Pony Boy Wrestling

In our not so humble opinion this classification is one of the more top heavy classifications in the state. There are about 5 or 6 teams who have a legitimate shot at making a run at the title and then there is a noticeable drop off from there. Nevertheless it will be very interesting to see what happens with those top tier teams and then to see if anyone will be able to challenge these top dogs in this classification. The most interesting story line in my opinion will be Columbus and Rockmart and see how that plays out. Below you will find the 2A rankings with honorable mentions added in for fun. 

Here are the preseason rankings for the upcoming season. We took four key factors into consideration when making these rankings. 

1. Number of 2023 state qualifiers, number of those qualifiers who are returning for 2024.
2. Quality of returners (because returning 4 state champs is a lot different than returning 4 state qualifiers who went 0-2)
3. How that team finished in state duals
4. How that team finished in the traditional state tournament. 

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. So here are our rankings for the 2024-2025 season for 2A. 

1. Rockmart
2. Columbus
3. Cook Co 
4. Union Co 
5. Lovett 
6. Franklin Co 
7. Ringgold 
8. Coahulla Creek 
9. Morgan Co 
10. Jordan 

     HM. Holy Innocents 

     HM. Pike Co 

1. Rockmart has been a force to be reckoned with in this classification for a while now. They won the 2A team duals last year running over Toombs in the finals and winning by over 30 points. Through the duals season these yellow jackets went 22-1, dropping one to Nolensville from Tennessee. They also won the traditional tournament by qualifying 11 kids and scoring the 5th most total points overall in the state of Georgia. Of those 11 starters who went to Macon last year, only 5 of them are returning. Now of those 5 returners, every single one of them made it to the 2A state finals last year, 3 of them will be defending their titles this upcoming season. Rockmart has certainly figured out how to win, the big question here is can they sustain their winning ways? 

2. Columbus lost an absolute heart breaker in the team duals finals last year to Lumpkin. Going into the last match of the dual Columbus needed a tech to tie and a pin to win, and came up just short with a major decision. These Blue Devils obviously used that as motivation going into the traditional tournament winning a state title by more than 30 points. Similarly to Rockmart, Columbus had 11 qualifiers go to Macon this past year, and will have 3 defending state champions in their room, that is where the similarities end. While Columbus will have 2 more returning qualifiers, the quality of those qualifiers is not quite as high as Rockmart, giving Rockmart the slight edge in these rankings. Either way, this should be one hell of a dual when and if these two ever see each other heads up. 

3. Cook County had their coming out party last year, welcoming these Hornets into the upper echelon of wrestling in this classification. Finishing 4th in team duals last year and third in traditionals these Cook Co kids are looking to climb higher this upcoming season. While these Hornets won’t have any male defending state champions (Samantha Patton the female hornet is a defending state champ and absolute monster on the mat) in their room, or even anyone who made the finals, these hornets can overwhelm you with numbers. Of the 10 state qualifiers from last year, every single one of them will be returning for this upcoming season, 6 of those returners are state placers. I would not be surprised if the stars align and these Hornets pull an upset or two along the way to a possible state title. 

4. Union County comes in at number 4 on this list, losing a close one to the eventual 3rd place Banks Co in team duals last year but then jumping up at traditionals and finishing 2nd behind Rockmart, these Panthers have shown they can compete with the big dogs. Union Co brought 7 kids to Macon last year and will be returning 5. Of those 5 returners 4 placed, 3 made it to the state finals, with 1 winning it all. Filling the holes will be a top priority for the Union Co coaching staff this year, if they can find some pieces that fit their lineup, with the style they wrestle, look for these Panthers to make some noise again this upcoming season. 

5. Lovett will be dropping all the way down from 4A to compete in 2A this season, but these Lions are no strangers to competition. They finished 3rd overall in team duals winning a close one against Chestatee in the conso finals and finished up 8th at the traditional tournament with only 4 qualifiers. What makes these Lions interesting is while they only had 4 qualifiers in Macon last year, they will be returning all 4 this upcoming season. From those 4, 2 are defending state champions and 1 of them is a state runner up. If Lovett can find some contribution somewhere else in their lineup, especially the middle part of their lineup, they can make some serious noise and climb these rankings quickly. 

6. Franklin County will also be joining the 2A classification as well. These Lions had a great year last year finishing 4th at both traditional and team duals.  After winning their first two duals against Adairsville and Coahulla Creek,  Franklin lost to Lumpkin, beat Upson Lee in the conso semis and then lost to Bremen in the conso finals. Franklin Co brought 9 wrestlers to Macon last season and will be returning 7 in this new year. From those 7 who will be returning, 4 of them are state placers, finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively. If the three returners can find a way to build on their experience in Macon last year and find a way to get some points, these Franklin Co lions could be dangerous come 2025. 

7. Ringgold is one of those teams that are very hard to place and/or predict for this upcoming season. They had a great weekend in Macon last year finishing 3rd in 3A behind Lumpkin and Columbus, they qualified 8 and will be returning 6 wrestlers. 5 out of those 6 are state placers. With one of those being a defending state champion. The only thing keeping this team from being higher up the standings is that they failed to qualify for the state duals tournament losing out to Bremen and Coahulla Creek. If you look at the number of kids they have returning, with how those wrestlers placed in Macon and then factor in their failure to make it to state duals last year, this team is just loaded with question marks, the main one in my mind being can their five returners carry the team, or will their weaknesses be too much to overcome?

8. Coahulla Creek comes in at number 8 on this list. Even though they beat our number 7 Ringgold on this list to get a place in team duals and also did well at that tournament last year going 2-2, eventually getting put out by Morgan County. The Colts finished 11th overall in Macon for 3A. Qualifying 7 wrestlers and returning 5, they will only have 1 returning state placer in their room. The Colts have some work to do this season if they are going to improve and hit the podium in duals and traditional. 

9. Morgan County is an interesting team for this upcoming season. They qualified and went to the 3A state duals tournament losing to Lumpkin in quarterfinals and then making it all the way back through to the conso semis eventually losing to Bremen. Then a month later in Macon they qualified 8 wrestlers and ended up taking 13th place in the 3A classification. Out of those 8 qualifiers they are returning half of those wrestlers, now here is the interesting part, out of those four returners each one of them went win less in Macon. It is going to be interesting to see if Morgan County can improve upon or even recreate the success they had last year. 

10. Jordan comes in at number 10 for our 2A rankings, they had a decent year last year and ended up finishing 11th overall in the 2A classification and going 1-2 at team duals. Qualifying 5 wrestlers last year they will only be returning 1 of those 5. On the bright side, their one returner is a state placer. These Red Jackets have some work to do if they want to climb this list and stay in the top 10. 

HM. Holy Innocents comes in as our first honorable mention for 2A. They finished 21st in Macon on the backs of 4 state qualifiers, 3 of whom will be returning next year. Sadly, these Golden Bears went win less in Macon leaving much to be desired. Luckily, they are all young and will surely improve after gaining that valuable experience last year.

HM. Pike County rounds out our final entry for the 2A classification. They did qualify for team state duals and went 1-2 eventually being put out by Calvary Day, they also qualified 5 for traditional state last year but will only have 1 of those return for the upcoming season. They finished 22nd overall in Macon last year.