Torrez Finney caps Jones County career with repeat title, unbeaten season
Even before his senior season, Jones County’s Torrez Finney had found a level of success that athletes across the sporting landscape dream of, having claimed an individual state title as a junior.
So what to do for an encore?
Under the white-spotlight of the expectations to repeat as a champion, Finney retained the crown in the GHSA Class AAAAA 195-pound class with an undefeated record to be named The Telegraph’s All-Middle Georgia Co-Wrestler of the Year.
“It was more pressure, because you have those expectations and are expected to do this or that. You’re expected to win. You’re expected to be above the rest,” Finney said. “And if somebody has a good match against you or something, they think they’re pretty good. It’s hard to do it once, and when they expect you to do it a second time, you don’t want to let them down. Thank God I didn’t.”
Finney even shined on a national stage, going on to claim a 10th-place finish in national competition. Regardless of the setting, Finney thrives on the pressure to match, if not surpass what he has done and aims to do on the wrestling mat. The drive and determination is very evident, according to Greyhounds head coach Jay Crook.
“He’s very, very driven, sometimes I have to slow him down at practice because the drills were not meant to be fast-paced, they were meant to be repetitive drills for muscle awareness or muscle memory,” Crook said. “He wants to go at everything full speed.”
But the will to win isn’t Finney’s only key facet to finishing his high school career with back-to-back state titles after finishing sixth as a sophomore. It’s also having been battle-tested from the high intensity of big-stage moments both in wrestling and as a key part of the Greyhounds’ defensive front on the football field. Jones County advanced the Class AAAAA quarterfinals two years ago and returned to the playoffs again this past season.
Having been through the wringer of high-stakes moments, wrestling for a state title might as well have been second nature for Finney, even when he trailed in the state title match against Tripp Breeden of Cass. Behind by two points with 30 seconds to go, Finney mounted an escape and then registered a takedown with only a handful of seconds to go to take the 6-4 win.
“It helped me become a better wrestler, I just wrestled my match. I had been in the situation before in knew what to do,” Finney said. “In the state championship, I was down by two points with 30 seconds left, and I wasn’t feeling any pressure. I knew I was going to escape and take him down with about two seconds left, and that’s what I did. That was my game plan.”
As for Finney’s next high-pressure moment?
He is still weighing opportunities to wrestle or play football on the collegiate level, acknowledges that the time may come when he may have to choose one sport over the other.
Regardless of what he does beyond the borders of Jones County, he’ll carry his refusing to lose mentality with him that spearheaded him to an undefeated senior season.
“I think it was just the pressure of him wanting to go undefeated,” Crook said. “He didn’t want to lose.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Torrez Finney caps Jones County career with repeat title, unbeaten season."