The Gilmer Bobcat Duals were the destination for six wrestling teams last Saturday.
GHS hosted the annual event, and this year the field was cut in half and a round-robin format was used. The Bobcats posted a 5-0 record on the day to walk away as champions and improve to 11-1 on the season.
The event was Gilmer’s first since Dec. 5. The Bobcats were exposed to COVID-19 and 90 percent of the team was quarantined. They resumed practice Dec. 21 with close to a full squad and continued to practice in the days leading up to the duals.
“I think we were in pretty good shape,” GHS coach Josh Ghobadpoor said. “We had not wrestled a match in an event for 27 days. December is primarily where we get some of our toughest matches. We make the schedule difficult and that’s where we usually have a lot of growth. To lose all those matches and to wrestle the way we did (Saturday), I was very proud of our kids.
“I thought we showed a lot of toughness. There were some matches where we were gassed a little bit in the third period, and those are the things we need to fix. I think some of that had to do with kids improperly managing their weight. Some of those who struggled in the morning, by mid afternoon, they were wrestling much better.”
Ghobadpoor set up the tournament schedule so the Bobcats would get tested immediately versus the Adairsville Tigers. It was a match of top-10 teams as Gilmer is ranked No. 4 in Class 3A while Adairsville is No. 6, according to Georgiagrappler.com.
“Georgia Grappler is an unofficial GHSA ranking, but it’s the best we have right now,” Ghobadpoor said. “They have them sixth in the state, and we haven’t seen too many 3A teams this year aside from Lumpkin County.”
GHS defeated Adairsville, 37-25.
Wrestling began at 170 pounds where Bobcat Diego Jacinto won by major decision. Following a pair of defeats by minor decision, Gilmer won five bouts in a row.
Dylan Galloway (220) won by forfeit before Tony Olea (285) pinned his opponent. Carson Farist (106) notched a 13-2 major before a pin by Arturo Gonzalez (113) and technical fall by Walter Lopez (120).
Trailing 31-9, Adairsville won the next three bouts via minor, pin and major. Bobcat Brock Sumner (145) pinned his opponent to extend Gilmer’s lead, 37-19.
The Tigers closed out the dual with two victories by minor decision.
“We wanted Adairsville right out of the gate,” Ghobadpoor said. “If we had wrestled them later in the day, it probably would have been a little better for us. But we have to be prepared to wrestle anyone at anytime.”
In its remaining four matches, GHS defeated Forsyth Central (51-29), Etowah (45-15), Chestatee (72-6) and Dawson County (75-6).
“Forsyth Central was region champs, and along with Etowah, they’re both 7A schools,” Ghobadpoor said. “Etowah will probably be region champs this year, and Chestatee had a great state run last year in 4A and high state finish. Dawson County traditionally has some really tough wrestlers.”
Over the course of the tournament, Bobcats Farist, Jacinto, Galloway and Olea all posted undefeated records.
“Taking everything into consideration, I was really proud of our kids,” Ghobadpoor said. “It was a good day for our seniors to take the mat, as well as for a lot of our younger guys and girls to get some JV matches in.
“Obviously there’s always things to improve. Even if we won every match in every single dual, we’d still find things to improve. That’s the mentality we have to take. We have to keep a chip on our shoulder and never get to the point to where we’re not improving.”