Westfield joins county wrestling fray

In 2015, Westfield athletics will enter into a new era. For the first time, on Jan. 24, a Hornet team – the wrestling squad – is competing for a Houston County championship.

Under new rules, Georgia High School Association and Georgia Independent Schools Association members can compete against each other during regular seasons in certain sports. One of those is wrestling. Westfield, under coach Mike Thompson, is already getting a taste of this previously unchartered ground, like when Turner County, Jones County and one of those county competitors, Veterans High, took part in the annual Odoban Lethal Hornet Invitational last weekend.

Westfield’s wrestling accomplishments over the past two seasons make it the power of the GISA with three team championships. Thompson can only wonder how any of the past two teams would have fared in the county meet, but now these Hornets have a brand new goal.

“You get better as a wrestler,” said Josh Kinnebrew, defending state champion at 113 pounds, about what he hopes becomes the by-product of this new era. “I feel like a loss is actually better for you. If you go undefeated all season in GISA, you will almost feel cocky. I feel that’s what the GHSA brings. They bring experience we have not seen.

“Losing every now and then is necessary in order to be a champion. If you get the mindset you are going to win every time … you are going to lose eventually, like in a championship final. I’d rather lose early and get the motivation that I need to be better, not ‘I’m already good enough.’”

In the Odoban Lethal tournament, Westfield had three finalists. Those include previous state champion Conner Cawthon at 170 pounds. Thompson he lost a close match to Turner County’s entrant, the score being 7-7 with just two seconds left in the final period, but then Turner scored the pinfall on a last-second throw.

Chandler Dean, at 120 pounds (who was 106 last season), also fell in his finals match to Turner County. Dayton Hammerle, last season’s 120, went the distance in his final – again with Turner – but lost by four points.

“We were satisfied with the way we performed,” said Thompson, who has a team dealing with injuries and sicknesses going into Christmas break and an invitational this weekend hosted by Northside High. “This part of the season, we are trying to get the whole team in one place, figure out what weight classes we are going to be in.

“Mostly bronchitis and flu have been going around a good bit. We have two shoulder injuries that we have to wait until January to get them back at 182 and 195. We have one guy with an ankle. Other than that, we are still looking to have a strong finish.”

Other wrestlers Thompson hopes will be big leaders are returning state champion Walker Davison, senior, and junior Josh Jenkins.

In the first weekend of the New Year, Westfield will get more GHSA looks while taking part in Perry High’s invitational. Thompson noted that the Panthers are considered the power team of the county, and Perry also happens to be the host for the county duals.

The Hornets also make their annual trip to the University of South Carolina for the Highlander Duals Jan. 17. They host their region tournament Feb. 5, and the GISA meet follows that at Georgia Southwestern State.

Thompson said the new competition rules provide a big relief in terms of traveling. He said last season they went to South Carolina three times for meets, but now they can find that same caliber of competition locally.

“We have a pretty strong Houston County venue,” he said. “I really like some of the smaller schools in south Georgia – Irwin County, Berrien and Turner County – we go up against. We’ve had a strong team in the past. If we are not where we need to be when we do compete against them, we’ll know what improvements we need to make.

“They’re very excited about (the county championships). They hoped they could have done it two years ago. They’re not afraid to face a challenge. That’s what I like about all the teams we’ve had here.”

“Wrestling here doesn’t necessarily get a lot of credit,” said Kinnebrew. “Wrestling is unlike any other sport. It’s like a bond. We all have a relationship with each other, a bond of brothers unlike any other sport.

“Every single win in wrestling, you feel relief and victorious obviously. You have a target on your back when you win championships. The next year, you have to come out and work harder than you did the year before. It’s only more motivation to work harder.”

Kinnebrew said he is the type of wrestler, in the smaller class, who will fight speed with speed, or fire with fire.

“Every year it’s gotten a little bit better,” said Thompson. “We lost three very valuable seniors (going into this year). Griffin Cawthon was a two-time state champion, Ben Brooks was a high-place winner for three years, and Chandler Bohanan, the same thing. If we had them this year, we would be a lot more confident. We have some ninth and 10th graders we have to get trained. It takes time and experience. But we will get it back to where it was in 2013 and 2014.

“It’s contagious when you have half the team with the experience. Everyone else just falls into place trying to keep up. They have a lot of work to do, and they’re winning to work.”

“I just work on fundamentals. Go over fundamentals,” said Kinnebrew, a wrestler since the fifth grade. “Every year you improve your fundamentals, which will help you improve your advanced techniques.”

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