The Social Circle High School wrestling team will send nine grapplers to the state tournament this weekend in Gwinnett after a successful showing at the Class AA East Sectional at Dublin High School.  

Twenty-one different schools were represented at the event, sending the top eight in each weight class to the state championships.

Jefferson and Greater Atlanta Christian both had 13 wrestlers at the sectional event, while Social Circle and Toombs County sent 12 and 11 grapplers, respectively.

Jefferson finished with the highest team score at the sectional (220.5), finishing with five champions and 11 overall state representatives.

The Redskins took second place (187.5) with three individual champions, and Toombs qualified six wrestlers overall with six individual champions.

 Sophomore Reid Harris (120), freshman Cade Lackey (132) and senior Jeremy Tyson (170) earned sectional championships, leading the Redskins' nine state qualifiers.

Josh Craig (106), Stevie Howard (113), David Engstrom (145), Aaron Forrester (152), A.J. Howard (138) and Justin Givens (160) also advanced to the state tournament along with the three Social Circle individual champions.

A.J. Howard and Forrester placed second in their respective divisions, while Stevie Howard and Engstrom placed third.

“I am really proud of our wrestlers who qualified for state," Social Circle coach Randy Prater said. "I felt that the East Sectional was really loaded this year.  Jefferson will be going for their 15th traditional championship in a row. Greater Atlanta Christian and Toombs both brought a lot of guys to sectional and will both (be) a factor, along with Bremen, from the West Sectional to see if anybody  can beat Jefferson.” 

Jefferson took first place overall at team state earlier this season, with Bremen coming in second overall ahead of Social Circle (third) and Toombs County (fourth).