Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers made it to the championship match in the Area 2-AAAA wrestling duals before falling to Columbus High on Saturday.

Troup beat Jordan 64-0 and Spencer 42-39 before losing to Columbus 42-28.

It was a tough loss for the Tigers, but by finishing among the top four teams in the area duals, they qualified for this week’s state preliminary duals.

It was also a successful day for LaGrange, which finished third in the Area 2-AAAA duals to advance to state.

In Class AA, Callaway placed fourth in the Area 4-AA duals to advance to state.

Troup was disappointed to reach the championship match and lose, but head coach Drew Garner is confident the wrestlers will use the setback as motivation.

“I posed the question to them, would you rather lose now and stay hungry for later, or would you rather win now and lose that motivation and give it up later,” Garner said. “We’re rather take it on the chin now, and learn from it, and grow from it to create additional motivation to finish this thing off strong.”

LaGrange opened the area duals with a 54-22 win over Hardaway before losing to Columbus 44-31.

LaGrange bounced back to beat 60-18, and it outlasted Spencer 45-42 to secure the number three seed.

Callaway lost to Haralson County and Pepperell in the Area 4-AA duals, but it finished fourth to advance to state.

Callaway coach Zach Cummings expects his team to fare well at state with some other wrestlers who recently made the transition from football expected to join the lineup.

“We’ll have a full lineup Saturday, and that will help us,” Cummings said. “We’ll finally be at full strength. We’ve get (LaQuize) Gilbert and Alan Shuman back from football.”