By TODD HOLCOMB
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Caleb Anthony and Dustin Harvey have gone shark fishing off the Florida coast and snowboarding in North Carolina.
Next year, they’ll be college roommates and teammates on the wrestling team at Newberry College in South Carolina. They’ve talked about getting matching tattoos, but one of their mothers won’t let them.
Now, something these high school seniors have never done together ” but dreaded for years ” could be at hand.
Anthony, the reigning Class AAAAA champion at 145 pounds from Pope High in Marietta, and Harvey, the state runner-up at 152 from South Cobb in Austell, might be facing each other as wrestlers in a high school match for the first time.
The Cobb County Championships are Thursday and Friday at Lassiter, and at stake is a title that each covets but has never won.
“My stomach is just nauseous thinking about it, “said Tara Manion, Harvey’s mother. “Caleb is literally like my other son. It will be tough to watch.”
Nonetheless, Manion will bring a camcorder, her husband, Chad, and perhaps even her own parents, Bill and Beverly Gwynn, so they can savor the moment.
Anthony’s father, Robert, and his wife, Patty, also will be there.
“It will be kind of awkward, “said Robert, who is one of Pope’s assistant coaches.
Their sons became friends when both lived in Austell and joined South Cobb’s youth wrestling program. Harvey was 6, Anthony 5.
Anthony has gone on vacation with the Harvey family eight times. He calls Harvey’s grandparents Ma-Ma and Da-Da.
Harvey has been a little taller and usually heavier than Anthony, so they’ve typically been in different weight classes, making matches between the two rare although they’ve traveled to tournaments together as far away as Fargo, N.D. This season, the needs of their teams placed them in the 152 division.
One of only four matches ever between them took place last summer. Anthony won 16-14 in the freestyle format. The high school format is folk wrestling, which has different scoring rules.
Harvey called the summer encounter, “basically a practice match. “Anthony agreed. “It didn’t have anything to do with anything important, “he said. “But this [week] is county. . . . I want to win county real bad.”
Except for their passion for their sport, Anthony and Harvey wouldn’t figure to be a match. As a wrestler, Anthony is always on the attack, and he’s the more out-going socially. About a year ago, he re-dedicated himself to his Christian faith.
Anthony credits the transformation for his run to the state title. He has a tattoo of the trinity on one of his calves and a tattoo of a cross on one of his thighs, and he has suggested that Harvey consider the cross tattoo for himself.
“He’ll always say that around my mom, ‘Dustin’s going with me to get a tattoo today,’ “Harvey said. “My mom is like, ‘No you’re not!'”
Harvey is quieter. On the mat, he’s a defensive tactician. Anthony calls Harvey a natural athlete.
“You could say his looks are deceiving, “Anthony said. “He’s got red hair, freckles, but there’s just something about him. Every sport he’s ever played, he’s been great at it.”
Harvey describes their relationship as complementary. “When I’m around him, he’s a little calmer, and at same time, I’m a little a little less calm, “Harvey said.
And for athletes whose sport is so confrontational and intimate, they claim they’ve never argued.
“Sometimes we joke that one of these days we’re going to beat the fool out of each other, “Anthony said. “But as long as we’ve known each other, we’ve never been in a fight. Hopefully, it will stay that way.”
Conspiring against their showdown this week is the draw. While it was assumed in preseason that Anthony and Harvey were Cobb’s best in the weight division, Harrison’s Josh Condon is undefeated, and Kennesaw Mountain’s Justin Zimmerman upset Harvey once this season.
“We can all beat each other, “Harvey said. “Any of us can win this.”
If it doesn’t happen in this meet, there is the February state tournament.
“It’s going to have to happen eventually, so we’ve got to get used to it, “Harvey said. “We don’t want to do it, but we know it has to be. We’re still friends except for six minutes of a match.”
Anthony agreed.
“When we get on the mat, it’s business, “he said. “But it’s also rough because he’s been my best friend for so long. We just hope not to wrestle each other too much.”
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