Bamberg-Ehrhardt Wrestling Ends Season In Third Round Of AA/A Tournament
“This is a very dedicated group that worked hard all year."
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Bamberg – Since 2005 only one school has wrestled in more state championship matches than the Bamberg-Ehrhardt Red Raiders 13, that school is the state’s all-time leader in wrestling state championships the Eagles of Eastside with 19 and 16 appearances since 2005, so expectations are for the Red Raiders grapplers are always high.
“We had a good season with but we did not meet our expectations,” said head coach Terrell Haynes. “Our goal every year is to compete for a state championship. That is the standard and we strive to achieve it each year.”
Coach continued, “This is a very dedicated group that worked hard all year. We have a brotherhood within the program and they push each other every day to get better for the next match.”
The Red Raiders were led by Tyler Kittrell, Darion Sease, Brian Ford, and Omarion Wilson. They all qualified for the state individual state championship as the number one seed from the lower state. Ford (SR) and Wilson (JR) finished as runner ups at 106 and 165, respectively. They finished the year ranked third and fourth in their weight classes.
Kittrell (SO) was ranked seventh in the state at 126 and he placed fourth at the state meet while Sease went 1-2 in his matches. Sease, a junior, enter the year unranked but worked his way up to the top seed from the lower state and ranked number three at 150.
The Red Raiders had three other wrestler make the state individual meet in junior Keegan Daff (215), and freshmen Asiel Graham (190) and Rico Parler (285). Daff had a slow start to the year as he had to recover from an injury he sustained during the Red Raider’s run to the class A football state championship. He was one of the most improved wrestler and qualified for the individual state meet as the number four seed.
Graham was the number three seed in the lower state and went 2-2 at his first state meet appearance while Parler earned a number eight seed.
Blake Gunnells (175) and Maddox Griffith (138) were also two of the most improved wrestlers.
The rest of the Red Raiders were Cameron Daniels (113), Josh Tackett (120), Liam Daff (132), Austin Fisk (144), and Trey Wilson (157).
