Douglas County had four wrestlers who didn’t make weight to start Saturday’s East Paulding Duals, forcing Tigers coach Jereme Fountain to scramble to get his lineup set.

Still, by most accounts, everything worked out for Douglas County. Junior Zach Alster’s pin at 126 pounds in the last match of the day against his Cartersville opponent secured third place for the Tigers.

“It came down to that match and he went out there and stuck him,” Fountain said. “I was very proud of him. That was the difference between third and fourth.”

The Tigers went 4-1 overall, with their only loss a 45-26 decision against Marietta, which took first. Paulding County finished second and Cartersville settled for fourth after losing to Douglas County 42-30. The Tigers’ other wins came against Hiram (55-21), East Paulding (54-15) and Villa Rica (45-31).

New Manchester also competed in the 10-team meet. And while they didn’t finish in the top four with a 2-3 effort, the Jags got strong performances from Levon Wiggins at 106 pounds, Brandon Sneed at 160 and DaQuan Hughley at 170.

Douglas County senior Woodrow Kavanagh, who normally wrestles at 182 pounds, weighed in a pound heavy and still managed to go undefeated in five matches at 195 pounds. Tiger heavyweight Quinzavious Sands also went 5-0.

Junior Solomon Greene battled through a dislocated finger for part of his match against a Villa Rica wrestler before Fountain realized it and stopped the match. Greene got his finger back in place and taped up and finished strong, losing a close decision.

“Sometimes a good wrestling match is just not getting pinned,” said Fountain.

Other standouts Saturday for the Tigers included Malik Andrey, who got his first varsity win at 126 pounds, Jabbari Basir, who had a good match at 170 against Villa Rica and Kendell Weekes.

“He’s just got some dog in him,” Fountain said of Weekes. “I wish I could put whatever’s in him into everybody else.”

The Jaguars, meanwhile, beat South Cobb 48-12 and took down Hiram 36-30.

Wiggins’ won a tight match with his South Cobb opponent, scoring a takedown with around 10 seconds left to give New Manchester a lift.

“That just changed the momentum for the whole team and we started wrestling really strong after that,” said Jags coach Raymond Leonard.

Hughley continued to show promise in his first year and Leonard said Sneed has matured as a wrestler in his second season. All three New Manchester wrestlers went 3-2 in their matches Saturday.