The Social Circle High School Varsity Wrestling team coached by Randy Prater is on the warpath for a state title this year. The Redskins have five returning state placers on the team from last year’s lineup. Senior Aaron Forrester (3X state placer) finishing third last year at 152, Junior Reid Harris (2X state placer) finished second at 120, Junior David Engstrom placed third at 145, Sophomore Stevie Howard third at 113, and Sophomore Cade Lackey returning State Champion at 132. You would think that Social Circle would be down this year after graduating 10 seniors last year (which included 5 state placers), but it seems that the Redskins are going to be as tough as any team in the state despite the classification.
The state title is open for a new state champion in AA with 15 time state champion Jefferson High School moving up to the AAA classification. Last year, the top 10 finishing teams in AA were (1) Jefferson (193 points), (2) Bremen (156), (3) Social Circle (134), (4) Toombs County (124.5), (5) Greater Atlanta Christian (54), (6) Vidalia (44), (7) Spencer (40), (8) Monticello (38), (9) Lovett (37.5), and (10) Westminister (33). This year Jefferson, Toombs County, and Westminister all move up to the AAA classification. The newcomers in AA who finished in the top ten last year in 1A are Gordon Lee (finished 2nd), Holy Innocents (sixth), and Darlington (seventh). The Redskins have continued to get closer to the state title in the last few years by finishing fifth in 2012, fourth in 2013, and third in 2014.
Social Circle will remain in Area 4-AA but with a new look. Area 4AA includes Greater Atlanta Christian, Green County,
Monticello, Oglethorpe, Rabun County, Riverside Military Academy, Social Circle, Union County, Washington-Wilkes, and Wesleyan. The new comers to Area 4AA are Monticello and Wesleyan. The Redskins should prove to be the strongest threat to take the Area this year after finishing as Runner up behind Jefferson High School the last two years. For the State title, Bremen and Social Circle are certainly the front runners with Gordon Lee, and Greater Atlanta Christian also trying to make 2015 their year.
Prater is excited this year because not only does he have 8 state placers to use in his 14-man lineup, but he has a couple of new coaches, and a brand new wrestling building. Prater said, “I have got to work all of our state placers into the lineup. Right now we have several on top of each other in the same weight classes, but as the season unfolds we will get everyone in the right weight class.” Prater is very happy with the numbers that he is seeing in his program. The Varsity has 40 grapplers and the middle school (Coached by John Pittard) has over 30 young wrestlers. Prater also commented on the Social Circle Redskin USA wrestling program which is coached by Robert Cline, “Coach Cline has done an outstanding job of dramatically increasing the quantity and quality of the young boys (age 4-14) in our USA program.” Coach Prater’s coaching staff includes Roger Strom, Brook Adams, Jason Austin, Jimmy Lackey, and Jim Corisantti. As part of the new Athletic complex recently constructed at Social Circle High School, the wrestling team has a new home in a 6500 square foot building which gives the growing program the space needed to practice. Social Circle is definitely a team to watch this year in AA wrestling, but to take the state title they are going to have to continue to improve and to beat Bremen.
