The Dawson County High School wrestlers have been busy over the past two weeks. The Tigers have done very well, winning four out of five dual matches and this past weekend the team picked up a third place finish in the King of the Mountain wrestling tournament held at Towns County High School in Hiawassee.

The Tigers finished third behind champion North Hall, which scored 190 points, followed by second place finisher Lumpkin County with 187 points. Dawson accumulated 161 points for third place.

Dawson had three wrestlers win first place in their respective weight class. Preston Adams (152), David Wood (135) and James Evans each won their championship match to capture first for the Tigers.

Anthony Underwood (103) lost to Taylor Marett from North Hall in the championship round and finished second while Josh Gee (189) picked up a fourth place finish for the Tigers.

Other results for the tournament were not available at press time.

Tigers traveled to Blue Ridge for matches with Fannin County, Robbinsville, N.C. and Murphy, N.C. on Nov. 23.

Dawson came away with wins over Fannin, 48-33, and Murphy, 57-24, before losing a close match with Robbinsville, 37-33.

Winning their matches with Fannin were: Anthony Underwood (103) by pin, James Evans (119) pin, Levi Pressley (130) pin, David Wood (135) pin, Charlie Short (140) pin, Andrew Lovingood (145) pin, Keaton Toal (160) pin, and Josh Gee (189) by forfeit.

In the match against Robbinsville, Evans and Gee won by way of a pin.

Pressley won a 14-12 decision, Wood won 7-3, and Preston Adams won 4-1.

Picking up points by forfeit were Tobie Lumpkin (215) and Jazil Bustamante (285).

The Tigers dominated Murphy High School, winning by 33-points.

Winning by pin were Underwood, Timothy Blythe (125), Wood, Toal, Evan Kells (171) and Lumpkin.

Drew Thomason, James Evans and Josh Gee all earned points by way of a forfeit.

Tiger Greg Geisel won an 11-8 decision.

The Tigers boarded the school bus and made the long trip to Towns County High School on Nov. 30 for a tri-meet with Towns and Lumpkin counties.

The Tigers came away with two big wins destroying Towns, 52-17, and narrowly defeating Lumpkin, 43-37.

In the huge win against Towns County, four Tigers pinned their opponents. Evans, Blythe, Kells and Gee all picked up valuable points by way of pin.

Levi Pressley won a major decision over Austin Stephens from Towns with a huge 18-6 win. Tiger David Wood won a close 7-5 decision over Timothy Collier and Dawson wrestler Jazil Bustamante won 4-3 in the heavy weight division over Dustin Brackett.

Underwood, Drew Thomason and Preston Adams picked up points by forfeit.

In the close match with Lumpkin points were hard to come by for the Tigers.

Anthony Underwood picked up a pin over Ashley St. Germain in the 103 pound weight class. James Evans (119), David Wood (135), Andrew Lovingood (145) and Preston Adams (152) all pinned their Indian opponents.

Tiger Levi Pressley (130) won a decision over Robert Harris 9-4 and Josh Gee (189) won a major decision by a 10-2 score over Manolo Hernandez from Lumpkin.

Also picking up points was Tiger Drew Thomason (112) by forfeit.

Dawson will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Fannin on Saturday. The Tigers will participate in the Rumble on the Ridge tournament.

Saturday’s wrestling will begin at 9 a.m.

Next Tuesday, Dec. 14, the Tigers will travel to Gilmer County to face a very tough Bobcat team. Gilmer finished as state dual champions in AAA last season. Matches should begin at 5:30 p.m.