McFarland becomes first EHS wrestler to earn college scholarship

Enterprise High School senior wrestler Zach McFarland signed his letter-of-intent to accept a college scholarship from Brewton-Parker College in Georgia on Dec. 15.

McFarland is the first Wildcat to earn a wrestling scholarship since EHS reinstituted the wrestling program in 2018. That fact was not lost on McFarland.

“It means a lot knowing I’m kind of setting the path for future Wildcats and hopefully some future Barons, too,” McFarland said with a smile.

McFarland chose the Brewton-Parker Barons over other offers including from Huntingdon College in Montgomery and Ohio Wesleyan University in Ohio.

“I just felt so comfortable there,” McFarland said of his decision. “I felt right at home when I met them for the first time.”

McFarland said finally signing was amazing but that he had known for months where he wanted to go to school.

“It felt amazing just knowing I have my set path for college and knowing I’m going to be able to wrestle in college,” McFarland said. “I made the decision probably the first week of September but I wanted to wait to make the final decision in case something else popped up. I just wanted to make sure I was making the right decision.”

McFarland said that wrestling wasn’t his first love in sports as he was first involved with roller hockey but his brother, Andrew, was a wrestling star at Briar-Cliff University in Iowa. McFarland said when he began wrestling he fell in love with it and didn’t want to do anything else.

Now, that his college destination has been decided McFarland said he is setting sights on a simple but lofty senior goal.

“I think I’ve made the statement (in tournaments) that I’ve thoroughly improved between my junior and senior year,” McFarland said. “I want to be on top of that podium as state champion.”