Joseph Forehand looks for an opening against a Packer in a heavyweight match.

TIFTON — Tift County’s varsity Blue Devils finished fourth in their own duals Saturday as head coach Shawn Watson’s team heads into a busy holiday season.

The Blue Devils came out at the Tift Duals on fire, shellacking Sumter County, 84-0. Watson’s crew immediately followed with a 65-15 win over Berrien. Lowndes won a 66-15 dual, but rebounded over Cairo, 66-18. Defeating the Syrupmakers put Tift second in their pool. A crossover against Lee County went in favor of the Trojans, 53-21.

“What our strength is, their strength is,” said Watson of Lee County. “Some tough matchups.”

The junior varsity squad had a series of tough matchups against Colquitt County, Lee, Cook and Thomas County Central.

“They got some good experience,” he said.

Tift has junior varsity and varsity going to the Hornet Duals this weekend — one days for each group — and the Wildcat Invitational coming up before Christmas. The Wildcat is the first individual tournament of the year after exclusively wrestling team duals. They will take an 8-6 varsity record to Cook.

The Blue Devils were fourth at their own meet. It’s a position they have known well so far, starting with the Swamp Duals Nov. 13, finishing fourth out of 10 teams with a 3-2 record.

Tift started with a 60-16 win over Toombs County before dropping a 57-16 decision to Richmond Hill. Not all was bad about the Richmond Hill score. “We won some good little matches,” said Watson. That included Timothy Wright defeating a state placer.

In the third round, they won 66-12 over Effingham County, then a 44-33 victory over Glynn Academy to finish second in their pool. In a crossover against Lee County, the Trojans won 44-31.

At Grapple on the Gridiron in Valdosta, Watson said the Devils went 2-2 and made it to the semifinals. Wins came over Vidalia (57-24) and Colquitt County (48-27). “I was proud that we beat them there,” he said about Colquitt. “Our lightweights really pulled through and helped us out.” Everyone in the 106-132 weight classes finished with pins and Tift surged to a 38-point lead.

Lowndes won in the semifinals, 44-30. Mill Creek had a 45-31 victory against Tift County to make for yet another fourth place finish.

Watson said he’s issued a challenge to his team to win more of the “swing matches” that could go either way.

Tift has plenty of new names this season.

Antron Johnson is wrestling at 106 pounds. He has the tough job of replacing Caleb Barber, a multiple-time state qualifier and rock of that weight class. At 113 pounds is Sergio Martinez, with Caden Bowyer and Daniel Soto available at 120 pounds. Both are sophomores. Chris Rodriguez is 132 pounds.

Wright, one of the few seniors, is at 138 pounds. Donterrius Whitaker is the starter at 145 pounds, with Jeremiah Williams at 152. Returning at 160 is Davarius Smith. Zach Carter and Damion Moate are both competing to be the main 170 wrestler.

Andrew Taylor is wrestling above his weight at 182, as is Jeovanni Torrez at 195. Dalton Hancock is at 220 and Abraham Soto is wrestling as the heavyweight. Watson is predicting big things from his JV heavyweight, Joseph Forehand.

After Christmas, Tift will wrestle in the Packer Duals and Lee Duals. The Blue Devils will host the individual Region 1-7A championships Jan. 29.