Snow Sprawl: Burnt Mountain Classic turnout better than expected

The Burnt Mountain Classic took place on Friday night and Saturday at Pickens Co. High School.  The Classic comes with high expectations by the teams attending – and  although inclement weather forced school cancellations throughout the week – the tournament still lived up to the bill.

Although the weather was rough all week, 15 of 19 Varsity teams that were scheduled came off the buses ready to strap on their head gear and hit the mat.  Fannin County was one of 22 varsity teams scheduled to attend but like a handful of the teams who cancelled, they followed the school cancellation schedule due to potential hazardous road conditions.

The acclaimed Gilmer Bobcats varsity squad, who have been living up to their legacy of absolute domination all season long, was originally scheduled to attend as well.  After speaking with head coach Josh Ghobadpor about his decision to give his varsity the weekend off, he stated that with the weather being what it was during the week, they hadn’t been able to practice.  Rather than put his varsity in a high-pressure situation so close to area and sectionals, Ghobadpor focused instead on taking his junior varsity team to compete in the JV Scramble.

“We tried to get to the gym to train but with ice on the roads we didn’t want to take any chances.  This weekend we decided to bring our JV and let them get the extra work in, though.  After all the JV is the future of Bobcat wrestling,” Ghobadpor told TeamFYNSports.

    As the wrestlers laced up and shook hands, match-by-match the competition began to heat up right away.  Pickens, Lumpkin, Creekview, Etowah, Cherokee High, Calhoun, Alcoa, Milton, Sequoyah, Chestatee, Towns, SE Whitfield, Walker, West Hall and River Ridge all came in pursuit of conquest.