Lee County’s Aaron Maxfield wins state wrestling title

DULUTH, Ga. — Lee County High School wrestling coach Tom Matheny describes Aaron Maxfield as a ‘gritty little man.’

After Saturday afternoon, Maxfield can be described in another way — state champion.

The Lee County senior wrestler captured the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state 106-pound state title Saturday at the Infinite Energy Arena, earning an 8-2 decision over Central Gwinett’s Ahkeem Lewis in the finals.

Maxfield, who went unbeaten in four tournament matches, put his name into Trojan folklore in several areas during the three-day state meet. At the top of the list, he became just the third state champion in Lee County history, joining Zach Thompson and Conley Pines.

He also padded his win total for the season to 59 and a first-round pin gave him 37 victories by pins on the year. The 37 pins is a school record and the 59 wins shattered the previous school best, but teammate Slater Cruz topped that with 60 wins during Saturday’s action.

About the only thing that went wrong, according to Maxfield, was the instant gratification of celebrating after winning, though he was able to jump into the arms of both Matheny and assistant Rocky Ledford.

“I thought I would have a lot more energy to celebrate,” Maxfield said. “It didn’t go how I wanted it to go. I got a little gassed in the first period, but I am happy I won it. Definitely happy.”

Maxfield said his teammates, especially those that drilled with him in practice over the years, were critical to his title run along with his coaches.

“This is all I have wanted since I was a kid,” he said. “I have been working for it for a long time, practicing and training real hard.”

Matheny said Maxfield’s season will go down as one of the greatest in Trojan history.

“We are blessed first of all that he comes from a good family,” Matheny said. “He has wrestled for awhile, so he has been familiar with the sport. He has outstanding teammates who worked with him in the room. They get the credit. They did the work. The coaches show them a move or two, but they drill day in and day out, time after time again.

“He was a very dominate wrestler at times. That is a testimony to his grit. He is a gritty little man. Outstanding character. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Maxfield, though, wasn’t the only star for Lee County at the state meet, which had three others place in the top four to help the Trojans earn 83 points and fifth place, a school-best performance, breaking the previous best of eighth-place, said Matheny.

Seniors Slater Cruz at 138 pounds and Collins Tensley at 220 pounds both earned third-place finishes and James Monteiro took fourth place at 285 pounds to also highlight Lee County’s performance, though all seven Trojans who qualified scored points to help the cause.

Maxfield, who finished the season with a 59-6 record, opened the state meet with a quick first-period in 27 seconds over Rockdale’s Jordan Nelson then won a pair of dramatic 6-4 sudden victory decisions over Brookwood’s Kendrick Banks and Lambert’s Payton Mitchell. Both matches were tied after regulation and two 30-second overtime periods.

In the championship match, Maxfield was able to work around Lewis to earn a takedown with 44 seconds left in the first period for a 2-0 lead, which he maintained the rest of the period.

Maxfield started the second period in the down defensive position, but earned a reverse 22 seconds into the period that quickly turned into a quick near fall situation. Lewis avoided the pin, but Maxfield had a 6-0 lead.

The Central Gwinnett wrestler picked up a reverse shortly after to cut it to 6-2, but Maxfield matched it with 13 seconds left in the period to seize an 8-2 advantage.

The final period, which started with both wrestlers in the neutral position, was a defensive struggle with Maxfield able to maintain control to capture the win.

“I scrambled pretty hard,” Maxfield said. “I might have been in bad position (a few times), but I scrambled out of them and got the two (reversal).”

Maxfield said he didn’t wrestle his best during the championship match and he was hoping for a pin. In the end, though, he claimed the state title and Lee County history.

Cruz won his opener on a 10-5 then lost his second match 3-2 before bouncing back with four wins in the losers bracket, two off pins. He capped it with a 9-4 win Saturday over Rockdale’s Tyrone Heam. He finished the season 60-7.

Tensley had a similar script with a first-round pin, a loss then five straight wins — two by pins. He capped it with a 3-2 sudden death victory in the third-place match on an escape with 16 seconds left.

Monteiro lost a tough 3-1 decision in his opening match, but battled back with four straight wins, two on pins, before losing the third-place match 2-1 on a late stalling call.

Three others competed for Lee County at the state meet – and all earned wins to help score points. Junior Eric “Opie” Hunter, wrestling at 120, went 1-2. Junior Justin Favors, competing at 160, lost his opener, but won two before being eliminated, and sophomore Sylvester Jackson won his opener in the 182-weight class before losing two straight.