Last year was supposed to be somewhat of a rebuilding year for the LaFayette Rambler wrestling program.

With only one senior on the team, and the school making the jump from Class AA to Class AAAA, a .500 season would have been a nice accomplishment.

Instead, the Orange and Black ended the year with a 16-4-1 dual meet record, sent two wrestlers to the region championship finals and qualified four for the Class AAAA state meet.

Now with a year’s experience under their belts, the Ramblers are quickly becoming one of the darkhorses of Region 7-AAAA.

“We a great team last year,” said assistant coach Lee Dendy, himself a former Rambler mat warrior. “We’re going to be tough this year too. I’ve got a bunch of good seniors. I may not start the same 14 kids in a dual meet all year long. We’ve got enough good wrestlers to be able to shuffle the lineups and get them all a lot of matches. It’s a good problem to have.”

The Ramblers have five veteran seniors in 2001-2002. Phillip Held is one of the team’s best overall wrestlers. Held qualified for the state meet last year after a third-place finish in the Region at 119 pounds. Held may move up to 125 this year.

Chris Henderson saw lots of action last year between 125 and 130 pounds and will return to those weight classes this year. Marcus Logan and Jason Ballard, both two-time state qualifiers in Class AA will give LaFayette good experience in the middle weight classes.

Eric Peaveyhouse, who placed second in the Region JV tournament a year ago, will see action at either 152 or 160 pounds. Marcus Tate was scheduled to fill the 215-pound spot, but suffered a knee injury during football. Dendy is hopeful that Tate may be back before the end of the year.

LaFayette also has three more seniors that are coming out to wrestle for the first time. Casey Nelms, Nick Camp and Patrick Brock are aggressive, natural athletes, and Dendy hopes that all will be able to contribute.

The junior class includes Justin Smith, Josh Hill, Josh Head and Dakota Jones. Hill returns to the mats for the first time since he placed third in the area as a freshman. Jones, who just began wrestling late last year, won a JV tournament a year ago.

The Ramblers underclassmen are strong. Among the sophomores are Eric Brown, Jon Franks, Jack Grooms, Josh Yarbrough, Casey Pintar, Lee Bradley, Chris Beatty, Lee Blackwell, Will Estus, Chase Thomas and Brandon Raines.

Brown finished second the area at 103 pounds late year and qualified for the state. Estus, Yarbrough and Thomas all won JV region titles last year while Bradley finished second.

LHS also has freshmen that may make an impact in 2001-2002. Jake Edgeman (103) is a talented wrestler and Chris Battles won the Region JV 145-pound title as an eighth grader last year. Other freshman who may see action include Randy Wheeler, Andrew Wilkes and Cody Lee.

The schedule will more than test the Ramblers abilities. Dual matches are slated against Tennessee powers Cleveland, McCallie, East Ridge and Baylor as well as non-region foes Rockmart and Fort Payne.

Equaling last year’s stellar record will be a big challenge, but one that Dendy is ready for.

“I’ve got a bunch of tough kids and strong classes in the seniors and sophomores,” Dendy explained.

“The seniors might be beating up on each other for some of those spots. But I think we can compete with anyone on our schedule.”

Ringgold is an odds-on favorite in Region 7-AAAA, but the rest of the region may be up for grabs.

“I’m interested to see how it will all stack up this year,” Dendy said. “I’m not sure how a lot of teams look this year.”

LaFayette opens its season on Nov. 27 at Gordon Central in matches against Rome, Cartersville and the host Warriors, coached by former Rigdeland coach David Moss