By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

It wasn’t the outcome the Callaway Cavaliers were hoping for, but head coach Josh Ghobadpoor was nonetheless thrilled with the effort his wrestlers gave during Monday’s weather-delayed Area 5-AAA duals at Monticello.

Callaway went 2-2, and its two losses were by a combined 13 points.

Callaway ended finishing fourth, and it was an eyelash away from securing one of the top two spots which would have secured an invitation to the state duals in Macon.

“We were one match away from being in the top two,” Ghobadpoor said. “One match goes different, and we’re right there. And we did that with a couple of holes in our lineup.”

Ghobodpoor felt it was a breakthrough performance for an inexperienced team that has struggled at times this season.

“It was a good day for us,” Ghobadpoor said.  “It’s not what we wanted, because we were close to being in that top two, but we competed and represented ourselves well.”

Ghobadpoor added that “we had a lot of guys step up, and we had a lot of freshmen step up. A lot of first-year wrestlers and sophomores got wins for us.”

Callaway’s two wins were against Jordan and Lamar County, and it lost to Dodge County and Dublin.

The Dublin match came right down to the wire, with Callaway falling 39-36.

Some standout wrestlers included Matthew Wingate, Juwan Elder and Jason Freiberg, who each had a pair of pins.

Ghobadpoor said one of the day’s top highlights was provided by Anthony Elliott, who won by pin in his first ever match.

“I threw him in there when we were up on points on Jordan,” Ghobadpoor said. “And he went out there, and he just attacked and he pinned the guy. He asked the ref if he’d won, because he didn’t know. The whole team rallied around that. They saw the hard work he’d been putting in”

Callaway will see these same teams again for the traditional area tournament, where each individual will have a chance to qualify for state.

Callaway will be at home today for a dual match against Columbus, and the team’s four seniors will be honored.

Also today, the LaGrange and Troup wrestling teams will compete in the Area 5-AAAA duals that were originally going to be contested on Saturday.

Troup and LaGrange, the top two seeds, will each have a first-round bye.

The top two finishers will qualify for the state duals in Macon this weekend.