How a concentration of wrestling success has been built in one Georgia county

There, the four Jackson County schools combined for 10 individual state titles. Jefferson won its 26th traditional wrestling team championship, and East Jackson won its first in program history.

Jackson County and Commerce finished eighth and second in their respective classifications. All four schools had at least three wrestlers place in the top six of their weight class.

This success comes on the heels of the team dual wrestling championships in January. Jefferson won in Class 3A (its 26th duals title, the most of any school), East Jackson was the Class 2A runner-up and Jackson County and Commerce both advanced to the semifinals in their classifications.

“There’s not another county like this in Georgia where it’s all like this,” East Jackson boys coach Christian Trimble said. “A bunch of my old college teammates all coach at Commerce or they coach at Jefferson, so there’s a little bit of a rivalry there.”

Trimble, who wrestled at Ola before a Division I career at Gardner-Webb, had long known about powerhouses Jefferson and Commerce. But East Jackson was not on that level when he started coaching the Eagles four years ago.

“Jefferson is traditionally good. Like, they’ve been good since I was in high school, and the same with Commerce. They’ve had established programs for a decade or more,” Trimble said. “We’re just now getting the ball rolling over here on the east side, and we haven’t looked back.”

Trimble, who took over as head coach in March 2025, said the county’s love for wrestling was key to East Jackson’s ascension. The community treated wrestling as a year-round sport, not just a way to stay in shape for football season.

Trimble saw more East Jackson wrestlers compete in the freestyle wrestling season after the traditional GHSA season finished. The team traveled to Virginia Beach last March to compete in the NHSCA Wresting High School Nationals for the first time.

“Wrestling at these bigger tournaments that aren’t in Georgia and traveling, chasing competition, chasing wins, chasing losses,” Trimble said. “Really getting the kids exposed to wrestling, because the wrestling community is great, and it’s growing every day, and just getting the kids bought into it, really.”

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The program’s first state championship is sure to increase the buy-in at East Jackson, but it’ll likely affect the other schools in the area, too. The county’s wrestling rivalry has long pushed the four programs to new heights as they compete against each other.

“It’s one of those things where success breeds more success, and people build off each other,” Jackson County girls coach Jason Muehling said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, well, you’re doing well. Let me see what you’ve got going on, and then I’m going to try to elevate,’ and everybody feeds.”

Even Jefferson, which stands well above its local competition in terms of historical success, feels the rivalry pressure. Boys coach Kyle Baird is chasing a national ranking — Jefferson was ranked as an “honorable mention” this season — but he’s still focused on maintaining the top program in the county.

“I think having good competition around you and kind of having those schools push you to be better is very important,” Baird said. “It’s hard to gauge yourself sometimes, and when you have good competition in your county, that makes it even more special because you want to be the top in your county.

“You don’t want to be second to those guys, and I’m sure they feel the same way. The pressure and the constant pushing of those other teams has an effect on how successful we are.”

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Commerce boys coach Chance McClure called the local rivalries a blessing for his program, but the former Tiger wrestler didn’t express any warm feelings, either.

“I hate Jefferson,” McClure said. “Once I could talk, I hated Jefferson. My dad didn’t buy me freaking blue tennis shoes.

“I’ve got friends at East Jackson. I’ve got friends at Jefferson. I’ve got friends at Jackson County, but I hated Jackson County when I was a kid.”

The same passion that fuels McClure’s hatred resides in his team and fan base. Passionate wrestlers and fans are vital to building an elite program, but it also creates another pressure for coaches like McClure.

“You’d better step up to the plate, or your kids will leave,” McClure said. “You’d better push them, you’d better allow them an opportunity for success, and you’d better work your tail off because the kids are ready to win. The expectation is high, and the output better be high.”

Wrestling is so embedded in Jackson County culture that it has begun to show up in new generations. Jackson County parents who competed for wrestling state championships in high school have started bringing their children into the sport.

All four schools have feeder programs at the elementary and middle school levels. Muehling estimated Jackson County had roughly 80 wrestlers in its feeder programs this year. Baird, a former state champion Jefferson wrestler, sees a similar trend in the grassroots of his alma mater.

“There’s been some guys coming back with their sons and daughters now that wrestled at Jefferson that are getting back involved with this sport,” Baird said. “It’s feeding itself over again, and those parents have wrestled enough to where they can join in with the club stuff and help out with their kids and other kids.

“And then they spread the word to someone else, and now you’re getting a bunch of kids coming in wrestling that played baseball and football, so it’s kind of cool.”

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Several coaches also mentioned the importance of involving the youth programs with the high school teams. McClure invites the middle schoolers to practice with the high school team once the middle school season finishes, and Trimble hosts an annual youth night to connect with the varsity team.

Muehling has also seen the connection grow from the high school team down to the feeder program.

“I was just at our youth practice the other night, and even though some of our kids are not qualified for the state tournament, so they’re not practicing, they came back in and were watching and encouraging some of that group coming in,” Muehling said. “And they’re only in the elementary school. One of my seniors that had a rough break at area (meets), she was there at youth last night cheering on her brother and cheering on other kids that are in the program.”

Coaches from all four schools credited their high school team’s success to strong youth programs. Jackson County boys coach Jim Gassman spent 21 seasons coaching schools in bordering Gwinnett County, where youth wrestling programs weren’t as established.

When Gassman took over at Jackson County three years ago, he immediately inherited an advantage he never had in Gwinnett County.

“In my last school for all my years, more of our freshmen coming into high school did not know how to wrestle. If I had five wrestlers that knew how to wrestle coming into ninth grade, I thought that was a good year,” Gassman said. “Whereas now, I might have 12 to 15 freshmen that know how to wrestle, and that’s big.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

“These last few years, when I take our freshmen to Gwinnett and compete against their freshmen and sophomores and such, our guys have a tremendous advantage because they’ve already had that experience.”

The county has also seen success in the one of the sport’s newer areas: the GHSA’s addition of girls wrestling in 2018. Coaching one of the state’s fastest-growing sports, Muehling said Jackson County girls wrestling has grown ‘exponentially’ over the last eight years.

Muehling also said the Panthers’ girls program started with three or four wrestlers in 2018. The roster has grown to roughly 20 wrestlers the last few seasons.

With his high school program comfortably established, Muehling is turning his attention toward a better youth program for Jackson County girls. The middle school program had no girls a couple years ago, but Muehling said it has four or five now.

“For the last three years, I’ve been really focused on getting our high school numbers up, and now that they’re starting to get to a consistent number where I’d like to have them, now it’s time to turn our focus to the middle school,” he said.

The community support is certainly there. Jackson County students and parents treat wrestling like a primary sport, and the greater community has followed suit.

“I’ve walked around before, and regular community people have asked, ‘Hey, how’s your team going to be this year?’” Muehling said. “You don’t always see that from other places.”

Individual state champions from programs in Jackson County