With high school wrestling kicking into high gear, a pair of our Surry County teams, Surry Central and North Surry, have several talented grapplers each competing in the NCHSAA 2-A Dual Team wrestling tournament at Bandys High School tonight.

North Surry faces Bandys, and Surry Central squares off against Pisgah, with the winners of the two matches going head-to-head after that.

Four North Surry wrestlers earned first-place finishes at the Mountain Valley 2-A Conference tournament at Ashe County on Saturday. Colby Bowman (103 pounds), Blake East (145), Tyler Simmons (152) and Tommy McMillian (189).

Two Surry Central wrestlers did likewise. Lightweight standouts Jacob Longworth (112) and Casey Felts (119) earned the top spot in both of their weight divisions.

What’s just as impressive as the top wrestlers for these two teams is the fact that they both have a top-notch supporting cast.

Greyhounds finishing in the top four at the MVC tourney were second-place finishers Chris Murray (135) and Michael Morgan (171), third-place earners Cody McMillian (112), Cody Byrd (125), Dustin Reynolds (130), Ethan Hazzard (160) and Brett Doss (215). Earning fourth was the Hounds’ Tanner Riddle (119).

Golden Eagles earning top four finishes were second place Cesar Pena (125), Josh Stover (152) and Jared Salyers (215). Third place Eagles were Austin Cooke (103) and Austin Oakley (145). While fourth-place finishers were John Glass (140), Juan Chavez (160), Nate Murphy (171), Dakota Holder (189) and Bobby Sheets (285).

Between North and Central, 24 wrestlers occupied one of the tournament’s 56 top-four spots.

One thing’s certain, when MVC regular season contenders Starmount and Wilkes Central are held to just two gold medals combined, one from the Rams’ Austin Sloan (160) and the other from the Eagles’ Leo Guevera (171), you know your teams are tough.

Eagles coach Stephen Priddy may have put Saturday in the best context when it comes to his team’s season on the mat.

“They’ve busted their butts all year, and it showed today,” he said after the MVC tournament.

Greyhounds coach Eric Jessup believes Central has offered his team the challenge and the extra push they’ve needed to stay on top.

“I really think honestly that Surry Central has pushed us to get where we are at,” Jessup said after the tournament.

As for me, I don’t know the first thing about Bandys or Pisgah wrestling. But if the Hounds and Eagles can beat those teams, it would make for some interesting matchup possibilities.

I’m sure we’d all like to see a rematch between North’s Cody McMillian and Central’s Jacob Longworth at 112. In the two teams’ final regular season match, Longworth battled to a 10-9 win over McMillian.

How about another thriller at 125 between Central’s Bobby Johnson and North’s Cody Byrd? After several grueling minutes on the mat, Johnson came out on top in the two teams’ regular season finale 18-17.

Hopefully, tonight at Bandys, the Hounds and Eagles will have the opportunity to meet again and wrestlers can renew old rivalries.

Dual team action starts at 6 p.m.

Contact Justin Nuzzo at jnuzzo@mtairynews.com or 719-1922.