After its fair share of near-misses and second-place finishes in recent seasons, the Bremen High School wrestling team won the state championship in both the dual and traditional formats last January and February, respectively.

“It was great after being second for so many years,” said Blue Devil wrestler Slade Madden, who is now a senior. “We want to have a good run this year, do what we can with what we have.”

But Bremen coach Tony Armas said he had moved from celebrating the momentous accomplishment to looking ahead to what it would take to come back strong again this season by the time the team got on the bus after the final state title.

It’s that kind of business-like approach that Armas is taking as his team enters the season with a solid returning core from the state championship team.

He doesn’t like the term “defending state champions” because of the solid opposition in Class A. Because of that, he knows a defensive mindset won’t put his guys in position to come out on the top of the heap again.

“There’s a lot of good teams out there,” Armas said. “We’ll be lucky to even finish in the top five.”

In some corners of the state, a school coming off a state championship might be the unchallenged king of the neighborhood. But fellow local Class A teams Bowdon and Mt. Zion both also finished in the top 10 at the traditional state tournament last season, the Red Devils in fifth and the Eagles in ninth. Bowdon was also fourth at state duals.

Red Devil coach Nathan Horsley will be relying on a 13-man senior class — 12 of whom will be able to compete — to set the tone in pursuit of a state championship. Senior Jordon Loveless, who suffered a neck injury last season and won’t be able to wrestle this season, is still quite involved with the group even though he isn’t able to hit the mats.

“It’s their last time through. You know, they realize that this is it for them. They want to be able to have that opportunity (to win a state title),” Horsley said. “We know for that to happen, we’re going to have to beat the Bremens and the Gordon Lees and the Commerces and, of course, anybody from the private-school sector.”

Mt. Zion coach Michael Cleek, meanwhile, is hoping his guys keep building on the confidence they gained from last season’s ninth-place finish.

“It gives us something to build on, something to shoot for,” Cleek said. “Obviously, we want to get better.”

He said Bremen and Bowdon still show the way locally, though he hopes his team can keep improving with hopes of an even higher finish. And while both Horsley and Cleek see the Blue Devils as the pace-setters for now, Armas isn’t so sure just yet.

“We’ve just got a long way to go,” Armas said. “And I think there’s about five or six schools that are better than us right now.”

It’s not that Armas believes Bremen necessarily has any bigger problems than other teams, though.

“We’ve got a lot issues. Of course, everybody else has issues, too,” Armas said. “It’s not just unique to Bremen.”

Horsley said his team will also be working out plenty of the smaller details as it looks to continue to compete at the highest levels in Class A. He noted that his seniors were freshmen when Bowdon last reached the finals of the state duals, something he certainly would love to see happen again.

“So we know what it takes to get to the finals,” Horsley said. “We’ve just got to get ourselves back in that, and a few breaks here and there, and be back to where we were at, to get back to where we want to be.”

Cleek said the Eagles’ consistency in sending wrestlers to state and their strong finish in February has given his program’s younger wrestlers some big goals. He pointed out that those goals can only be reached through work in the wrestling room throughout the year, a point his guys have taken to heart.

“We have a good group of kids that are working hard and striving to get better right now,” Cleek said.

With some experienced returning wrestlers, Cleek said Mt. Zion’s freshmen could make the difference in helping his team take it to another level if they rise to the occasion, which he said they have the ability to do.

“If they come through, then we’re going to be all right,” Cleek said.

Horsley is also hoping his veterans can help his younger wrestlers play an important role for Bowdon this season.

“We’ve got to use our senior leadership to get some of the young ones ready to go, to be able to come in and be ready,” Horsley said.

The Red Devils won’t rely heavily on any one wrestler. Instead, Horsley said Bowdon’s strength will be in its high number of quality competitors.

“We don’t really have a standout this year. We’ve just got a good group that, you know, together they can do a lot,” Horsley said. “So we’re just going to have to see how they basically man up and step up this year.”

Armas expects his guys to once again challenge for state supremacy, and with the experience of state titles in both formats, he said his guys will know what it takes to win at state. Whether they do it will be the question Armas wants answered.

“They know what sacrifices they have to make to achieve their goals. It’s just a matter of are they willing to make those sacrifices, or are they just going to go maybe three-quarters of the sacrifices and just roll the dice and hope that’s good enough?” Armas said. “That’s what I worry about.”