The Homewood Patriots Wrestling team recently wrapped up their season with a 3rd place state finish. On Feb. 28, the team made the trip up to Huntsville to compete for the state championship and only lost to a very good Mountain Brook team and state champion Mortimer Jordan. The squad is coached by Diangelo Perry and Francis McKeown.
The team was confident and ready going into the state tournament, and this was for good reason. The team had many individuals who performed very well in the tournament, including Nine state placers.
“There were several wrestlers that stood out and finished very well,” Coach Perry said.
Barrett Bridgmon finished 3rd, Cooper Bailey 6th place, Moeen Almansoob state runner-up 2nd place, Buddy Ketcham 3rd place, Cannon Ford 3rd place, Bobby Chamorro 4th place, Fernando Trejo 3rd place, Blas Correa 6th place and Bardon King 6th place.
The team is loaded with talent, and a lot of great returning wrestlers are coming back next year. Of those state finishers, six have at least one more year available to wrestle.
Alongside this great talent, the team has a great bond that has led them to success. From freshmen to seniors, the team is a brotherhood.
One wrestler who has felt this bond is freshman Louis Armistead. In his first year wrestling varsity, he’s felt embraced by the team, and he’s experienced the brotherhood firsthand.
“We all get along, it’s like a big family,” Armistead said.
This relationship is something that the team hopes to build on for next season. The coaches aim to make the sport more fun for everybody, and for the wrestlers to enjoy wrestling more.
“We are going to focus on doing more team bonding,” Perry said. The coaches also want to make the bond between the team stronger. They already have a great start, but hope to build on that.
Alongside working together, the team also has put in a lot of work individually. This ranges from cutting weight individually to working out on their own time to be the best possible wrestlers that they can be. This individual work is what Coach Perry thinks can take the team to the next level this off-season.
“Goals are to get stronger and to get kids to do some club wrestling,” Perry said.
Perry sees club wrestling in the off-season as another great way for the team to build strength and skill.
The team and coaches are proud of how they finished the season. However, they know that there’s still work to do before next season. They enter the off-season ready to work hard, and ready to be the best team they can going into next season.
