MORROW — The podium for top finishers was plenty familiar for Arrie Martin. On Saturday, he found himself at the top of the heap.
After finishing third and second in the GHSA State Traditional Wrestling Tournament the past two years, Martin got what any senior wrestler covets — a state title in their final match.
Martin led early and tacked on points during his championship match in the 165-pound class, beating Ethan Harrington of Cass for the AAAA title at the Clayton County Convocation Center.
“It feels great. I’ve been working on this for about seven years,” Martin said shortly after celebrating atop the podium on Saturday. “This all means the world. I’ve worked so hard for this.”
With the win, Martin is now in rarified air as the Greyhounds’ first individual state champion since Torrez Finney in 2016.
“It’s huge. The goal is definitely not to go another 10 years,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said. “For Arrie to do it this year and with how is career has been, it was big.”
As far as dramatics go, Martin’s championship match was hardly nail-biting. The senior grappler was in control early and never relented, leading 3-0 within the match’s first 15 seconds on a takedown, an advantage that grew to 4-0 in the first period after Martin was awarded a point via a penalty against Harrington. The upper-hand in his possession, Martin padded his lead in the second, growing the lead to 7-0 on a takedown.
“I kind of knew I had it in the bag. I was able to open it up a little,” Martin said.
And with his opponent needing a pin to win in the final two minutes, Martin was able to control affairs even more. So much so that as the final seconds ticked off, Martin could already be seen audibly grinning on the threshold of being a state champion, seconds before a celebratory embrace with Gillhouse and Greyhounds assistant coach Tony Monroe.
“You could see with about 12 seconds left, he’s on top grinning ear to ear,” Gillhouse said. “He knew it was over.”
Saturday may have been a high-pressure moment, but it was a moment that Gillhouse notes that Martin had been prepared for from tournament settings over the course of the season.
“Arrie’s wrestled a ton of high-level matches. He knows the situation. He was up, so he didn’t have to do anything crazy,” Gillhouse said. “Our big thing is we want them to have a plan. Every match is live wrestling, and we work hard to schedule our season to put them in big situations. Arrie wrestled in the finals in Asheville in a really tough bracket and big venue.”
The final may have been lacking in dramatics, but Saturday morning’s semifinal match was every bit of riveting. Facing Skylar Pizzutiello from Woodland Cartersville, Martin broke a 4-4 tie in the third period, getting one point on an escape and one more on being awarded a point via a penalty. Martin held an early advantage in the semifinal, leading 3-0 on a takedown before Pizzutiello closed the gap to 3-2 prior to a 4-2 lead for Martin on an escape.
“The semifinals was definitely a tough match. But the finals, the score was a lot further than it could have gone,” Gillhouse said. “Arrie controlled the match and wrestled really well, really hard.”
The result for Martin?
The last time he’ll ever wrestle will forever be a match in which he won a state title.
“I wanted to leave it all on the mat, and in the end, I think I did,” Martin said. “I had the confidence that I could push through.”
