Weddington wins Battle of Border

Weddington High School made it three straight titles in the annual Battle of the Border duals wrestling tournament Saturday at Indian Land High School.

The Weddington Warriors, of Union County, N.C., defeated Tar Heel State foe Ardrey Kell, 48-31, to capture the tournament championship.

Weddington and Ardrey Kell each won pool titles to advance to the championship round. "Weddington has another strong team and their title reflects that," Indian Land High School coach Mike Kersey said. "We were pleased with the tournament. It went well and coach Herb Johnson did a great job of running the tournament."

Indian Land placed third in pool A, which was won by Ardrey Kell.

Indian Land, which went 3-2 on the day, also lost to Class AA power Cheraw High School on a tiebreaker. The IL Warriors and CHS Braves finished in a 39-all draw and the match was decided on a tiebreaker. Cheraw is ranked third in the latest Class AA state wrestling poll.

Indian Land's wins came over Class AAAA South Pointe of Rock Hill and Union County, N.C., schools Sun Valley and Monroe.

"Overall for us, it was a good day," Kersey said. "We had some bright spots and a few disappointments in the tournament.

"We had three wrestlers who lost on late pins, but they came back later and redeemed themselves," Kersey said. "I was pleased with that effort."

Thomas Harris at 140 pounds and Jesse Perez at 125 led the Warriors as each went 5-0 in the tournament. A week ago, Harris had a third-place finish in the prestigious Bearcat Classic at Rock Hill High School.

IL 130-pounder Trevor Jones also had a solid day, going 4-1.

"All the teams had five matches and there was some good competition," Kersey said. "The experience in this tournament is only going to help a team no matter where they finished."

Kersey also noted a pair of IL Middle School wrestlers Logan Creed and Jonathan Rowe qualified for the middle school state tournament over the weekend.

Creed won the 105-pound weight class and Reed is a state alternate after placing second in the 110-pound weight class.

The middle school state tournament is Jan. 26 at Rock Hill.

The Warriors, 8-5, hosted county rival Buford in a regular-season match Tuesday night. Results were not available at press time.

The Warriors travel to Pageland Central on Thursday to face the Class AA Eagles.

Indian Land competes in the Chester Duals on Saturday at Chester High School, beginning at 9 a.m.

BHS goes 2-3

The Buford High School wrestling team also competed in the Battle of the Border Duals and posted a 2-3 mark in the field.

The Jackets, 6-5 on the season, downed Class AAAA foe Nation Ford of Fort Mill 41-21 and Monroe of Union County, N.C., 37-36.

BHS fell to Class AAAA York 46-29, Weddington, 54-17 and Sun Valley, 41-27.

Buford High 112-pounder Lain Adams paced the Jackets' effort, going 5-0 on the day.

"Lain has had a good season for us and he continued to do well in this tournament against some tough competition," said BHS coach John Mahaffey.

Rashad Cunningham and Matt Ray were each 4-1. Johntrell Caudle notched a 3-2 mark. Devin Starnes was 2-1 and Daniel Deese went 2-2.

Trevor Banks and Dustin Broyles each had a pair of wins.

The Buford Middle School wrestling team competed in the state qualifying tournament at Fort Mill, with seven earning medals.

Chad Jacobs led the way for Buford Middle with a gold medal.

Josh Langley, Garrett Faulkenberry and Zach Wright each won silver medals. Bronze medal winners included James Mackey, Brandon Steele and Eric McPhearson.

The Buford High School wrestling team opened the 2008 portion of its schedule with a split at Cheraw on Jan. 8.

The host CHS Braves took a 63-9 win over the Jackets, but BHS rebounded to down Marion 48-28.

Lamont McPhearson led the Buford effort with two wins in the tri-match.

BHS 48 Marion 28

103 Double forfeit

112 Lain Adams (B) won by forfeit

119 Hemmingway (M) won a major decision over Rashad Cunningham (B)

125 Trevor Banks (B) won by forfeit

130 Taylor Banks (B) pinned Reed (M)

135 Pressley (M) pinned Tyler Douglas (B)

140 Dustin Broyles (B) won by forfeit

145 Ethridge (M) pinned Matt Ray (B)

152 Devin Starnes (B) pinned Blackmon (M)

160 Davis (M) pinned Daniel Deese (B)

171 Lamont McPhearson (B) pinned Dixon (M)

189 Josh Roberts (B) won by forfeit

215 Fargo (M) won by forfeit

Heavyweight Ryan Baskin (B) pinned Sanders (M)

Cheraw 63 BHS 9

103 Rashad Hancock (C) won by forfeit

112 Ivan Short (C) pinned Lain Adams

119 Raphael Burkette (C) decisioned Rashad Cunningham (B)

125 Trevor Banks (B) decisioned Ricky Quick (C)

130 Josh Johnson (C) decisioned Taylor Banks (B)

135 Kendarro Lewis (C) pinned Tyler Douglas (B)

140 Jacques Pigues (C) pinned Dustin Broyles (B)

145 Tyler Jennings (C) pinned Matt Ray (B)

152 Jerrell Reilly (C) pinned Devin Starnes (B)

160 Lamont McPhearson (B) pinned Devon Banks (C)

171 Neal Bittle (C) won by forfeit

189 Kenyatta Gary (C) pinned Josh Roberts (B)

215 Desmond Chambers (C) pinned Johntrell Caudle (B)

Heavyweight Bernard Kendall (C) pinned Ryan Baskin (B)

LHS falls to FM

The Lancaster High School wrestling team fell to 3-5, 2-2 in region matches, after dropping a 60-21 home loss to Fort Mill High School on Jan. 8.

"Fort Mill has some strong wrestlers, but I felt our guys went out there and competed real well," LHS coach Sam Robinson said. "We gave good effort and that's all I can ask from our guys.

"I was proud of the way we went after them," Robinson said. "We knew Fort Mill had an outstanding program, but we made them earn it.

"In several of the matches, we had them on their backs, but we couldn't complete the pin," Robinson said. "We were close against some quality foes."

Lancaster High School pin winners included Joe Craig and Clay Rollings.

"Those two were very aggressive on the mat, but they had to be because they were up against fine foes," Robinson said.

Dawan Thompson also notched a decision and Casey Truesdale won on a forfeit for the Bruins.

Lancaster was slated to wrestle region foe South Pointe on Monday, but the match has been reset for this Monday.

FM 60 LHS 21

145 Joe Craig (L) won by pin

152 Donald Heath (L) lost by pin

160 Justin Smith (L) lost by pin

171 Michael Wilson (L) lost by pin

189 Dawan Thompson (L) decisioned Max Simons (FM)

215 Clay Rollings (L) won by pin

Heavyweight Casey Truesdale (L) won by forfeit

103 Chris Beckham (L) lost by pin

112 Dylan Sinclair (L) lost by pin

119 Kendall Adams (L) lost by pin

125 Fort Mill won by forfeit

130 Tyrese White (L) lost by pin

135 William English (L) lost by pin

140 Ben Ghent (L) lost by pin