Lee County wrestling celebrates two state titles; two more on the podium

By David Mundee, Special to the Herald

LEESBURG – Winning individual state wrestling titles had special and different meanings for Lee County High School wrestlers Weston Bryan and Delialah Betances.

The two Trojans capped undefeated seasons with state championship wins last Saturday at the Macon Centreplex. Bryan earned a 6-2 win over Villa Rica’s Austin Pressley in the Class 5A boys 285-pound weight class and Betances captured a dominating 18-1 tech fall decision over Grovetown’s Shaniyah McDaniel in the all-classification girls 115-pound weight class.

Bryan, a senior, finished with a 24-0 record, wrestling less than half of the season after finishing with the state semifinal Trojan football team in early December. Betances, a junior, polished off a 39-0 record.

For Bryan, the championship victory was only his second match of the season that didn’t end on a first-period pin or a tech fall of 15 or more points.

“It made it feel even better,” Bryan said of the close win. “Most of the season I had techs. There weren’t many (close) decisions. This felt like I had to earn it, so it made it feel more special than if I were to have pinned him and win in the first period.”

Betances won her second title in three years. She won state at Lee County as a freshman before moving to Florida and finishing as a state runner-up at Liberty County High School in Kissimmee. She moved back to Leesburg and won state this year.

“Winning it my freshman year, I kind of shook it off,” Betances said. “Last year when I got second, I realized how important this was, so I knew I had to win it this year.

“It feels amazing coming back off a loss from last year. It feels great to win again.”

The two were not the only Lee County standouts at the state meet. The Trojans’ Fred Toney finished as a state runner-up in the 215-pound weight class and Noah Anderson placed third in the 150-pound weight class. Caleb Stuart, Lee County’s other state qualifier, won a match in the 120-pound weight class.

Behind the four wrestlers, Lee County tied for fifth in the Class 5A team standings with region rival Coffee County with 73.5 points.

On the girls side, Paris Watts went 1-2 in the 100-pound weight class, including a loss to the state runner-up, and Kennedy Turney went 0-2 in the 125-pound class, losing her opener to three-time state champion Vera Spencer of North Oconee. The Lee County girls, despite only three wrestlers, placed 13th out of 105 scoring teams.

Bryan’s state title capped a six-year career in the sport that featured a state runner-up finish two years ago and a fifth place finish last year. He said the title made all the work and even the times of doubt worth it.

“It definitely feels surreal,” Bryan said. “It feels like all the years, growing up wrestling, finally surpasses something and that I took something out of it – all the lessons I learned from it. While everything is telling me to quit, I kept going as the little kid inside of me that wants to hold the medal and wants to stand on the podium tells me to keep pushing through.”

Bryan won his first three state matches on tech fall decisions, beating Winder-Barrow’s Chad Trueblood 20-3 in the first period, Apalachee’s David Robinson 17-2 by the middle of the second period and Habersham Central’s Javonte Bowen 22-5 in the middle of the second period.

The championship match opened with a scoreless first period before Presley earned an escape early in the second period after choosing the bottom position following a second injury time out by Bryan.

Bryan selected the bottom position to start the third period and earned an escape, though the point was initially given to Presley. Presley was hit with two stalling violations and Bryan, in a scoring change, was credited with his escape to go up 3-2.

Bryan then went to his self-proclaimed “signature move,” a double-leg takedown with 15 seconds left in the match to go up 6-2.

“With 30 seconds left, I was like, ‘I got to push it.’ So, I snapped (down his head), shot and dragged my toes in on the edge (to stay in bounds) to finally get the three (points),” Bryan said, referring to missing on two takedowns earlier in going out of bounds. “It was a sigh of relief that I finally got it. Then I ended up riding him for the last 13 seconds.”

Betances took control 30 seconds into her match.

“I took a shot and took her straight to her back, earning seven points off the bat,” Betances said. “I knew I had to play it smart from there as I didn’t want to mess up being in the lead 7-0. I knew how to play smart and work from there.”

She earned an escape eight seconds into the second period and added another takedown to go up 11-0 before allowing a late second-period escape. After McDaniel chose the neutral position to start the third period, Betances ended it with a takedown off a hip-toss throw and four-point near fall for the 18-1 win 45 seconds into the second period.

“It was the best moment of my life,” Betances said. “I knew I had gained back my championship. I was happy.”

Lee County’s Toney finished off a strong junior season with his state runner-up finish, reaching the finals of the 215-pound weight class with three straight wins before losing in the title match to Creekview’s Jackson Locke (33-1 record) on a second-period pin. Toney finished with a 40-10 record.

“I went from unranked to top six ranked in Georgia for my weight class,” Toney said of the season.

The highlight was a state semifinal win over previously unbeaten Leshawn Stuckey of Banneker. Toney trailed 13-3 early in the second period before surging with an escape, takedown and three-point near fall to cut it to 13-10. Stuckey earned a reversal, but Toney matched it and claimed a pin roughly 30 seconds later.

“I took a deep breath and began working on my fundamentals,” Toney said, who utilized underhooks, an inside leg trip and tilts to get back into the match before earning the fall off a ball-and-chain move that “I stole from Weston.”

Toney couldn’t keep the momentum going, falling in the finals to Creekview’s Locke.

“It is just more motivation to come back for next year,” Toney said of the loss.

Anderson had a strong tournament, going 4-1 in finishing in third place. He improved to 33-6 for the season, a stark contrast to his 13-10 junior record.

“I am thankful for it,” Anderson said. “I definitely did a lot better than I did in the last two years. I finished 33-6 and had like 23 pins on the season, so I definitely exceeded my expectations.”

An 0-2 state finish a year ago motivated him in the offseason.

“My 11th grade year, I kind of did a little iffy,” Anderson said. “For my senior season, I was like, ’let’s come back and do something big,’ so I worked hard in the offseason.”

In Saturday’s meet, he won his first two matches, one by fall and the other off a 6-2 decision, before losing to Glynn Academy’s AJ Waters, the eventual weight-division state champ. He bounced back to beat Coffee’s Luke Adams by fall (2:12 into the match) and won the third-place match over South Effingham’s Brayden Bringer in quick fashion.

“This was my last match, so I had to go out with a bang,” Anderson said. “I was hyped up. Once I stepped on the mat, everything clicked. I started after the whistle blew and took a shot. He was trying to sprawl away and he got up to his hip and I was able to lock up a (nearside) cradle. I cradled him and pinned him in 20 seconds.”