Wildcats finish fifth in Huntsville Invitational team standings
Story By Jason Bowen
Scottsboro wrestlers picked up right where they left off from last season.
The two-time defending Class 5A state champion Scottsboro wrestling team opened its season last weekend at the 46th annual Huntsville Invitational, posting a fifth-place team finish while three wrestlers brought home individual weight class crowns.
The Class 5A No. 1-ranked Wildcats posted a team score of 465 and were the second highest-finishing Alabama team in the 28-team tournament , the other being 7A No. 3 Huntsville, which closed with a team score of 681. Tennessee powers Soddy Daisy (745) and Brentwood (574) finished first and third respectively while Georgia squad Coahulla Creek (507) was fourth.
Meanwhile, Scottsboro three-time Class 5A state weight class champions Stone Staton and John Stewart won the 126- and 150-pound divisions while multi-time state placer Gage Staton also reached the top of the medal stand in the 120-pound weight class.
Stewart’s 7-0 mark at 150 ran the UT-Chattanooga signee’s winning streak in AHSAA competition to 113. The senior, who has not lost in AHSAA competition since the season 2022-23, won five matches via technical falls and two via pin, including pinning Soddy Daisy’s Colin Bull in 2:10 of the 150-pound weight class championship match. Stewart was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Stone Staton posted a 6-0 mark on his way to the 126-pound title. The senior won a 12-1 decision over Brentwood’s Ellison Abromowitz in the championship match while completing his tournament run with one win via pin, one via decision, one via forfeit and three via technical fall.
Gage Staton, who was the 113-pound 5A state runner-up last season, bumped up and posted an 8-0 mark to win the 120 Huntsville Invitational weight class. He won three matches by pin, two by tech fall, one by forfeit and two by decision, including an 8-0 win over Coahulla Creek’s Preston Giles in the 120 final.
Scottsboro also got two other top-five finishes, as Tavin Leonard (5-3) finished third at 106 pounds and Cohen Osburne (5-2) placed fourth at 157 pounds.
The Wildcats also got sixth-place finishes from Isaac Ferguson (5-3) at 144,
Connall Moore (3-3) at 165 and Lance Barnett (3-3) at 190 pounds, a ninth-place finish from Vinny Jaqubino (4-2) at 175 and 10th-place finishes from Sam Roney (2-2) at 113, Landry Campbell (3-4) at 132, Estaban Figueroa (4-3) at 190, a 13th-place finish from Ayden Mashburn (4-4) at 285 and a 14th-place finish from Eli Wilson (2-5) at 144.
