AHSAA Duals tournament set for Birmingham with three teams from River Region looking for titles
Jeff Corley and Craig Duncan their respective teams into the Class 6A State Wrestling Duals at the Crossplex in Birmingham today. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
For the first time in the seven-year history of the AHSAA Duals Tournament, the semifinals and the finals will be held together at Birmingham’s Bill Harris Arena on Friday.
It’ll also mark a first time for a mentor and pupil to be together in a championship setting as Pike Road’s Craig Duncan and St. James’ Jeff Corley will lead their teams into semifinal action on Friday.
“It’s real neat,” Duncan said. “He does an excellent job over there and our kids have worked so hard over here. I’m real pleased with both programs.”
Duncan established himself as one of the area’s top wrestling coaches at Hooper Academy in the late 1990s, about the same time Corley was a wrestler at Robert E. Lee. After the Alabama Independent School Association halted its wrestling program, Duncan and the Colts wrestled as an independent in 2003 before Duncan accepted a job as the St. James wrestling coach in 2004.
A few years later, the two will bump into each other at the school, forging a lifelong relationship.
“My kids went to school here and I wanted to come over here and help coach,” Corley said. “Coach (Karl) Smeltzer at the time had talked to me about coming over and coaching his defensive backs. So I came over here and I started talking to Craig about wrestling and he asked if I had wrestled and I said yes and at that point he asked if I wanted to be his assistant coach. I was with him for three or four years before he went on to college and I learned a lot under him.”
“We were together about five years,” Duncan said. “He was a lot of help to me. He learned the way I did it, but he had his ways of doing it, too. We worked well together.”
The pair won a state championship in 2013 and were state runner-ups in 2014 before Duncan left the following year to accept a similar position at Huntingdon College. The Trojans turned to Danny Hall for a year, then asked Corley to take over as the head coach.
“I’ve tried to sustain everything that (Duncan) had done with the program,” Corley said. “He’s been a good mentor for me, a good person and it’s showing he’s a good coach, being successful at Pike Road.”
Pike Road started its wrestling program in 2018, just about the time Duncan stepped down from the Huntingdon program. Two years later, he found himself coaching the Patriots.
“I had started a lawn service,” Duncan said. “I said I was going to volunteer, but then I ended up being the head coach. We’ve had some great kids, some great families and they’ve made it pretty easy.”
For Corley and the Trojans, Friday’s semifinal match with Ranburne marks the seventh consecutive appearance in the semifinals. He lost in the semifinals to Ranburne in 2022 after having to forfeit a weight class and lost in the semifinals again to Ranburne last year after losing Connor Johnston to injury.
With Noah Rains (115 pounds), his son Braylen (128), Logan Hartson (140), Johnston (146), Emmett Rasmussen (159), Pruitt Conner (177) and Owen Penney (287) among those returning this year, Corley expected to be competing for a championship.
“I knew we were going to be pretty good this year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of senior experience and a lot of kids that have been in the program, wrestling for four or five or six years. So the experience is there. It’s now about their maturity.”
Getting Hartson, a former state champion, back from a torn meniscus is a good sign for the Trojans.
“He wrestled 11 days later,” Corley said. “That just tells you the toughness of that kid. During that time, we had our (regional) wrestling duals without him. I knew if we ever got him back we’d be OK because we’ve made some moves in our lineup.”
Duncan’s appearance might be a little more surprising. The Patriots won their region and made the first round of the playoffs in 2020, but this is their first time making the trip to Birmingham.
“I’ve never been up there,” Duncan said. “At the time I left St. James, they were not having the state duals. This is the first time I’ve been to the CrossPlex to actually compete in it.”
Like Corley, many of Duncan’s wrestlers have been in the program for years (some since the seventh grade), including Dylan Yarema (106), his sons Hinds Duncan (115) and Myers Duncan (140), Luke Dickinson (122), Jack Posey (128), Maddox Bowen (144) and Mason Hussey (175).
Rounding out the group is Enterprise transfer Cody Kirk (159), first-year wrestler Jack Salmans (165) and brothers Ethan Holloway (190) and Jevon Holloway, who moved in from Canada.
Regardless of the outcome, both wrestling teams will be back in action at the South Super Regionals at Garrett Coliseum on Feb. 9-10, but Duncan, for one, is happy for his team’s opportunity to perform in the state spotlight in Birmingham on Friday.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Duncan said. “They’re excited about it, I’m excited about it. I think we should be competitive in it. We just have to wrestle to the best of our ability. If we wrestle like we did Saturday (in a quarterfinal win over Saraland), we’ve got a chance.”
Tallassee enters with a perfect 30-0 record and are considered the favorite to win Class 5A tournament. The Tigers will open with Gulf Shores, which is also considered one of the favorites. The match opens at 8:45 a.m. Tallassee won 32-29 in the same round last year against the Dolphins.
A win would put Tallassee in the championship round against either Jasper or Scottsboro. Jasper won the title last year.
AHSAA 2024 State Wrestling Duals Championships
Friday at Birmingham CrossPlex, Bill Harris Arena
CLASS 1A/4A
Semifinals
Ranburne vs. St. James, 3:30 p.m.
St. John Paul II Catholic vs. Weaver, 3:30 p.m.
1A/4A Finals
Ranburne-St. James winner vs. St. John Paul II-Weaver winner, 5:15 p.m.
1A/4A Consolation Finals
Ranburne-St. James loser vs. St. John Paul II-Weaver loser, 5:15 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Semifinals
Gulf Shores vs. Tallassee, 8:45 a.m.
Jasper vs. Scottsboro, 8:45 a.m.
5A Finals
Gulf Shores-Tallassee winner vs. Jasper-Scottsboro winner, 10:30 a.m.
5A Consolation Finals
Gulf Shores-Tallassee loser vs. Jasper-Scottsboro loser, 10:30 a.m.
CLASS 6A
Semifinals
Mountain Brook vs. Pike Road, 8:45 a.m.
Athens vs. Mortimer Jordan, 8:45 a.m.
6A Finals
Mountain Brook-Pike Road winner vs. Athens-Mortimer Jordan winner, 10:30 a.m.
6A Consolation Finals
Mountain Brook-Pike Road loser vs. Athens-Mortimer Jordan loser, Friday, 10:30 a.m.
CLASS 7A
Semifinals
Smiths Station vs. Enterprise, 3:30 p.m.
Hewitt-Trussville vs. Huntsville, 3:30 p.m.
7A Finals
Smiths Station-Enterprise winner vs. Hewitt-Trussville-Huntsville winner, 5:15 p.m.
7A Consolation Finals
Smiths Station-Enterprise loser vs. Hewitt-Trussville-Huntsville loser, 5:15 p.m.