First year program or not, the Cedartown MatDawgs youth wrestling group is experiencing nothing but success on the mats.

Last Saturday, Cedartown had 15 wrestlers compete at the state qualifier at South Paulding High School and 12 qualified to compete at state.

The state tournament for the big kids, 14-and-under and 12-and-under, will be this Saturday at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville. The state tournament for the little kids, 10-and-under, eight-and-under and six-and-under, will be on Saturday, March 13 at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee.

“This has been a great season and to see our young men qualify to compete in the state tournament is a great accomplishment,” Head Coach James Bowman and Assistant Coach Shane Lee said in a press release. “The state tournament is the best of the best in the state of Georgia and is what we have been working toward since the first of November when we started practicing.”

The coaches went on to state, “these young men had no prior experience in wrestling and chose to be a part of a new sport for our youth in Cedartown and since the first of November they have been working extremely hard learning moves, techniques and conditioning every week.”

At state qualifiers, Cedartown had five kids finish in first place, one in second, three in third and three in fourth.

“We could not be more proud of our team and the success we have had in our first year,” the press release stated. “Our goal was to see all 15 wrestlers qualify for state and to have three kids not make it hurts because we know how hard they worked to get to this point.”

The first place finishers were Alan Cordero (six-and-under), Dalton Bowman (eight-and-under), Landon Foor (eight-and-under), Robert Peek (12-and-under) and Lane Bond (14-and-under). Gage Lameka (10-and-under) finished in second place.

Taking third place were Andrew Peek (eight-and-under), Curtis Lee (eight-and-under) and Tyler League (14-and-under). Fourth place finishers were Drew Kirkpatrick (six-and-under), Andrew Cromer (eight-and-under) and James Sheffield (14-and-under).

“These young men had to place in the top four to qualify for state and this is a major accomplishment,” the duo stated. “We would like to thank our wrestlers for working as hard as they have, their parents, grandparents, Superintendent Marvin Williams, Cedartown High Principal Hal David, the Board of Education, our sponsors, the community and our wives Stacey Bowman and Yvonne Lee.”