The formats will be markedly different for the Greyhounds on the wrestling mat this week, but there will be one common thread — wrestling at home.
On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, Jones County hosts a power-packed field in its Gauntlet in Gray tournament. The dual-style format will bring in a handful of teams that each year expect to contend for state titles in Fitzgerald, Toombs County, and Cass.
Cass, last year’s defending state duals champion, has also won a state title twice in four seasons. Fitzgerald and Toombs will enter Gray with multiple wrestlers with individual state titles to their name.
“It’ll be great,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said. “It’s good to be able to bring in teams that are well-known and respected throughout the state.”
So while this week may be a week off leading into Thanksgiving, it will hardly be a break for the Greyhounds as they steadily build toward the region duals on Jan. 10.
It’s not lost on Jones County that odds are good that, if any team aspires to win a state duals title, that road will likely encounter Cass. As barometers to assess how a wrestling program stands go, the Colonels should provide a pretty strong one.
“That’s the goal. Cass is a pretty big powerhouse and one of the top teams in the state in all classifications. So to see them early and to use them as a measuring stick, it’s a big thing for us,” Gillhouse said. “We just want to see how everyone competes. Obviously, the goal is to win with everything we do, but the bigger goal is to win late in the year. We want to see mistakes we’re making so we can fix them and compete at a high level late in the year.”
But the Greyhounds’ week hardly ends on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Jones County’s grapplers will be taking the sport to the middle of downtown Gray, hosting the Main Street Dual in the middle of the streets as part of Saturday’s Main Street Gray Hometown Christmas Market. There, outdoors among the seasonal revelry, the Greyhounds will wrestle against East Laurens in full view of their own fans and others around downtown.
“That’s something that we talk about with our guys,” Gillhouse said. “This is something that we do for our community. We want to compete at a high level, but we also want to put in a good show and let people enjoy wrestling.”
