We are officially living in the Golden Era of wrestling in Glynn County.
Over the previous three seasons, both Brunswick High and Glynn Academy saw the first individual state champion crowned in either school’s history, and the Golden Isles still found away to top itself.
Last Saturday, both the Pirates and Terrors were represented in the title match of the 182-pound weight class at the Class 6A Traditional Wrestling State Championships in Macon when BHS’s Leon Charlton faced off against GA’s Jackson Wakeland for the third time in three weeks.
But the historic clash had been in the making well before that final meeting.
Each wrestler picked up the sport as freshmen, though through varying levels of initial interest. Wakeland’s father Scott had been a wrestling coach for some years, and figured he entered the sport determined to be the best. Charlton, on the other hand, was originally just looking for something to do outside of football season.
“I didn’t make the basketball team, so that sucked,” Charlton said.
When Brunswick head wrestling coach Tommy Bartolotta was looking gauge interest in potential new members, Charlton rebuffed. Only after thinking on it for a night did Charlton return to tell the coach he would give wrestling a try.
As it turns out, both wrestlers were naturals. Just a year after each entered the sport, both Charlton and Wakeland found themselves wrestling at the state championships. Although neither placed as sophomores, the potential in each was obvious.
A year later, the potential turned into performance. Charlton took fifth place in the 160-pound weight class while Wakeland became the first Terror to win a state title by winning the 182-pound class.
And still, neither was satisfied. Not a week after Wakeland won the championship did begin talk of a repeat; it would ultimately come down to his preparation.
“It really just comes down to doing the same thing I did last year,” Wakeland said. “Just constantly working hard at practice, and having a good support system the whole time.”
Charlton had the same realization watching Wakeland win state: “I’ve just got to work harder. My coaches said I don’t practice hard enough, so I guess I just have to work harder.”
An in-match wrestler that performed when the spotlight came on, Charlton had to show more dedication to honing his craft on the practice mat, and after outgrowing the 160-pound class with another year spent in the weight room, Wakeland was just the person to learn from.
At the same time, both were confident in their abilities if they were to matchup during the season.
“I felt like I wasn’t a 160-pound anyways,” Charlton said. “They said I was a lot slower, so they brought me up thinking I had a better chance against Wakeland, and I felt good about it because I get to eat more.”
The two trained together at the North Florida Wrestling Academy in Jacksonville, as well as locally at the Riptide Wrestling Club before parting ways, and the fruits of their labor began to take form.
By the time the traditional wresting area tournament rolled around, both had established themselves as contenders for the state title, putting Charlton and Wakeland on a crash course in the matches preceding the final.
The brewing rivalry was officially birthed Jan. 29 when Charlton, who entered the match 41-4, handed a previously 31-0 Wakeland his first loss in an 8-2 decision the area finals to propel Brunswick to the Region 2-6A title by a single point over South Effingham.
“I just knew he was a beatable guy, I just hard to work hard to beat him,” Charlton said. “I feel like he has a gas tank like me, so I just had to go hard and fast in the first period and keep my composure to win it, and I think that worked.
“He was gassed out in the third period. I kept my composure, won the match. I almost pinned him, but the referee didn’t give it to me.”
Reflecting on his only loss of the year, Wakeland gave all the credit to Charlton: “He had a great day that day; he was wrestling like a beast that day. We had a good match, went all three periods. I think it was a one- or two-point match, and then he hit a big move, and was up big time at the end. He kept me there until the end of the match. It was a good match.”
But rarely challenged much the season, Wakeland didn’t dwell on the loss. Instead, he used it as fuel to come back even stronger the following week at sectionals. It wasn’t enough to simply qualify for state again, he wanted to win.
“There was really nothing I did too wrong in that (area tournament) match; I just don’t think I was wrestling to the best of my ability to that point,” Wakeland said. “I just went back to practice, grinded out practice and I was working a little harder. I wanted to make sure that I could do the best I could that week.”
True to his words, Wakeland did just that — winning the Class 6A B Sectionals by defeating Charlton by an 8-4 decision in yet another finals showdown between the county rivals.
The week of the state championships, there was little mystery in who the final match would come down to.
“I had a very sneaky suspicion,” Wakeland said with a smile. “He’s beat most everybody else that I wrestled against, so it was very likely that we were going to hit the same tournament again.
“I figured since I’d already wrestled him twice in a finals match, I was going to wrestle him in the state final.”
As fate would have it, Charlton and Wakeland would meet once more. Brunswick’s contender won his opening match of the state championships by pin fall before securing his spot in the finals with a couple of wins by decision. Glynn’s finals representative pinned his first two opponents stamping his ticket on a decision in the semifinals.
But in a match between wrestlers immensely familiar with one another’s strengths, weaknesses, moves and tendencies, the finals between Charlton and Wakeland was going to be decided by a metaphorical chess game.
“Our game plan was, which has usually been my game plan, is to wear and tear that first period, where him down, and that’s what I did,” Wakeland said. “I only took one shot in the first period versus the rest of the year where, if the opportunity presented itself, I would have taken several shots in the first period. But I know the first period was supposed to be kind of wear and tear, and the second period was supposed to be a little bit wear and tear, and then try to work on our offense a little bit.
“I figured whoever got chosen was going to choose bottom (first period), and there was probably going to be an escape point there. That was the only score of that period, and then I went down in the third period, and I was very confident I was going to be able to get up and get an escape point, tie the match there. From that point on, it was just be very calculated in your attack, in your points, so that’s what I did.”
Tied 1-1 entering the third period, Wakeland scored on a takedown, Charlton got a point back on the escape, but when he made the move for his own takedown, Wakeland retaliated for the winning pin as the final seconds ticked down, becoming the only wrestler in county history to win back-to-back state championships.
“I was like, ‘I believe I can do it, I want to do it,’ and then when I did it, I worked hard for it, so I was just very proud of myself that I was able to stick to it and get there,” Wakeland said. “It was really just a surreal moment having the whole team there. They were all right there on the other side of the barrier where we had the match. It was just a one-of-a-kind type of experience.”
With some time to think about his hand in making Glynn County history in the first finals match featuring two local athletes, Charlton is hardly disappointed with the result.
“It feels great,” Charlton said. “I don’t know what to say, but it feels great.”
And these two’s story doesn’t end there. Wakeland has already found a home at the next level, committing to wrestle at Liberty University, and Charlton is sorting through college options that will allow him to pursue both wrestling and football.
Until then, Wakeland is working on pitching Charlton on continuing their working relationship as training partners so both can represent Georgia well at national tournaments.
“In the aspect of getting better at wrestling, it’s not so much about that championship match, and I know a lot of people say this, but it’s really about that journey to get there,” Wakeland said. “It’s all the hard work that you put in, and all the effort that you put into getting better, that consistent hard work and just being deliberate about learning technique and getting better at the sport itself, is what is going to cause you to get better.
“I think what my goal would be is to practice with Leon, so that we can both have a top-notch practice partner. You’re only as good as your practice partner, so to just have that top quality practice partner that’s my same weight, who we can just work on deliberately getting better in the places we need to get better so we can go wrestle against those guys from other states who are doing the same thing.”
Charlton hasn’t taken him up on the offer yet, but he’s willing to agree at the low price of a fourth match between the two.
“He’s been trying to get me to wrestle some offseason stuff,” Charlton said with a smile. “He’s trying to be my partner, I guess.
“But he’s trying to get me into some offseason wrestling, I think it would be pretty good for me.”