Gilmer High was back on the mat for home matches ahead of Thanksgiving.
GHS welcomed Fannin County, Carrollton and East Paulding to the Noah Harris Wrestling Center last Tuesday morning. For Gilmer head coach Josh Ghobadpoor, the event served as another opportunity for the Bobcats to get mat time and hone their skills for upcoming state qualifying events.
“Having grit and having toughness have got to be our top attributes,” Ghobadpoor said. “When you have that, the technique and conditioning is going to come. You have to have grit, and you have to want it. There’s a certain part of that you can coach and bring out of people, but sometimes you just have to have it. We’re finding out who has it.”
Ghobadpoor pointed to several wrestlers who have continued to make strides in the early season and praised freshmen Clint Carver, Daniel Escobar, Adolfo Bautista, sophomores Rylen Haley, Braelyn Nelson, Dawson Richard, Benito Thompson, Deyson Lopez, juniors Denny Ramirez, Manny Velasquez and seniors Harrison Chester, Kevin Gonzalez, Jovani Raymundo, Domingo Velasquez and Bryan Loarca.
“Overall I was happy,” Ghobadpoor said. “I saw a lot of things we can do to get better. Obviously it’s a tough sport, and we’re down from where we were before to about 44 wrestlers. There are some guys we have to get back on the mat. Some others need to decide if they want to be as good as they can be. We just have to keep improving.”
Ghobadpoor was unable to be with the team at all practices and events over a two-week span after wife Kelly gave birth to their second son, Noah. Ghobadpoor was able to stay for the majority of the event before leaving.
“I want to give a lot of credit to our coaches for stepping up while I was out,” he said. “Coaches D.J. Underwood, Caleb Waddell, Brent Berry, it takes everybody, and we knew that was coming and that I was going to be out a little bit.”
GHS will be at Murray County High School Thursday for matches beginning at 5 p.m. The Cats will make their way to North Murray Saturday for duals beginning at 9 a.m.