TIFTON — It’s not unusual for there to be ringing at Eighth Street Middle School on a Tuesday afternoon in May. It is, however, unusual for the type of ringing going on at the gymnasium.

School bells are not ringing at Eighth Street. COVID-19 has kept students out of the classrooms since mid-March. All athletic events and activities have been cancelled and the school year will finish out today online. That did not stop Tift County’s middle school wrestling coaches for giving their team one last bit of recognition before the year let out.

Coaches Billy King, Zac Martin, Britt Wilson and Rayder Schemmel set up tables behind the gym for a drive-by celebration of sorts. The state championship team trophy, earned in January, was displayed on a table while team members arrived in automobiles to receive their T-shirts and championship rings.

Special guests also dropped by for their piece of championship history. TCHS’ Shawn Watson will be coaching many of these athletes at the high school level this winter and Superintendent Adam Hathaway came by for his ring.

Watson said he appreciated the middle school coaches. “I hope the varsity can follow in their footsteps,” he said.

Hathaway planned on showing off the jewelry at that night’s Board of Education meeting. “That’s sharp stuff,” he said. “I appreciate y’all’s hard work.”

“The hard work they’ve put, the dedication and the time spent, this doesn’t happen overnight,” said Hathaway. “There’s no doubt about that.”

He is proud of course, of what the middle school program has done, but naturally Hathaway wants it to grow even more. “I’d like Tift County to become a wrestling county,” he said. “I want it to spill over to what we’re doing at Tift County High School and I know they (the coaches and team) do, too. They want to see these rings coming for four more years.”

Tift won its first ever middle school team final Jan. 11, defeating traditional powerhouse Jefferson, 53-35. In earlier rounds, they destroyed Woodward 87-3, Cartersville 53-31 and Woodland 50-30. The team had an overall record of 25-1.