Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
Kyle Barrington has a staggered list of goals.
The first-year Franklin wrestling coach has already achieved one goal: getting a large team to come out for the sport. The Panthers have 26 team members after finishing last year with less than 10.
Another short-term goal is to win a dual match. It’s been a few years since the Panthers last won one.
Barrington would also like for the Panthers to win more matches than they lose this season.
“By the end of year, if I can get everybody in place, we should be in a situation where we can compete with just about anybody in the area,” Barrington said. “I would like to compete and/or win a good portion of our duals.”
The coach expects to send a number of individuals to regional and hopefully have state qualifiers. He also would like to see his room as full in January and February as it is now.
If those things all fall into place, Barrington could see the Panthers competing for a Mountain Six Conference title down the line.
Wrestling is the only sport at FHS that is devoid of any team titles. The banner that hangs in the gym is empty.
“I think in the next two years, if we stay healthy and we keep everybody, we could compete for a conference team championship,” Barrington said.
FHS is set to officially open the season Saturday at the Maroon Devil Invitational at Swain County.
The Panthers have competed twice, but neither counts toward the season. They participated in the Rabun Gap Scramble, a tournament held Nov. 16 in Georgia.
They also hosted Andrews on Nov. 19, which was originally slated as a regular season match. But the Wildcats are still playing in the state football playoffs, so Barrington agreed to make it an exhibition.
Franklin finished fourth out of eight teams at Rabun Gap. Three individuals placed and earned medals.
Junior Branden Berger won five matches to claim gold in the 195-pound weight class.
Junior Aiden Carpenter was undefeated until the final match. He took second at 145.
Sophomore Bryan Rodriguez placed third at 152.
Berger, Carpenter and Rodriguez are Franklin’s three team captains. A fourth captain, selected each week by Barrington and assistant coach Bill Barrington, will join them to lead drills and warm up in the center of the circle before matches.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of captains as far as being able to echo our strategies and fundamentals we’re trying to build around,” Barrington said.
Berger earned all-conference honors as a sophomore. He came close to advancing to state, twice wrestling for an advancing spot but suffering narrow losses on points.
Carpenter, Rodriguez and Isaac Jennings, who’s a sophomore, also competed last year at the 2-A West Regional.
Marcus Sayers coached the Panthers for six years before resigning in July to take a wrestling coach and teaching job at East Davidson.
Barrington, a 2008 FHS graduate, was named coach in August. He teaches carpentry at Franklin, and immediately began talking to students to gauge their interest and encourage them to fill up the team.
He spoke to a number of football players. The first was Seth Price, a former standout at Macon Middle School who hadn’t wrestled in his two years of high school.
Price is on the team and is slated to compete at 182 pounds.
“I told boys we needed to push to have a full room,” Barrington said. “Of all the people I talked to, a quarter came out. That shows how many I talked to.”
The Panthers are at 26 wrestlers currently, which is smaller than the number who came out for voluntary workouts before official practices began in late October. The conditioning and drilling whittled away the ones who weren’t serious about the sport.
Of those who remain, most have experience wrestling – although, it might have come in middle school.
JD Valentine, Isaiah Roots, Zack Gibson, Cameron Cody, Braden Cody and Oswaldo Martinez have experience and are expected to battle for starting spots at their weight classes.
Ben Waldroop is one of the newcomers. He competes in the smallest weight class at 106, but Barrington said he’ll do well once he learns the basics.
Becoming offensive wrestlers is something Barrington and his father have been teaching during practices. They should attack rather than wait for their opponent to shoot.
“The guy that sets the tone for the match is usually the guy that wins the match,” Barrington said. “Yeah, you’re gonna lose a match or two being offensive, but you’re gonna win a lot more than you lose. Make the other guy wrestle your match, not the other way around.”
Because they have a much larger team, the Panthers can’t fit into the visitors’ football locker room. They’re practicing in a building at the Macon County Fairgrounds, which has enough space to allow them use two mats.
Barrington has been preaching a team-first mentality. In the past, with such small teams, the focus was on doing well individually.
Wrestling is a hard sport and it’s a long season, Barrington said, which lends itself to highs and lows. It’s the easiest sport there is to pack up your bag after practice and not come back.
That’s why he’s stressing putting the team first before the individual.
“It’s important for us to be successful as a team. When you have a rough stretch in scheduling and maybe go through two weeks without getting a win individually, what keeps you going is when then the team’s successful. If the team’s falling off, you’re losing matches, then it starts to fall apart and unravel,” Barrington said.
“It’s easy laying on your back to say, ‘Oh, he’s got me pinned,’ when all you’re worried about is your record. When you’ve got 13 other guys that need you to get off your back, it’s a lot easier to find that and dig a little deeper and get off your back.”