The focus for second-year Central High School wrestling coach Marcus Marenda was mat time on Tuesday, as he sent split squads to the Hillgrove Duals and a tri-match at Villa Rica.

And while it didn’t net winning results at either location, the game plan was more about individual work in the Lions’ first outing of the season.

At Villa Rica, the Lions suffered a 48-0 loss to the host Cats and a 53-6 setback to Lithia Springs. Individually, sophomore Simon Barber went 1-1 with a pin at 106 pounds, while freshmen Colton Kelly (113 lbs.), Jake Toney (132), River Dunkin (138), Connor Eldred (160), Michael Paea (182) and Kether Wilson (195) all went 0-2. In exhibition competition, Quinton Houston went 1-1.

“We had a lot of young kids out there and our kids worked very hard. There’s a lot of room for improvement,” Marenda said.

At Hillgrove, Central’s ‘A’ squad dropped a 60-12 match to the host school, along with falling to Kell by a 42-0 count, Sprayberry in a 31-18 decision and North Cobb, 21-18.

Senior Jarrett Thomas went 2-2 with a pin at 160 pounds, while freshmen Daniel Moye (170) and Gabe Wiggins (182) were also 2-2 with a pin. Sophomore John Smith finished 1-3 with a pin at 120 pounds and junior Chris Patterson went 1-3 at 152 pounds. Freshman Bo Ly rounded out the grapplers at Hillgrove, going 0-4 at 132 pounds.

“Again, we took a lot of young kids up there. Kids who have had success at middle school and we’re showing them a bigger pool of competition. I thought we responded very well and there’s a lot we can work on to improve ourselves,” Marenda said.

Prep Basketball

Hebron Christian boys 62, Temple 47: The Tigers (0-1) lost their season opener at the Walton-Gwinnett Challenge on Tuesday afternoon at Loganville High School.

Elijah McFarland led Temple offensively with 17 points, followed by Isaiah Strozier with 15 points.

Temple returns to action on Dec. 1 at Paulding County.