match that was tied 2-2 going into the final period.
Colquitt finished fifth among the Class 7A teams who sent wrestlers to the state traditional championships.
Also turning strong performances for the Packers were junior Matthew Dillon, who was third at 215; junior Russell Flowers, who was fifth at 157; and freshman Cruz Grijalva, who was fifth at 120.
Also representing Colquitt County at the state championships were sophomore Cristobal Camarena at 113; senior Eric Henson at 132; junior Randy Smith, at 144; and junior Rafael King, at 190.
Colquitt’s senior Ki’Myra Crawford qualified for the girls state tournament, but did not place.
Paradice, Dillon and Daniels each had won Sectional championships and earned first-round byes in Macon.
It only took Paradice 30 seconds to pin Grayson’s Jermaine Smalls in his quarterfinal bout.
In the semifinal, he was too much for Buford’s Hudson Danielson, taking a 19-9 major decision.
Walton’s Emil Nebula, a three-time All-American, took a 37-1 record into the championship bout and he got the first takedown of the season on Paradice.
But in the third period, Paradice got several takedowns of his own and pulled away to win by eight points.
Asked what separates Paradice from his competition, Packers coach Benjy Scarbor said, “He’s very physical, he’s got speed and he’s got a lot of weapons.
“And he’s always on the attack. It’s almost like he’s daring the referee to blow his whistle. He is fun to watch. And fun to coach.”
If there was any downside of the day for Paradice, it came when his teammate Daniels came up short in the championship bout for the second year in a row.
Daniels also won his first match quickly, pinning North Gwinnett’s Aiden de Wet in 47 seconds.
He won his semifinal in dramatic fashion, defeating Cherokee’s Javon Hobson in the ultimate tie-breaker to get another shot at Levy.
Like Daniels, Levy is an offensive lineman for his school’s football team, but is a wrestler first.
He is an All-American and a national champion and has committed to wrestling at the University of North Carolina.
“Everybody knows what a great young man he is,” Scarbor said of Daniels, who has committed to play football at Carson-Newman.
“And he’s a darn good wrestler. Anywhere else, he’d be a state champion.”
Dillon won his quarterfinal match with a 15-8 decision over Forsyth Central’s Preston Kerr.
But in the semifinal, Dillon was pinned by Buford’s Aaron Riner, who went on to win the state championship at 215.
In the consolation round’s semifinal, Dillon took an 8-6 decision over West Forsyth’s Joe Zereini.
Dillon and Kerr squared off again in the third-place and the Packer again prevailed, taking a major decision.
“Third place is nothing to hang your head about,” Scarbor said of Dillon. “It’s important for him to know he lost to the state champion.”
Flowers won three of his five matches at 157 as did Grijalva at 120.
Early in the season, Grijalva wrestled at 126, but performed much better at 120.
“He’s just getting a feeling for wrestling,” Scarbor said. “This was just his first time to go to state. I’m looking forward to seeing where he will go. He’s got three more years left.”
As expected, Camden County finished first in the team standings with 279 points.
The Wildcats were followed by Buford, 240.5 points; West Forsyth, 101.0; Mill Creek, 95.5; and Colquitt County, 84.
“Camden and Buford are loaded every year,” said Scarbor, adding that he believes the Packers had a successful season.
“We really felt let down after how we did in the region duals,” he said, referring to the Packers fourth-place finish that cost them the opportunity to advance to the state duals. “But this is a nice recovery for us.”
The Packers will lose five seniors: Daniels, Henson, Billy Lawton and Trenton Dunbar.
Scarbor said the program will especially miss Daniels, obviously, but also Henson.
“He’s come up through the program,” Scarbor said. “He’s been a staple of our team. He’s a great kid, handles himself the right way. We are going to hate losing him.”
But the cupboard will hardly be bare next season.
Paradice, Dillon, Flowers, King and Smith are juniors and there are a number of other promising underclassmen.
Scarbor has produced six state champions since 2019. In addition to the Paradice brothers, Nic Jarvis won at 220 in 2019 and Nate Taylor won in 2022 at 138.
And he has had a state finalist each year.
Travis Register won the Packers first two state titles in 2012 and 2013 at 220 pounds.