TIFTON, Ga. — Believe it or not, the prep wrestling season is already gearing towards state.

The Tift County Blue Devils will be at area duals this Saturday at Colquitt County. Area, the last step before next week’s state duals in Macon, will involve the Devils, Colquitt County, Lowndes and Camden County.

Head coach Shawn Watson is hoping to make it back to state, where the squad finished fourth in 2015.

That task won’t be easy, though, as he predicts that Camden will take the No. 1 seed. Colquitt and Lowndes are both much improved, Watson said. The top two teams advance.

Tift is working to get back on the right track. After a strong start to the 2016-17 season, the team has lost wrestlers for the season, both to injuries and grades.

“We gotta get back to the drawing board,” said Watson.

He is confident of what lies ahead.

“It’s what I call facing adversity,” he said. “It’ll all work out.”

Watson added that the Devils had a long road ahead of them.

Even with the missing persons and the lack of a heavyweight wrestler, Tift County finished fourth at last week’s Wildcat Invitational. Valdosta won the competition, with Richmond Hill taking second and Effingham County finishing fourth.

“Rough tournament,” said Watson.

Dalton Burks won his bracket at 170 pounds, winning the finale, 5-4, in double overtime. Jake Pratt and Charley Powell fell in each of their finals.

“We wrestled great the first two rounds,” said Watson.

After that, the Devils ran into difficult competition. Austin Reese and Bronson Lott each took fourth place, as did freshman Braden Wilbanks. Fifth place went to Braylen Taylor. Sixth place at the invitational went to Mason Strickland, Malcolm Melton and Brodie Cooper.

Wilbanks, a last-minute substitute for Cody Waldschlager, “had a great tournament,” according to Watson. He has also been impressed with another young wrestler, Nathan Mayfield, who has won more than 20 matches this season.

The Devils were to have celebrated Senior Night Tuesday in the wrestling room, prior to hosting Berrien for a meet, but Berrien was unable to come over.

Six seniors are on the roster: Burks, Powell, Pratt, Reese, Mack Strickland and Taylor.

Strickland, unfortunately, won’t be able to compete the rest of the year because of a torn ACL. Watson said he wanted to make sure Strickland was honored as much as his teammates.

While it likely won’t be at a competition, Watson is still planning on a ceremony for his wrestlers.

“We are going to do something for them,” he said.

One idea he’s tossing around is to take the seniors out to dinner.

Senior Night and a state competition sound like the end of a season, but the Devils still have a few meets to go before the traditional area, sectional and state wrestling tournaments.

They will be at the Sweet Onion Invitational in Vidalia Jan. 20 and the junior varsity Syrupmaker Invitational in Cairo Jan. 21. Area takes place Jan. 28, with sectionals and state in the weeks after.