Gwinnett Daily Post

Staff Photo: Brendan Sullivan Archer's Orlando Nawade attempts to pin Brookwood's Stephen Solamon in a 170 pound weight class match up during the Area 8-AAAAAA Duals wrestling championships at Archer High School in Lawrenceville Saturday. Archer defeated Brookwood 69-6.

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Archer came into the Area 8-AAAAAA Duals undefeated and that's the same way they left.

In the finals, Archer overpowered Brookwood to win 69-6. Both teams advanced to the State Duals, but Archer gets that all important No. 1 seed from the area.

"The big thing is we qualified for state," said Archer head coach Tom Beuglas. "We're heading into state pretty healthy and that's all you can ask for."

Of the 11 contested matches, the Tigers scored the first points in nine of them to get early leads.

"It's huge to be the one to score first," Beuglas said. "In a majority of matches, the guy who scores first wins the match."

The Tigers got pins from Brandon Weber (152 pounds) and Zach Wright (160) to begin the dual. Wright's pin came against Mathew Jaleiba, who came close to reversing Wright after a reversal. Wright countered that attempt and got Jaleiba on his back, where he eventually scored a pin just past the midway point of the second period.

Orlando Nawade (170) was leading 7-1 in his match before getting a pin to put Archer up 18-0 in team points.

Brookwood got its first victory of the dual at 182 when Josh Moore used two takedowns and two escapes to take a 6-2 minor win.

However, Archer wouldn't let Brookwood get back into the dual.

Ernest Alexander (195) pinned his opponent in 1:25, while Hunter McCleskey (220) got a pin halfway into the second frame. M.J. Couzan (285) followed that up with a pin at 1:47 to give Archer a commanding 36-3 lead.

Brookwood forfeited the 106-pound match before winning at 113 pounds when Drew McCorkle held off Daquan Olbert for a 9-7 win.

That would be the last points for Brookwood in the dual as Sam Bullard (120) and Grant Aycox (126) each got pins, and Chris Diaz got a 9-2 win.

Forfeit wins at 138 and 145 pounds finished the dual and gave Archer the dominating victory.

While the win in the area duals was nice for Beuglas, he knows that's not the ultimate goal.

"We finished third at state last year," he said. "We're not going there to finish third or even second. We haven't seen Collins Hill or North Gwinnett this year, and we know they'll be tough. But, we're going down there to win a state title."

WRESTLING

Area 8-AAAAAA Duals

Finals

Archer 69, Brookwood 6

Match results

106: Vinny Artidues (A) forfeit win

113: Drew McCorkle (B) def. Daquan Olbert (A), 9-7

120: Sam Bullard (A) pinned Than Nguyen (B), 3:18

126: Grant Aycox (A) pinned Zeke Johnston (B), :46

132: Chris Diaz (A) def. Wyatt Jozwowski (B), 9-2

138: Daniel Bullard (A) forfeit win

145: Thomas Bullard (A) forfeit win

152: Brandon Weber (A) pinned Cole Mullis (B), 1:43

160: Zach Wright (A) pinned Matthew Jaleiba (B), 3:09170: Orlando Nawade (A) pinned Stephen Solamon (B), 3:38

182: Josh Moore (B) def. Robbie Kwarteng (A), 6-2

195: Ernest Alexander (A) pinned Caleb Harris (B), 1:25

220: Hunter McCleskey (A) pinned Terrell Anderson (B), 2:59

285: MJ Couzan (A) pinned Jeremy Quarshie (B), 1:47