Woodland Wrestlers Finish Second

fell one match short of defending its Georgia High School Association AAAA dual wrestling championship Saturday in Macon, losing 56-10 to in the finals.

It was revenge for the Greyhounds, who lost to the Wildcats in last year’s semifinals.

Pope won 12 of the 14 matches, including 10 in a row, to take the state title, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Woodland needed a big comeback in its semifinal match against earlier Saturday just to get to the finals.

The Wildcats trailed 30-6, then grabbed the final 25 points for a 31-30 victory, according to the Woodland wrestling Twitter account.

On Friday, Woodland opened the 16-team tournament with a 64-10 win over South Effingham, then cruised past Ola, 45-22, to reach the semifinals.

, which didn’t make the GHSA tournament last year, also got off to a good start Friday, beating , 43-16. But the Colonels suffered a narrow 28-26 loss to Whitewater in the quarterfinals.

The Colonels’ tournament ended Saturday morning with a 37-32 loss to in the consolation bracket.

At the AA level, Adairsville lost its opening match Friday to eventual state runner-up , 38-27. The Tigers bounced back with a 46-18 win over Cook in the consolation bracket but were eliminated with a 45-21 loss to East Laurens.