By Lee Wilson
MaxPreps.com
Ed Dudley had been the consistent face of Walton football for 14 seasons leading the Raiders to the semifinals twice and going 9-2 in what turned out to be his final season. In other words, when Dudley announced that he was leaving the school to join Ware County in Waycross, he left some pretty big shoes to fill.
Last week Walton named Rocky Hidalgo, who has been on the Raider staff since 1996, the new head coach. Hidalgo served as a defensive coordinator under Dudley and was his longest tenured assistant.
The humble 35-year old gladly accepted the job, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he could not believe his first job was to be coaching at Walton High School.
“It’s a flagship school for Cobb County and been over the last six or seven years one of the best programs in metro Atlanta. It’s as good a first [head coaching] job as I could get," Hidalgo said.
Chuck Goddard, former head coach at Wheeler and secondary coach under Dudley, was named by Hidalgo as his defensive coordinator replacement. While Hidalgo will add an assistant or two to fill some other vacancies he has already said that much of the staff will remain in place.
With the Raiders amassing a county best record of 64-21 since Hidalgo took over as defensive coordinator in 2002 the team looks not to miss a beat without Dudley at the helm.
“We’ve got a very good senior class coming up,” Hidalgo told the AJC. “It’s a good time for me coming in because we’ve got a pretty solid group. But we’re not going to be complacent with it. We can improve things. We have not hit our ceiling at Walton.”
Wrestling: Mustangs win first traditional Area 5-AAAAA title
The Kennesaw Mountain wrestling team outlasted the field Saturday as they totaled a score of 248.5 to win its first traditional championship in the program's nine-year history.
The Mustangs earned four individual area titles and 11 sectional qualifiers – more than anyone on the mat – to seal the deal.
"We knew we had a chance this season to win the area duals and traditional tournaments and, luckily, everything worked out for us," Kennesaw Mountain coach Roberto Rivera told The Marietta Daily-Journal. "The guys performed well. We're taking 11 guys to sectionals, which is the most we've ever had going to the state tournament. The sectionals is a new thing for all of us, so we have to get ready for next week and be prepared to wrestle hard."
Doing the damage for Kennesaw Mountain was Darron Jackson, Zach Fultz, Jonathan Rivera and Elliott Zimmerman, who all won area titles. Etowah finished in second with a 174.5 and had one area champion as did North Cobb and McEachern.
More Wrestling: Collins Hill wins fifth straight area title
The Eagles of Collins Hill showed everyone Saturday what dominance is all about. They had 11 individual area champions and placed all 14 of their competitors in next weekend's sectional meet. Their team score of 305.8 earned them their fifth straight Area 7-AAAAA title and Peachtree Ridge finished a distant second place with 171.
"That's the most championships we've had in an (area) meet," Collins Hill coach Cliff Ramos told The Gwinnett Daily Post. "It may be the most we've had in almost any tournament, I think. We only lost two matches (Saturday), and the two that lost in the semifinals came back to take third place. So, it was a pretty good tournament."
Partridge (103 pounds), Caleb Sawchuck (112), T.J. Mitchell (119), John Allgood (125), Allen Willard (130), Joel Smith (140), Sam Hoppenbraumer (145), Taylor Knapp (160), Nick Holbert (171), Christopher Collins (215) and Thomas Delain (285) were the magnificent 11 on Saturday for the Eagles and will all be threats in next week's sectionals.
