Zach Kirkland, Colquitt High wrestling senior

MOULTRIE – It’s not for a lack of ability or work. Colquitt County High wrestling coach Benjy Scarbor isn’t promising a big surprise at the GHSA state duals in January. The 2018-19 season begins Saturday with the Ware County Duals in Waycross, and currently it’s a struggle for the Packers’ coach to fill out an entire lineup.

So it’s a matter of numbers, numbers that could certainly improve when Colquitt football players are done with their postseason run.

It won’t be a surprise, however, if the Packers are celebrating a mat state championship in mid-February. Nic Jarvis, 220-pound senior, is arguably the odds-on favorite in his weight class for the traditional tournament as he is coming off a runner-up showing to unbeaten Ricardo Atkinson of Hillgrove. Jarvis entered that match undefeated himself as a junior, but the final went the distance and Jarvis could not break the zero in his score (3-0).

It’s a match Scarbor and Jarvis discussed at length afterwards and then elected to put behind them for good.

Scarbor, after all, has an entire team, an entire program to build.

“We’ve put a lot of focus on our middle school program,” said Scarbor. “I’ve increased our numbers there with 32. Still need some more kids in high school.

“New assistant coaches were hired, probably one of the best coaching staffs I’ve had. Kenny Mason wrestled four years in college at Emmanuel, heavyweight wrestler. Wilder Elliott wrestled at Brewton-Parker. We have two young ones right out of college … happy to have them along. Plus we still have (former Packer state champion) Travis Register and Roger Ketchum.

“This summer we worked extremely hard. We did a long preseason. We started back here in October doing conditioning, running. The official season started Oct. 22, and we’ve been increasing (our work) since then.”

According to records on colquittwrestling.com, Jarvis owns about 150 wins just in high school varsity alone over the last three years. The only thing missing is the moniker of ‘state champion.’

“We had a long chat about that match,” said Scarbor. “Probably a month went by. We revisited it a little bit this summer. Then we sort of put that loss behind us. We don’t want to dwell on that loss too much. We learned our lesson from it. We said what we needed to add. We felt we needed to add a little more diversity in our technique.

“Nic is extremely good at some moves, and that’s what wins most of his matches. This guy could defend a couple of those pretty well. We looking to add something more from his feet to score a takedown and another returning move on top. He knows what he has to do.

“He’s a heck of a leader for us, team captain again this year along with Timmy Brinson. He’s ready to hit the ground running, but a couple of times (I told him) it’s a long season. We’re here at the beginning, and the state finals are Valentine’s Day. He’s anxious to get there, but I’ve been telling him to enjoy our season. It’s the last year I get to coach him, and I really want him to have fun. I want him to think about the first tournament, Ware. Be the best we can be and try to wrestle the hardest guys.”

And Scarbor built a pretty stout schedule at that. There’s another November duals at South Forsyth, December duals at Tifton and Adel and then two Florida visits. The coach said one of those, the Knockout Christmas Classic in Kissimmee, Fla., Dec. 28-29, is going to be a serious test.

“I wanted to find some really tough tournaments,” said Scarbor. “One of them is maybe the toughest tournament I’ve been to in quite a number of years. There’s nationally ranked guys, teams flying in from New Jersey, a lot of out-of-state teams. It’s going to be a good measuring stick before we roll into January. For Nic, I want to keep him not looking at February. Let’s take these as they go and keep progressing and getting better.”

Other Packers made the state traditionals such as Brinson, now a senior; junior Deonte Edwards and Payden Littleton, one of the few, the proud to reach the Macon Centreplex as a freshman.

Brinson won the team award for 2018 Most Dedicated. Taking college classes, he also has the highest grade point average among the wrestlers

“This summer, he knew he needed more wrestling experience,” said Scarbor. “Every time the mat was open, he was here. Stayed late. He did extra things. He and Nic both went to a very intensive camp at the University of Tennessee. He suffered a little injury there, but he’s been able to recover and should be in our starting lineup this weekend. He’s one I’m looking to come on strong (at 138 pounds). He won matches at the state tournament, was one match away from placing. He’s a fun one to coach. You’ll remember some kids more than others, and Timmy is one of those. Whatever you ask him to do, he’ll do it times 10. He doesn’t mind teaching others.”

Another member of the senior class is Zach Kirkland at 120 pounds. Scarbor said injuries kept him for a potential run to the state traditional.

Edwards has some versatility in what class he can compete, like the 152 he is listed for Ware County. Scarbor said his true weight is 145, but the coach said he needs to fill some holes. 170, 180 and 195 are weights he said the Packers don’t have.

“Deonte is a super-kind guy,” said Scarbor. “He needs to develop a little more meanness. Super speedy. A great guy to have around. Everybody likes him. I’m looking for things to come on strong for him as well.

“Littleton, state qualifier as a freshman. That doesn’t happen. There were only 16 at the state tournament. He will start for us this weekend at 132, but his goal by Christmas is to slide back to his original weight, 126.

“This first tournament, we just want to focus on how we wrestle. Team scores, not sure how some of those are going to turn out. We’re forfeiting a couple of classes. Got a freshman who’s going to be in there (182), and at 195 we’ll be giving up some points. We’re looking at how we handle ourselves.”

Colquitt County wrestling will host the Packer Classic on Jan. 5 and region duals Jan. 12.