At the beginning of every season, the Southern Regional High School wrestling team circles the big dates against top-notch opponents on its calendar. South Plainfield on Jan. 22 and Phillipsburg on Jan. 26 were two of the premier contests lined up, and last week was the one where everybody learned whether the Rams were ready for the upcoming state team tournament.

On Tuesday maybe the Rams weren’t quite ready, as they lost by 12 points to South Plainfield.