Jones County wrestling coach Daniel Lewis was happy to have a few days off at Christmas for a trip to Florida, but he was also anx ious for the second half of the Greyhounds’ mat season to begin Wednesday with a trip to Sandy Creek for a five school match. That’s because of a strong showing in their annual Dog Fight Duals last week to finish the first half of their season.

The Greyhounds went 2-3 in the tournament to finish third, but Lewis said it was the best performance by his young team this season.

“I was really pleased with our effort and performance today,” Lewis said after the day-long event on Dec. 22 in the Jones County gym. “That was the best we’ve looked all year.”

Rutland went 5-0 to win the six-school event, and Monticello was second at 4-1. Jones County, Westside and Central all went 2-3, but the Greyhounds were third because their wrestlers accumulated the most points, Lewis said. Houston County was 0-5.

The Greyhounds had four individual winners. Dillon Mills (103 pounds), Dillon Nelson (112), De’Andre Person (119), and John Hurd (152) all won their weight classes; Jacob Hall (125) finished second; and Ethan Bloodworth (171) was third.

Mills, Person and Hurd all went 5-0 on the day, Nelson and Hall were 4-1, and Bloodworth was 3-2.

Mills is now 28-2 on the season, Hurd is 29-5, Nelson 27-7 and Hall 24-10 to lead the team.

“I can see steady improve ment,” Lewis said. “We’ve done a lot of wrestling already this year, and we’ve still got more than half the season to go. If everyone had been able to wrestle every match we’ve had – sometimes teams don’t have someone in every weight class so you don’t always get to wrestle – everyone would have already wrestled 37 matches.

“That much action can wear on somebody, but for a young team like we have, I think having a lot of matches is for the best. If you have a veteran team like we had the last couple of years, maybe it is better to ease back a little to keep everyone fresh for the tournaments. But for young guys like ours, the more time on the mat you can get the better they will be.”

The Greyhounds may be without their junior 112-pounder for a while, how ever.

He suffered an ankle injury in his final match, his only loss on the day, and may be out of action for several weeks.

“I was afraid he had bro ken his leg or ankle, but the X-rays were negative,” the coach said. “It is either a severe sprain or a torn liga ment. He’ll be in a cast a few days and then they’ll re-eval uate it.”

After the trip to Sandy Creek Wednesday, the Greyhounds wrestle at Stockbridge on Jan. 5 before going to Thomaston on Jan. 9 for the area duals to be hosted by Upson-Lee.

The state duals follow on Jan. 15-16 at the Macon Coliseum.

There will then be two more weeks of regular matches before the area, sec tional and state tournaments begin in February.

Jones County’s only remaining home match will be Jan. 19 against Rutland, Westside and Josey.