1A will be an absolute slug fest this season and I, for one, can not wait to see how it plays out. Taking your traditional 1A powerhouses like Social Circle, Mt. Pisgah, Trion, and Commerce and then throwing in Bremen, Toombs, and Banks Co. Its going to be a fun year to watch and see what all plays out in this classification.
Here are the 1A preseason rankings for the upcoming season. We took four key factors into consideration when making these rankings.
- Number of 2023 state qualifiers who are returning for 2024.
- Quality of returners (because returning 4 state champs is a lot different than returning 4 state qualifiers who went 0-2),
- How that team finished in 2024 state duals
- How that team finished in the traditional state tournament in Macon.
** All stats come from either Maxpreps or Trackwrestling**
By putting those factors together we tried to come up with the best guess we could for how a team might be in the upcoming season. Its difficult to classify what would be considered a “good team” since there are so many ways to get there. Some teams on this list are great dual teams and some are on this list because they have a few outstanding wrestlers who can score a lot of points in individual tournaments for their teams. Either way rankings are fun so lets get to it.
Below you will find a list of our rankings and how we landed on each of our top spots.
- Social Circle
- Bremen
- Mt. Pisgah
- Commerce
- Heard Co
- Toombs County
- Brantley Co
- St. Francis
- Trion
- Elbert Co
HM. Banks Co
HM. Vidalia
1. Social Circle is pound for pound one of the best programs in the state of Georgia. After having won multiple team titles in previous years in both Duals and traditional, 2023-2024 was just more of the same. In team duals, they handled absolutely everyone, the closest dual they had was a win by more than 30 points. In the traditional tournament they scored the second highest point total only trailing Camden Co. They won the 1A classification with ease last year, and while all that might seem impressive enough, they qualified all fourteen weight classes last year, 10 of those state qualifiers will be returning. Three of those ten are defending state champs with one more making it to the state finals last year. You better have it strapped on pretty tight if you want to take down the Redskins boys, its going to be pretty tough to dethrone the kings of this 1A classification.
2. Bremen is coming all the way down from 3A last year where they had an impressive year. We know this might be a controversial pick but we like to live on the edge here at PonyBoy and take some chances, and Bremen is a team we are willing to take a chance on. They finished third in team duals last year beating Franklin County by 20 in the consolation finals. They also finished fifth in the traditional tournament standings in 3A. What makes us think that these blue devils are going to be a force in their new classification is the fact that out of the 12 state qualifiers they brought to Macon they have 11 returners (the most of any team in the state, regardless of classification). While 6 of those returners did not place this past year they still were able to get valuable experience. They will also have five state placers with one defending state champion in their lineup next year. If these Blue Devils can develop the back half of their lineup, these boys are going to be scary good this upcoming year.
3. Mt. Pisgah comes in at our number 3 ranked team for the upcoming season. Finishing second behind Social Circle in both the team and individual tournament, if they were returning more starters they would have overtaken Bremen for the number 2 spot. Out of the 8 state qualifiers, the Patriots are returning 6 of them. 5 of those returners are state placers, with three of those making the finals and one winning it. If these 2024 Patriots can shore up their lineup in a few spots, especially the back half, they will be extremely hard to beat.
4. Commerce is one of those teams in Georgia that is always good. They have been a model of consistency for years now, and I don’t think this upcoming season is going to be any different. I can certainly see them climb the ladder of these rankings as the season progresses. The Tigers qualified 11 for the state tournament last season and will be returning 9. They finished third in both the team duals and individual tournament. The only thing separating them from the top three in this classification is how these returners finished their state tournament last year. They are the only one in the top 4 to not have at least 1 returning state champion in their room next year. They will have 3 kids come back who made the consolation finals and one more who finished tied for 5th. Out of the other 5 returners for Commerce next year, 4 of them lost in the blood rounds. These tigers will be good from top to bottom next year, and I for one am excited to see what happens with this team.
