Heritage's Charles Thurman, right, tries to pin Brentwood Academy's Justin Becci during a 120-pound match at last season's McCallie Invitational. Heritage will be among 16 teams competing for the Class AAAA title today when the GHSA's state duals begin at the Centreplex in Macon.TRION, Ga. - There's a hard reality surrounding the GHSA state duals, and try as they might, coaches and wrestlers can't ignore it.
Barring monumental upsets, the four northwest Georgia programs competing at the Macon Centreplex today through Saturday face a nearly impossible path to winning a state championship.
Such is the state of the sport in Georgia, where a handful of powerhouses are such prohibitive favorites that even Vegas - if it were allowed - wouldn't touch the action.
"It's tough," Trion coach Eric Brock said. "We're going against a Goliath if we make it out of the first round. That's just the reality."
Brock's Bulldogs are one of the top teams in Class A. They have lost only one dual this season and have beaten other top programs such as Gilmer, Ringgold and Calhoun. Unfortunately, Trion's lone loss came Saturday at the Area 3-A duals, 40-28 to Mt. Zion-Carroll.
The defeat left Trion as the No. 2 seed out of the area and the fourth-seeded team of the eight in the Class A state field. If the Bulldogs defeat Eagle's Landing Christian Academy in their first-round dual Friday, they will face top-seeded Commerce, one of the best teams in the state regardless of classification and a two-time defending champion for both state duals and the state traditional tournament.
"They went to the Archer tournament, and they didn't field five classes and still were just six points behind (Class AAAAAA power) Archer," Brock said of Commerce. "We lost two overtime matches and two two-point matches against Mt. Zion, and if just two of those go the other way, we would be the (No. 2) seed and be on the opposite side from Commerce.
"We're going to compete and toe the line with them and see what happens. I know our guys are excited about the challenge."
Heritage faces a similar challenge in Class AAAA, where fellow Area 7 member Gilmer is the clear favorite. Sam Snider's Bobcats have won six consecutive state duals titles across two classifications and are coming off a lopsided win over Heritage in last week's area duals.
Generals coach Mike Craft hopes his team gets another shot at the Bobcats, which likely wouldn't happen until the championship dual.
"Something always happens in dual tournaments - somebody wins that's not supposed to and somebody gets pinned that's not supposed to - so anything can happen," said Craft, whose team faces powerful Buford in today's first round. "If we go down there and wrestle our best, I think we can see them again in the finals."
Now consider the challenge Ringgold and Calhoun face in Class AAA. Top-seeded Jefferson has won the duals title in each of the 14 years the GHSA has crowned a champion, with the Dragons' victories spanning three classifications.
Ringgold, the Area 6 champion, would not face the Dragons until the championship round, while Area 6 runner-up Calhoun would wrestle them in the semifinals. Both teams understand the difficult path ahead of them.
"At this point we're not concerned with Jefferson," said Ringgold coach David Moss, whose team faces Franklin County in today's first round, when Calhoun faces Toombs County.
"We want to compete, no matter who we're wrestling against. We would like to go down there and feel like after the tournament we were overachievers instead of underachievers."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.