Colquitt County’s Austin Paradice faces Camden County’s Kholby Hopper in a 145-pound bout in the Region 1-7A duals held last Saturday in Kingsland. Paradice won by major decision 14-4. He also pinned Ricky Brown of Lowndes in his other match.

MOULTRIE – Lowndes jumped out to a 16-0 lead over the Colquitt County wrestling team in the first round of last Saturday’s Region 1-7A duals held in Kingsland.

But Packers coach Benjy Scarbor was not overly concerned.

“Our experienced guys came through and did what they are supposed to do,” Scarbor said after the Packers went on to a 43-36 victory.

Colquitt lost in the finals 50-19 to seven-time state champion Camden County, but still will advance to the first leg of the state duals championships as the region’s No. 2 seed.

The Packers will travel to North Paulding on Jan. 23 for a first-round match against Grayson. A win would send the Packers to a second-round match against North Paulding, which, because of a forfeit, will not have a first-round opponent.

The eight-team Class 7A finals will be held at Parkview on Jan. 29-30.

Although the score of the match against Camden County was not pretty, Scarbor said his team was not far from being more competitive.

“There were several matches where we hung in there,” Scarbor noted, adding that his team only had five days to prepare for the region duals because of COVID-19 quarantine.

And Scarbor, who has been a wrestling head coach at Valdosta and Colquitt County since 2004, said he does not rule out a berth in the state finals for his team.

Despite the specter of another quarantine at any time, “I really think we could bring some hardware home.”

Colquitt went into the region duals as the No. 2 seed and drew Lowndes, seeded No. 3.

After the Packers fell behind early, Ethan Sellers got them going with a pin of Tyson McCullough at 126.

After Lowndes went up 21-6, Nathanial Taylor got a pin of Logan Gilbert at 138 to pull the Packers to within nine points.

Austin Paradice wasted little time in winning by a pin over 145, but Lowndes stretched its lead to 24-18 before Nelson Salaz won a major decision over Jacob Gallegos at 160 to pull the Packers to within two.

Lowndes won by a pin at 170, but Travis Summers kept the Packers two points back with a pin of Conner Head at 182.

Colquitt finally got the lead at 31-30 when Gi’Bril Wallace took a 7-4 decision over Grayson Lewis at 195.

The Packers finished with pins by James Bledsoe over Lucas Salcedo at 220 and by Collin Crosby over Peyton Gunn at 285 to finish off the victory.

Camden County defeated Tift County 69-3 in the other first-round match

Against Camden County, the Packers got a 6-2 decision by Gabe Freeman over Matt Morton at 113; a 14-4 major decision by Paradice over Kholby Hopper at 145; a pin of the Wildcats’ Christopher Zuzich at 160 by Salas; and a pin of Britt Blair by Summers at 182.

Tift County defeated Lowndes to claim third place.

Scarbor calls Region 1 “extremely solid” this year and does not rule out all four reaching the finals.

The Packers will take a 13-3 record into its first-round state tournament match.

Two of those three losses came when the Packers were forced to compete without their full squad against Lambert and North Forsyth.

With his team at full strength, “I feel real confident about the Grayson match,” Scarbor said.

Following the state duals, the Packers will begin preparations for the region individual tournament, which will be held Feb. 6 at Lowndes.

Only the top three wrestlers in each weight class will advance from region tournaments this year.

“That means some high-quality guys might not make state,” Scarbor said.

Scarbor is pleased with the performance of his 2020-2021 team and gives much of the credit for the Packers success to his staff, which includes Roger Ketchum, Wilder Elliott, Kenny Mason, Brett Little and Rose Harrell.

“This is the best group of coaches I’ve ever had the pleasure of coaching with,” said Scarbor, now in his fourth season of leading the Packers program.

After serving as an assistant at Valdosta from 1996-2004, he was the Wildcats head coach from 2004-2017 before coming to Moultrie.

Scarbor said also he has received excellent support from parents this season, which is especially crucial on road trips.

“We had 14 weight classes and we took 35 kids to Camden County, including junior varsity,” he said. “So it takes a group effort when we travel.”