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The
wrestling program at South Grand Prairie began in 1993 when Andy Gomez,
a staff member at Jackson Middle School, talked to district officials
about developing a high school wrestling program in Grand Prairie. With
the support of the school district, Andy organized club-wrestling teams
at both Grand Prairie and South Grand Prairie High Schools. He served as
the ‘volunteer’ coach and sponsor for both teams. At that time school
wrestling programs fell under the Texas Interscholastic Wrestling
Association, a private organization which sponsored Texas high school
wrestling before it became a part of the state-run UIL in 1998.TIWA
combined both private and public schools and supported the state’s
“no-pass/no-play” guidelines.
In the 1993-94 season, and with no funds available to purchase mats,
wrestlers from both schools traveled to Poly-America Corporation in
Grand Prairie. Lance Pittman, a rookie, was the first wrestling team
member, a senior, and a team captain as well. All of the wrestlers
during the first year were rookie wrestlers except for two brothers,
Joey and Justin Brown, who had returned to the Grand Prairie area from
California. Joey earned attention for the team by winning several
tournaments and placing in the State Tournament in both 1994 and 1995.
Joey was a three-sport letterman and was named Outstanding Wrestler of
the Metroplex in his senior year by the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
In 1994-95 a lightweight mat was purchased with the combined funds from
the district, and private contributions. Our Warriors were finally able
to practice at home. The regional tournament was hosted at Truman Middle
School with Dallas ISD schools and Highland Park participating.
Poly-America provided mats for the event. Varsity team members were able
to earn letter jackets at season’s end.
1995-96: Al Fisher became the wrestling coach for the Grand Prairie
Gophers, and Coach Gomez continued to coach the SGP Warriors. SGP won
the Regional dual meet title by defeating all of the Arlington high
schools.
1997-02: Mike Eaton became the wrestling coach at South Grand Prairie
High. Coach Eaton has encouraged teamwork, discipline, conditioning, and
technique as pathways for excellence in wrestling, and was dedicated to
expanding the Grand Prairie youth wrestling program.
1999-2000: we added an assistant coach, former National Champion Jerry
Best and expanded the roster to include Lady Warriors. The program
continued to expand and produced several state qualifiers.
In the 2001-2002 season, our expectations are high. We welcomed Erica Goulding as the new coach for our Lady Warriors and say Good-bye to Jerry Best as he begins his new job as Head Coach for Carrollton Newman-Smith Wrestling.
2003-2004: Clyde Sebastian coached the men’s and Nancy Nelson coached
the women’s team with the assistance of SGP wrestling alumni Beau
Hohmann.
2004-2005: Shawn Hoover, a Minnesota native, joined the Warrior wrestling
program in 2004 as Head Coach. He was assisted by J.T. Herak and Brad
Beyer (volunteer). During Coach Hoover’s
inaugural season, he developed a young, but dedicated and competitive
squad of Warriors. The ‘Grizzlies’ Youth Wrestling Program and Grizzlies
Freestyle Club were established during Hoover’s first season. The ‘Open
Mat’ bi-weekly workouts were established and proved to be beneficial to
the continued improvement of the SGP wrestlers. Also during the
season the web site presence for the team was design and implemented by Lee Shqeir.
2005-2006: Hoover entered his second season as Head Coach and added
veteran Head Coach, Dariel Daniel , from Georgia to focus on the girl’s
program. J. T. Herak entered his second season as assistant coach to
Hoover. The 2005-2006 season proved to be one of change. Hoover resigned
at the end of the season and accepted a teaching position at
Colleyville- Heritage. Herak was named Head Coach of the Warrior
Baseball program. Daniel was named Head Coach of the Boy’s and Girl’s
wrestling teams.
2006-2007: As Head Coach, Dariel Daniel named Tom Himert, George Peters,
and Cliff Buerke as Warrior Wrestling assistants. Former Warrior
wrestlers, Beau Hohmann and Matiana Wiley were selected as coaches to
continue the very successful Open Mat program.
2007-2008: Matt Criner is named Head Coach of the Warrior Wrestling program. Assistants are Cliff Buerke and Steve Long.
2008-2009:
Matt Criner remains at South as Head Coach of the Warriors.
Assistants Mumba and Molina join the team!
