The lead-in ended for the Greyhounds on Saturday morning at the JCHS Gymnasium.
After a shade over two months worth of matches and tournaments, the rubber hits the road Saturday when Jones County goes to the region duals at Locust Grove. The goal there will be simple – to finish within the top two teams and advance to the next weekend’s state duals that will be held this year at Ola.
JCHS finished fifth in last year’s state duals and will need another top-two finish at region in order to replicate if not surpass that showing.
“We have to finish in the top two, so the goal is to do that and see what happens from there,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said.
The odds-on favorite to take first will be Ola. The Mustangs won last year’s traditional state tournament and finished runner-up in the state duals. Other top contenders figure to be the likes of Locust Grove and Union Grove.
Outside competition, however, won’t be heavy on Jones County’s mind going toward Saturday.
“Our focus right now is on us,” Gillhouse said. “We feel like we need to go out, be ready to wrestle our best and compete.”
The Greyhounds got a final dress rehearsal towards that on Saturday, hosting the Gauntlet In Gray. It filled the JCHS Gymnasium with four mats worth of wrestling during the morning, giving teams from mostly central Georgia chance to gain critical mat time ahead of region and state tournaments.
“That’s the goal, to get ready for region duals next week,” Gillhouse said.
Jones County did that and then some, going 3-0 with dual match wins against McIntosh, Houston County and Peach County. In doing so, the Greyhounds mixed up their lineup, giving themselves plenty of looks at their lineup as they seek to put the best combo of wrestlers together for Saturday, when a state duals berth will be at stake.
“We got to mix up our lineup a little bit and see who we want to put in each weight class,” Gillhouse said. “Everybody got good mat time. You’re always banged up this time of year, so we were able to try some different things in our lineup to see what works and what doesn’t.”
