MACON, Ga. -- The Social Circle wrestling team’s motto this season has been “be the hammer” and the Redskins were just that when they joined elite company Saturday night in Macon after winning a fourth straight Georgia High School Association duals state title.
Since the inception of the team duals format back in 2002, the Redskins are just the seventh team to win four total state titles and the seventh team to win four in a row, joining Jefferson, Commerce, Gilmer, Archer, Collins Hill and Camden County.
“It is a great feeling and something very special for the wrestlers, school system, community, and entire City of Social Circle to be proud of,” Redskins head coach Randy Prater said.
This year’s title, much like the ones before, are special to Prater, but he noted that this title was the most fun out of the four.
“We have had some very tough teams over the years, and this team is no different and something special just like ones from the past, for me winning the first year was electric, second year was exciting and nerve racking at the same time, third year was excitement with relief, but this one was just fun,” Prater said.
Social Circle entered the tournament as the number one seed and faced off with Armuchee Friday evening. The Redskins easily disposed of the Indians 55-13 to move on the second round to face Fitzgerald later that night.
Fitzgerald proved to be a tougher task than Armuchee, but the Redskins still came out on top by a final of 46-25 to earn berth in the championship matchup.
Saturday afternoon Social Circle faced Toombs County in the championship round and won 36-22 to clinch the state title. The Redskins actually clinched the state title with one bout left to go in the match against Toombs after going up 33-22. In team duals each bout can score between three and six points for a particular team.
“Much respect for Toombs as they are a tough opponent, but our team was very confident going into the match. We knew they had to do something special in order to beat us, we just needed to put our best 14 on the mat and stick to the game plan, which was wrestled nearly to perfection,” Prater said. “Our team was dialed in an ready to wrestle. We got bonus points where we needed to and minimized the damage in the matches we knew were going to be tough, we only had a couple of matches that got away from us.”
The Redskins dominated the duals format this season, going 20-0 in team duals while outscoring opponents 1266-233.
“I couldn't be more please with the way our team has wrestled in duals this year,” Prater said. “They have been hammers all season, they are like a family of old school framers who feed off one another when they go to work putting the hammer to the nail. It has been fun to coach and watch them do their thing.”
Social Circle now turns its attention to earning a fourth straight team title in the traditional state tournament next month in Macon. The Redskins look to become the seventh team in GHSA history to win four straight state titles in both the team duals and traditional. Should Social Circle and Camden County both win the traditional team title next month, the two would become the 10th and 11th teams in GHSA history to win four straight in the traditional tournament.
