After placing fifth in 2010 and fourth last year, Creekview rose to third in its third appearance at the event Saturday.
Entering its 14th season, the Walton Duals typically features some of the top teams in Georgia, and Creekview is a squad that could soon be mentioned along those lines.
The Grizzlies dominated Allatoona in a 55-22 victory to capture the third-place trophy. In pool play, they defeated McEachern 51-18 and Dunwoody 60-3, but dropped a 52-16 decision to two-time Class AAAAA champion Pope to finish second in Pool B with a 2-1 record.
The loss to Pope was Creekview’s first of the season as it fell to 6-1 on the year.
“We had some good competition (Saturday),” Creekview coach Wyatt Wilkie said. “I’ve liked what I’ve seen from everybody so far, and we’re going to look to make corrections starting on Monday. But it’s an eye-opener to see what we’re doing well and how we’re competing this early in the season.”
The match against Allatoona wasn’t really a contest from the start. Creekview jumped out to a 55-0 lead over the first 10 bouts before the Buccaneers registered their first points.
Michael Edwards got things going at 138 pounds with a 9-0 major decision win. Chase Callahan followed with a 5-0 decision win at 145 for a 7-0 lead.
The Grizzlies’ next eight wins were all either pins for forfeits, equaling 42 team points and the commanding 55-0 advantage.
Justin Pettyjohn started things off with a pin in 1 minute, 1 second at 152. Hunter Smith’s 18-second pin at 160 was followed by Hunter Udall’s pin in 1:18 at 170.
The margin continued to grow behind Joseph Sorrentino’s 51-second pin at 182, Logan Ridings’ 2:48 fall at 195 and Christian Saragusa’s 2:47 pin at 220.
Heavyweight Brock Tupman collected the final fall in 49 seconds, and Ryan Camp won via forfeit at 106 pounds for Creekview’s final points of the match.
“I think we’ve done some good things this weekend, and we’re stepping up,” Wilkie said. “Overall, we had a good day from a lot of guys, and I like how Hunter Smith looks right now at 160. Obviously, we’re still getting good production from Michael Edwards, Hunter Udall and Joseph Sorrentino. Austin Collett looked good in some of our other matches as well.”
Grant Slater’s 11-6 loss via decision at 113 pounds gave Allatoona its first points of the match. The Grizzlies forfeited at 120, and Justin Goss fell via pin at 126. Creekview also forfeited at 132.
“I’ve seen a lot of good things (Saturday),” Wilkie said. “The guys are getting experience, and there’s still some stuff to work on, but they’re working hard.”
Pope captured the championship for the third straight year after runner-up finishes in 2008 and ’09. The Greyhounds finished the day with an unblemished 4-0 mark after defeating Loganville for the title for the second straight year.
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