Rebels place 2nd in state duals

January 21, 2022 4:19 PM

Photo courtesy of Dawn Harrison

BIRMINGHAM -- The Vestavia Hills High School wrestling team took home the runner-up trophy in the Class 7A state duals for the third straight year Friday afternoon, as Thompson defeated the Rebels 39-19 at Bill Harris Arena.

Thompson won its fourth straight title in the team competition, winning nine of the 14 individual bouts.

Thompson earned points in the first five weight classes and held control of the matchup throughout.

Thomas Giere started the match in the 108-pound weight class by beating Vestavia’s Stone Phillips by major decision. Kiowa Vines (115) beat Cale Tucker by decision and Cory Jones (122) defeated Mac Chandler by decision, before Yanni Vines (128) and Nick Dempsey (134) earned four points each for Thompson with major decision victories over Zach Flurry and Carson Farris.

Facing an 18-0 deficit, Vestavia Hills got on the board with Andrew Sullivan’s (140) decision win over Parker Edmondson. Grant Taylor (147) followed that up with major decision win over Josue Serrato to cut the deficit to 18-7.

Thompson’s James Latona (154) took care of Vestavia’s Clay Johnston on a technical fall to get five points for the Warriors, but Vestavia Hills rallied in the following bout, as Harris Mitchell (162) notched an impressive win in tiebreak over Will Garrett.

Thompson’s Carson Freeman (172) took down Austin Wilbanks and Vestavia Hills’ John Edwards (184) went back-to-back with falls. Edwards won his matchup over Nathan Black in 13 seconds.

Jeffery Tubbs (197) took a major decision over Riggs Manown and Barron Criddle (222) won over Turner Harris by fall to clinch the victory for Thompson. Mitch Taylor (287) took a decision victory over William Cholewinski to give the Rebels three points to conclude the match.

To advance to the final, Vestavia Hills earned a 37-30 win over Huntsville last week in the opening round. In the semifinals, the Rebels avenged an earlier loss to Hewitt-Trussville by traveling to the Huskies and notching a 31-21 win. Thompson dominated Enterprise 67-6 and edged Smiths Station 41-33 in the lead-up rounds.