Both local varsity wrestling teams heading to Georgia for competition, but they went to different parts on different days.
The Wildcats headed to Towns County, Ga., on Dec. 16, while the Bulldogs competed in Dalton, Ga., on Saturday.
Andrews
The Wildcats wrestled for the last time in 2025 before winter break as they traveled to Towns County. At the event, they competed in duals matches against Towns and Rabun Gap, Ga.
First up for the Wildcats was Towns County. The Wildcats had a strong dual with all four wrestling getting a win, but the team still lost to the Indians.
Chase Beasley in the 150-pound division got the win by pinfall over Riley Moates. Then AJ Johnson got the win by forfeit for six more points for Andrews.
Hayden Virtanen in the 190-pound division got the pinfall win over Diego Castellan. To wrap up the dual, Ford Ashe got the pinfall victory over Maan Singh for six more points for the Cats.
In their next dual, Andrews faced Rabun Gap and lost again as a team.
Johnson lost his match by pinfall to Ebrima Darboe in the 157-pound weight class. Then Virtanen lost by pinfall to Ben Almond.
The Wildcats’ lone win in the dual was Chris Jackson who got the pinfall win over Gbemisoke Olulusi in the 285-division to close out the dual.
The Wildcats will be back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, when they head to Rosman for a duals meet. They will compete against Rosman as well as Swain County.
Murphy
The Bulldogs heading to Coahulla Creek High School in Dalton, Ga., for their only event of the week. The Dogs competed in the Clash at the Creek on Friday and Saturday.
The Dogs competed in eight duals and won two of them, but most of the duals were close.
Up first they faced Brookwood from Alabama and lost 46-36. Two Bulldogs earned pinfall wins, as Branson Crocker and Braden Edwards pinned their opponents for the win.
Also earning points for the Dogs by forfeit for Weston Adams, Reyden Galarza and Aiden Murphy to get the Dogs to 36 points.
Then they earned their first win of the day over Cartersville, Ga., 54-30.
James Garrett, Joshua Cutting and Josiah Niebla earned pinfall wins for Murphy’s first points of the dual.
Jake Messer got a win by forfeit for six more Bulldog points. Aiden Murphy, Anthony Catuto and Jonathan Cowan then got pinfall wins for more Murphy points.
To close out the dual and win, Kane Gibson picked up a forfeit and Reese Haney got a win by pinfall.
The Dogs faced another Georgia school when they lost 48-35 to LaFayette.
Reyden Galarza started off the dual with a forfeit win for Murphy’s first six points. Josiah Niebla then earned the Dogs five points after a technical fall win.
Earning six points each for Murphy by pinfall wins were Aiden Murphy and Anthony Catuto. Also scoring points for the Dogs were Brodi Hanes and Jonathan Cowan who got forfeit wins.
The Dogs faced their first Tennessee school of the day and lost 44-36 to Livingston Academy.
Murphy earned points early after forfeit wins by Reyden Galarza, Weston Adams, James Garrett and Joshua Cutting. Josiah Niebla then added six points after a forfeit win before Brodi Hanes got a pinfall victory for six more points as he earned their only pinfall win of the dual.
They then faced another Tennessee school and lost 65-17 to Boyd Buchanan High School.
The Dogs’ 17 points came on three wins. Reyden Galarza got the win by forfeit before two different fall wins. Branson Crocker got the win by pinfall and West Adams got the win by a 17-1 technical fall.
They then faced three consecutive Georgia schools to wrap up the day, starting with Coahulla Creek. They fell 67-11 to the host school.
The Dogs’ 11 points came from a forfeit win and technical fall win.
Weston Adams got the forfeit win and Josiah Niebla got a 17-0 technical fall to earn the Dogs five points.
The Dogs then fell to Heritage-Catoosa 58-21.
The dual started with Reyden Galarza getting the win by forfeit, then Braden Edwards got a pinfall win for Murphy’s next six points.
The Dogs got three points as Josiah Niebla got a sudden victory in the first overtime period.
Their last six points of the dual came as Anthony Catuto got the win by pinfall to get Murphy’s 21-point total.
Murphy wrapped up the day by earning a 60-24 win over Northview. The Dogs dominated on the mat in the dual as they earned all 60 points from pinfall wins.
Aiden Murphy got the win for their first six points. Then the Dogs went on a run with four straight wins by Branson Crocker, Anthony Catuto, Jonathan Cowan and Kane Gibson.
Reyden Galarza and Weston Adams then got pinfall wins for 12 more points.
James Garrett, Braden Edwards and Josiah Niebla then got pinfall wins for the Dogs’ last three wins of the dual to get them to the 60-point total to secure the win and wrap up the day.
The Dogs will return to the mats Monday and Tuesday as they travel to Hendersonville for the Carolina Clash event. The boys will compete in duals action, while the girls will be in individual competition.