5. The Braves of Heard Co are coming in at number 5 on our preseason rankings this year. Finishing tied for fifth in team duals after losing in the conso semis to Trion, as well as finishing 4th in Macon last year this team is looking to get right back into its winning ways in 2024. They brought 7 kids to Macon last year and will have all 7 of those wrestlers return for next year, with one of those being a defending state champ. Those 7 returners, coupled with their impressive season last year, will make these Heard Co braves a very tough team to deal with next year. I could certainly see these Heard County Braves move up the rankings quickly this season.
6. Toombs County had a very impressive year last year finishing 2nd in 2A behind Rockmart in team duals and 4th in traditional state. They brought 10 to Macon last season and 7 of those 10 will be coming back. Of those 7, they have one defending state champion, three who made it to the consolation finals, and another two who lost in the blood rounds. They finished up in 4th place at the traditional tournament and are looking to improve on that mark this upcoming season. It will be very interesting to see what these bulldogs can do in a new classification.
7. Brantley County could be a dark horse team that a lot of people are overlooking this year. They had a decent year last season finishing the year with 6-9 record according to Maxpreps. Which doesn’t sound that impressive, but every team they lost it was to a good team from a higher classification. Honestly this team made the top 10 because of this next stat. Brantley had 10 qualifiers that went to Macon last year. They finished in Macon with 2 state champs, 1 fifth place finisher which was good enough for 7th place finish in Macon. Of those 10 qualifiers, they are returning all 10! The only team bringing back more kids is Bremen. Personally, I think this could be a breakout year for this group. They got experience last year in Macon and schedule tough teams all throughout the year. If I were a betting man, and I am, I would put some money on these boys to upset a few teams they shouldn’t this year.
8. St. Francis is a team to keep an eye on in this upcoming season. They have the returning wrestlers to have a breakout year this upcoming season and become a household name within the wrestling world. Led by a national all-American and defending state champion, these Knights have the potential to shake things up within this classification. They went 2-2 at team duals last year losing to Commerce and Ogelthorpe and finished 9th in Macon. What makes this team especially interesting is they will not be losing any state qualifiers, they brought 5 to Macon and all 5 will be coming back. Three of those five are state placers with one defending state champ, one 2nd place finisher, and one 3rd place finisher.
9. Trion will be welcoming all their new friends into 1A and hoping to continue their run of excellence into this upcoming season. They had a heck of a run in team duals last year, after losing a close one to Mt. Pisgah in the semis, they ended up beating Heard Co in the conso semis and then got manhandled by Commerce in the conso finals finishing 4th in team duals. They finished 6th at traditionals by bringing 7 total wrestlers to Macon in February, of those 7, 5 of them will be returning next year. The only reason Trion isn’t higher on this list is due to how those 5 finished in Macon. No one finished higher than 4th place. These blue and white bulldogs have some work to do if they are going to jump up this list this season.
10. Elbert County is the only team on this list that did not qualify for team duals last year, but in spite of that they finished 5th in traditionals. That typically means, they have a few outstanding wrestlers, but the rest of their team leaves something to be desired. Watching these guys wrestle last year it is easy to see they are tough kids who are well coached. 8 Blue Devils qualified for the state tournament last year and they will have 5 returners. Out of those 5 returners, 4 of them were freshmen, three of those freshman tied for 5th place in Macon. With Elbert having such a young lineup, some other teams in this classification need to think twice before scheduling these guys for a dual, at least for the next few years.
HM. Banks County had an incredible season last year finishing 3rd in team duals in 2A and 6th overall at traditionals. They qualified 8 wrestlers to go to Macon, but will only be returning 3 of those wrestlers for next year. On the bright side, every one of those returners is a state placer, one 3rd place, one 4th place, and one 5th place. Losing that much productivity in your lineup can be a very difficult thing to overcome. If these leopards can replace their senior productivity, especially in the middle and back half of their lineup, this team can certainly play the dark horse roll come January and February.
HM. Vidalia is our first honorable mention for this classification. They finished tied for 5th in team duals and 5th in traditionals. Like several teams in the bottom half of this list they are losing quite a bit. They brought 6 to Macon and only 2 will be returning. On the bright side, both of those returners are defending state champions. Vidalia is certainly capable of making a run, they proved that last year, the only question is will they have the horses to do it in 2024/2025.
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