WINNER!: Damion Moate does not have to break a sweat to have his hand raised. Union Grove did not have a man in his weight class, resulting in a forfeit win at the Tift Duals.

TIFTON — Shawn Watson joined, then surpassed the 400-win club Saturday as his Tift County Blue Devils won four times at the local Tift Duals.

Watson takes little credit for the record he’s compiled.

“It’s been these kids who are doing it for me,” he said. “I’m just kind of the captain of the ship.” He manages it the best he can. Watson is grateful for his staff, too. “All my other coaches are doing a fantastic job … Without them, it wouldn’t be happening.”

To be precise, Watson is at 403 wins. No. 400 was the Blue Devils’ first dual win Saturday, 84-0 over an outnumbered Union Grove. His total rose throughout the day with a 74-6 win against Veterans, 44-23 over Lowndes and 54-22 versus Lee County.

“We did what we were supposed to do in pool play,” he said.

Colquitt County, who won the Tift Duals, outscored them 45-24. The Devils won six matches, Watson said, but the distance in score was because Colquitt won many by pinfall. “Give them credit,” he said. “They’re good.”

Union Grove was coached by a former Watson wrestler back at Henry County. Watson has a bit of regret at the score; he was hoping it was not be that bad. Union Grove was missing several weight classes, including the three heaviest.

Howard High of Macon, also participated in the duals. The Huskies have Beau Bergeron as an assistant making that two former Watson wrestlers with teams in the event.

Watson said he did not expect the differential against Veterans. Latrell Schafer, the Warhawks’ best wrestler, had another obligation Saturday or else Watson was sure he would have gotten a win to make it closer.

“They had some guys who were out,” he said Tift won’t be fooled by the ease of the win. “I’m not going to let that sneak up and bite me when it comes to region,” Watson said. “He’ll have a better team.”

Lowndes was a reversal in score of their prior dual in Tifton last month. The Blue Devils were missing some wrestlers at that time coming back from football. “We returned the favor,” said Watson.

The night before the Tift Duals, TCHS hosted the Blue Devil Rumble, for junior varsity and girls. Unlike Saturday’s duals format, this was four mats of insanity with teams mixing at random. A few times, one Tift County wrestler was paired with another of the same weight class.

That’s where you just watch, he laughed. “You rarely say anything.”

Watson enjoyed the night, even if the all the bouncing around between mats got a little hectic.

“I think overall we wrestled well,” he said. Watson was thrilled with how well the Lady Devils did against competition from Perry, Veterans, Lowndes, Colquitt County, Bainbridge, Lee and Northside of Warner Robins. “They got after it,” he said.

Especially great news for Tift is that only one of the female wrestlers, Ameliya Hernandez, is a senior. The Lady Devils have 18 wrestlers listed on the roster.

Tift’s schedule will stay busy.

The Lady Devils go to the Lady Panther Invitational at Jackson County (Hoschton) on Saturday Dec. 9 while the Blue Devils go the Onion City Invitational, located in — where else? — Vidalia.

Tift will host Ware County in a dual Dec. 12, which will also be Senior Night.