Although Bryan County got some excellent individual performances, Brantley County and McIntosh County Academy had greater depth and as a result earned the two qualifying spots in last Saturday’s Area 3-A duals tournament at Bryan County High School.

Brantley defeated MCA to finish first with the Bucs also advancing to this weekend’s state tournament which will be held at Heard County. Area 3-A is made up of Bacon County, Brantley, Bryan, Charlton County, Jeff Davis, MCA, Metter, Savannah High, Savannah Christian and Savannah Country Day. However, Savannah, Savannah Christian and Metter did not send teams to the tournament.

First-year Redskins coach Ryan Collier saw his team get off to a good start by knocking off Bacon County in its opening match but ran into a buzz saw in the second round as it lost to McIntosh before beating Jeff Davis to set up a resounding win over Charlton County to take third-place. 

“I thought we would finish either second or third,” Collier said. “We had not seen any of these other teams in a dual match. Until you’re actually there with them it’s kind of hard to figure out how to match up with them. 

“McIntosh definitely had some dudes so they were able to outlast us in that duel and put themselves in a position to finish either second or first.”

Collier has been an assistant football coach at Bryan County since the 2021 season. He came here from Colorado where he had been a head football coach at two different schools. He and his wife had vacationed in Savannah, liked it and applied for teaching jobs. Collier was hired in Bryan County, his wife in Chatham.

He was thrust into the wrestling coach position two weeks before the start of the season when Zach Ledbetter, who established the program five years ago, suddenly resigned as a teacher and coach.

“I really don’t have a wrestling background but I’ve been around it for a long time,” Collier said. “My son, Bryson, is one of my assistant coaches and he wrestled all through high school and college. 

“I have not coached it but I’ve been coaching for 23 years and the logistics of coaching is what I have brought to the party and I was coming on as an assistant anyway,” Collier said. “When Zach had to leave then I kind of decided with my background I would take over the head coaching job and solidify it to where we are now.”

While the Redskins did not qualify for the state duals they still have ahead of them the traditional where individuals qualify for that state event which is held in Macon. That qualifying tournament, with the top six finishers advancing to the state meet, will take place Feb. 1 at Jeff Davis High School.

Jayden Lee (126), a senior who won all of his matches by pin last Saturday, Riley Shuman (120), William Patrick (132), Jason Newman (138), Jorge Jimenez (144) and Grayson Kilpatrick (150), Rylan Hernandez (190) and Nathan Long (285) all have a shot at qualifying for state.

“Jayden is having a very good, solid year for us,” Collier said. “Jason Newman is a sophomore transfer from Screven County who is having a good year and so is Rylan. He’s a senior who was injured and didn’t come back until after the break and he’s coming on strong for us right now. Grayson has been a surprise for us and he’s getting better and better. Riley is having a solid year, too.”

Lee qualified for the state as a sophomore while Shuman finished seventh in the traditional regional last year and was a first alternate. Patrick was an eighth-place finisher last year as a sophomore.