State wrestling lookback: Walden reflects on overcoming injury to win second-straight title 

Winning a state wrestling title is no easy task in and of itself. 

Domimarkeyo Walden encountered some unexpected challenges, in addition to more stiff competition, in his bid for a second in a row at last month’s GHSA championships. 

The stars were aligning just as perfectly for the Dublin High School junior on his road back in the 285-pound weight division, when some adversity struck midway through his second match of three in the preliminary stage of the tournament. 

He had to make some adjustments, but still managed to outlast his opponent, and two more Wednesday and Thursday, to reach the top of the podium again and a first Irish back-to-back state champ since Quenton Carter in 2008.

“It was way harder this year than it was last year, I felt like, cause I got hurt in the quarterfinals, hurt my foot, and just fought through it all the way to the finals,” Walden said in a conversation late last month. “It was pretty difficult.” 

Coming into the event with an overall record of 29-4 for the season, he needed only 22 seconds in his debut match to pin Oglethorpe County’s Shoo Moo for another in the long streak of wins going back through both sectional and area tournaments the previous two weekends. 

The rest wouldn’t be nearly as straightforward, as the sudden setback forced Walden to ride out a full three periods on the bad wheel to get past Bremen’s Alonzo Edmerson by 15-5 decision, and Lamar County’s Robert Erickson, 15-8, to advance to the state title match. 

Though it wasn’t a severe limitation, the injury kept him from going as all-out as he normally would. 

“I couldn’t wrestle like I really wanted to,” Walden said. “I was just sitting there playing straight defense the whole two rounds.” 

That complicated the matchup in what would be a fourth meeting with season-long rival Jordan Handsom, of Emanuel County Institute, in the state finals. 

Walden had gotten the best of two in the previous three, winning rematches in the finals of area and again at sectionals after taking the loss, 3-1 in triple overtime, their first time wrestling very early in the regular season at Vidalia’s Sweet Onion Invitational. 

His plan in this final showdown was to “play physical.” 

“He was not a real physical guy,” Walden said. “He didn’t like when somebody was in his face, so that’s what I did: Try to work some and get him hit with a couple of stalling calls.” 

Period 1 was mostly that head-to-head, with some arm fighting that came to a stalemate until Walden was able to go up 3-1 on a takedown with about 30 seconds to go. 

Handsom won the second period toss and chose upper position, but never overturned him during the two following minutes. 

In the third, Walden elected to re-start from neutrality, and repeated the first-period cycle. Both danced around the mat as the clock ticked down. Handsom, trailing 3-1, made a last lunge around the knees that Walden dodged and turned into a second takedown that all but sealed it, and what seemed like a whole section of the Clayton County Convention Center went wild as the final seconds ticked off.

The group of Dublin supporters, joined by wrestlers and fans of neighboring teams East and West Laurens, made its presence felt during both the evening’s final matches for Irish contenders. And Walden said the hometown backing was a huge boost. 

“That was pretty cool,” he said. “When I got ready to wrestle my final match, I saw them come from one side of the stadium all the way to the other side just to come support me that was pretty cool. I liked that.” 

Dublin’s other finalist was Quinton Lovett, who pinned three preliminary matches over Rabun County’s Andrew Wall, Gordon Central’s Hayden Thompson and Social Circle’s Kaleb Jones. 

But Gordon Lee’s Noah Brown got the best of him after a little over a minute in the championship match. 

Lovett was able to weather Brown’s earliest attempt at a takedown, but not the second as his opponent got leverage after about a 30-second struggle, and never allowed him to escape. 

The rest of Dublin’s five-man representation, including Alan Myers (106), Keymontae Sanders (126), Kye Young (132) and Major Morton (175) was eliminated in the early rounds. 

Three for West Laurens reached the AAA podium, and Jayden Watkins almost made the finals in a dead-even semifinal match that ended up swinging on a hotly-contested call that awarded Jefferson’s Fischer West a late stalling point for the 6-5 difference. 

Watkins pinned Dade County’s Ronan O’Keeffe, but lost to East Hall’s Lukas Pruitt by 12-5 decision in the third-place match. 

Jarek Giles placed fourth in the 106-pound bracket in the bounce back from a loss by heartbreaking 5-4 decision against Lumpkin County’s Jude Goss to open the day. 

He’d recover to win by two decisions, a pin and a tech fall to reach the consolation match, which Bainbridge’s Alex DeLeon won by an 8-3 count. 

Sebastian Rodriguez was knocked from the 120-pound winner’s bracket in a 6-5 loss by margins just as slim, thanks to a go-ahead takedown by Heritage-Catoosa’s Asher Kay with about 25 seconds to go. 

He’d collect two decisions, major and minor, on the comeback trail before a loss in the consolation semifinal, then came back to defeat Kay by 8-3 decision in the match for fifth place. 

Damien Cummings (138), Jayden Starley (132), John Howell (144), Keith Walker (285) and Maxx Chafin (215) were each put out before Thursday’s finals. 

East Laurens finalist Cayson Wadley wrestled six matches over the two days, winning three of his four on Thursday to advance to the consolation semifinals, the lone loss against McNair’s Houston Simmons coming between pins of Elbert County’s Jaylen Davis and Toombs County’s Jordan Brannen, before a final win over Gordon Lee’s Jenz Martin by tech fall. 

Thursday’s semifinal was a 17-0 shutout by Thomas Morgan, of Commerce, and Simmons took the fifth-place match by 5-1 decision. 

The Falcons’ Bradly White (144) and Jeremiah Wright (190) both bowed out in the early rounds.