Pony Boy Wrestling

This class might be the most electrifying to watch this upcoming season. We have 3 teams who won either an individual team state title or a duals state title. One of those teams won both duals and traditional (Central Carroll). 9 of the 12 teams represented in this list qualified and won duels at team state and 8 of the 12 teams finished in the top 10 in their classification’s traditional state tournament last season (only one finished outside the top 15). This classification will be a roller coaster ride all year long and I for one can’t wait. Below you will find the preseason rankings for the 4A classification. 

Here are the preseason rankings for the upcoming 2024 – 2025 wrestling season. We took four key factors into consideration when making these rankings. 

1. Number of 2023 – 2024 state qualifiers, number of those qualifiers who are returning for 2024 – 2025
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 preseason rankings for the 2024-2025 season for 4A. 

1. Central Carroll 
2. Ola 
3. Cass 
4. Woodland Cartersville 
5. Jones County 
6. Harris County 
7. Flowery Branch 
8. Eastside
9. Locust Grove
10. Cambridge 

     HM. Dalton 

     HM. Perry 

1. Central Carroll takes the number 1 rank for our preseason rankings and for good reason. They are the only team on this list to win both an individual team state title as well as a team duals. In the team state duals tournament they walked through everyone. North Hall was the closest to push them and they beat the Trojans by 14 points in the championship duel. The traditional tournament was even more lopsided where they more than doubled the points of the second place team. It looks like this upcoming season is going to be more of the same, the Lions qualified 13 weight classes last season in Macon and 10 of those 13 will be returning this year. 9 of those 10 are returning state placers, and 4 of the 9 are defending state champions. Its easy to see why Central Carroll is making a push to be not only the best team in the 4A classification, but the best team in the entire state. 

2. Ola is coming in at number 2 on this list and here is why, Ola finished 2nd last season at team state, losing to Cass in the finals by 6 points. At the traditional state tournament the Mustangs brought 12 overall and will be returning 9 for the upcoming year. Of the 9 returners, 8 of them placed at the state tournament, with 5 of those 8 making the finals and 3 winning it. Ola got their first taste of championship gold last season at the traditional state tournament in Macon and I am positive they are gearing up to pick up right where they left off this upcoming season. 

3. Cass is an interesting team to try and figure out, they are the third team in this classification to win a state championship last season. The Colonels won the team duals championship, where they won close dual after close dual throughout the tournament all the way through the finals to land on top of the podium. The Colonels qualified 7 wrestlers last season for traditionals and will have 6 of those 7 return for this year. 5 out of the 6 are state placers, with 1 being a defending state champion. Cass finished 6th overall in the team standings in Macon last year.  While they beat Ola in a heads up duel, they are not returning as many kids, nor do those returners have the pedigree as the other two teams ranked above them right now. That being said, this is a well coached group who I am sure will not just lay down and concede their championship. This group will be looking to play the role of spoiler for some of these other teams on this list. 

4. Coming in at number 4 for our preseason rankings is Woodland Cartersville. Last season this group placed third in both team duals and the traditional state tournament. Beating Jefferson in the third place match by 2 points on the backs of 3 straight pins from their 190, 215, and 285. Jefferson needed a pin in the anchor match but was only able to come out with a major decision. Moving to the traditional state tournament, the Wildcats qualified 10 and 7 of those 10 will be returning this season. Out of those 7, 5 placed at the state tournament, and the 2 that didn’t, barely missed it falling in the blood rounds. These Wildcats are no joke, and a force to be reckoned with. With a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, these Wildcats could find themselves on top of the podium this season. 

5. Jones County had a pretty good season last year finishing the state duals tournament with a 3-2 record, losing in the conso semis to Woodland Cartersville. They also had a top 10 finish in Macon placing 9th overall on the backs of 9 state qualifiers, 5 of whom will be returning for this upcoming season. From those returners, 2 of them are state placers, while 2 more lost in the blood rounds. Jones county looks to be a solid team again this year, if they can fill some of the holes they will be losing to graduation, they can put together another solid year. 

6. Harris County comes in at the number 6 preseason spot. Looking over the information for Harris County is interesting. They lost in the conso semis of team state to Jefferson last year finishing their tournament record at 3-2. Which makes their team dual success all the more interesting when you consider they only qualified 3 kids for Macon last year. Of those 3 qualifiers, 2 will be returning, luckily both of them are state placers. I know there are several ways to win in this sport, from the looks of it these Harris County Tigers have talent from top to bottom in their lineup, they might not have been able to put it all together last year, or maybe they were plagued with injuries. I know you don’t win three duals at team state unless you are a talented team from top to bottom though. Harris County will be a team to keep an eye on this year. 

7. From the outside looking in, Flowery Branch seemed like a team who was designed to do well at individual tournaments but not so much in team duals. They are 1 of 2 teams in the top 10 who did not qualify for the state duals tournament last season. But, they finished 7th overall in Macon in the 5A classification. Qualifying only 4 wrestlers last year, 3 of those will be returning, and 2 out of those 3 are state placers while 1 is a defending state champion. If the Falcons can improve the supporting cast around their state placers and become a more complete team, they have the potential to be a scary group this season. 

8. The Eastside Eagles were able to put together a quality season last year. They went 2-2 in the state duals tournament losing to Ola in the first round, then rattling off 2 straight wins against Arabia Mountain and Coffee Co, then eventually falling to Jones Co in the consolation quarters. They qualified 7 for Macon in traditionals and will have 5 of those wrestlers return for this upcoming season, 2 of those returners are state placers. While the Eagles finished 15th overall in the Class 5A standings, they gained some valuable experience last season and are returning enough to put together a quality season again in 2024-2025. 

9. Locust Grove is coming in at number 9 for this class. While the Wildcats did not qualify for team state, in their defense they were in the same region as Ola and Jones County. They finished 12th overall as a team in Macon, qualifying 6 wrestlers, 5 of whom will be coming back next season, 1 of those 5 returners is a state placer. This will be a senior heavy group that gained some valuable experience this past season. If they can stay healthy they will be able to make some noise come the end of the year. 

10. Cambridge rounds out our top 10 in this class, starting the year at number 10. The Bears went 1-2 in the team state duals tournament losing to Ola and Harris County. They finished 16th overall in the traditional state tournament after qualifying 5 wrestlers. From those 5, 3 will be returning for this upcoming season. 1 of those 3 is a defending state champ while the other 2 did not place. These Bears have some potential to move up these rankings, but there are alot of questions that need to be answered this year. 

HM. Dalton is our first honorable mention, they failed to qualify for team state duals, but ended up finishing 5th overall in Macon. Usually, a team finishing that high would be much higher up the rankings, except these Catamounts qualified 11 and will only be returning 5. The 5 that are returning went win less in Macon last year. It’s clear Dalton has lost a lot to graduation. If these guys can build off the experience gained in Macon last year, they can put it together and be a top 5 team again, if not it might be a long year for Dalton. 

HM. Perry is our second honorable mention for this class. Perry is another team that had a good season last year barely losing in the conso semis to Lovett and finishing 7th overall in Macon. But very similarly to Dalton, they lost a lot to graduation. The Panthers qualified 6 to go to Macon and will only be returning 2. Luckily 1 of those is a state placer, but there is a lot of talent that needs to be replaced before the Perry Panthers can move up the list.