In its quest to place in the top four at the Class AAAAA state duals, Creekview came up one match short. The Grizzlies fell to Ware County 39-26 on Saturday in the consolation semifinals at the Macon Centreplex.

Despite the loss, the Grizzlies were still able to assure themselves of a finish inside of the top six.

Creekview found itself trailing Ware County from the start and was never able to climb into the lead.

In the first match of the dual, the Grizzlies were pinned at 106 pounds to give the Gators a 6-0 advantage. At 113 and 120, Creekview lost by decision, finding itself behind 12-0.

At 126, Dakota Short, who made his return to the squad over the weekend after a long layoff due to injury, gave the Grizzlies their first points of the night when he won by pinfall to make it 12-6.

Unfortunately for Creekview, it was never able to catch Ware County and fell in the end.

Despite the loss, Creekview coach Wyatt Wilkie felt no disappointment after his team’s exit from the tournament.

“I really think we wrestled pretty well,” he said. “There were some adjustments that we could have made, but I was pretty proud of the guys.”

Though the Grizzlies fell just short of Wilkie’s goal of a top-four finish, he was still pleased with his team’s overall performance during the tournament.

“No one likes to lose, but we took a lot of positive things from the weekend,” Wilkie said. “Though we didn’t place, finishing inside the top six at state is still the best we’ve ever done, so we can’t be disappointed with that. Win or lose, our kids can hold their heads high.”