By Nick Cammuso
PLEASANT VALLEY — For East Fairmont wrestling, the sums of its parts, the team, is bigger than any individual.
That was certainly the case during Saturday’s Region II tournament. Some didn’t have the best of days for the host Bees, others broke through with huge performances, but the end result is what truly mattered.
And when all was said and done, East had another regional title.
The Bees, on the strength of five champs and 12 state qualifiers, won their third Region II crown in four years.
They rolled up 251 points, well ahead of runner-up North Marion (206). Hedgesville (165), Fairmont Senior (143.5) and Martinsburg (124.5) rounded out the top five.
As a whole, Marion County had 11 first-place finishers and are sending 29 next week’s state meet.
“Twelve to states ... that’s a good day,” East coach John Geary said. “Some of the younger kids stepped it up, and because of them, we won a team title.”
The Bees did much of their winning at the upper weights, nabbing five titles from 145 to 285 pounds.
Two East senior wrestlers repeated as champs.
At 171, Mason Bailey won his fourth regional title and moved to 47-1 with a pin of Hedgesville’s Steve Miele 1:45 into the second period.
Eric Morris (160), meanwhile, won by default — and a third regional championship — after Hedgesville’s Billy Forquer reaggravated a back injury earlier in the afternoon. Morris is now 34-4 and unbeaten against state competition.
While those victories may have been mere formality, the Bees got a boost from their three other title winners — Steven Robe (145), Tyler Hudson (215) and Zac Townsend (285).
Robe held on for a 5-3 decision over North’s Matt Tennant, avenging a loss at the North Central Athletic Conference tournament in the process. The senior is 3-1 against Tennant this season.
“He made a nice rebound,” Geary said of Robe. “It’s a boost of confidence for him. We think he can win it all.”
Hudson, a junior, continued a late-season push with a coast-to-coast 6-2 win against Martinsburg’s Blake Debord. Townsend closed the meet with an exclamation point, pinning North’s Garrett Kelley about a minute into the second period.
“Hudson started coming to morning practice and he set his goals a little bit higher,” Geary said. “He did a great job. So did Zac ... they were both fantastic.”
The biggest win — or at least the most surprising — came at 135.
The Huskies’ Chad Efaw, 0-4 in his career against the Bees’ Drew Jenkins, gutted out a 4-3 decision over the defending state champ.
Down 3-2 after a takedown midway through the third, Efaw saw an opening and cashed in. He recorded a reversal with nine second left to clinch the win — and the title.
Needless to say, it was a long time coming for the junior, who upped his record to 32-7.
“I wanted to win. I know that’s cliche or whatever, but I’ve been beaten by that kid four times in the past two years,’ Efaw said. “I finally did it and it feels awesome.”
“It’s definitely an upset. He’s been pounded by Jenkins for a few years now,” North coach Dave Tennant said. “But it’s just a case where he never stopped wrestling.”
Sophomore Ryan Hinerman (125) also knocked off a defending state champ from the East Side, cruising to a 7-3 victory over Hunter Wood. Hinerman lost a hard-to-swallow 6-5 decision at last month’s Winners Choice.
“Hinerman wrestled a great match,” Tennant said. “He’s another one who kept going for six minutes.”
The Huskies had a run of three straight champs from 112 to 125.
Trent Fancher (112) won his second straight regional title over Fairmont Senior’s Joe Shaw. The senior tied the score at 2-all with escape to end the second and begin the third and got a reversal late to seal the deal.
Tyler Tennant (119) needed three overtimes to pull out a 5-2 decision over Washington’s Jordan Carter, while Storm Barker (152) picked up career win No. 100 with a 17-11 win over Hedgesville’s Mike Cardello.
“It’s the same thing (as the others),” Tennant said of Barker, North’s lone top seed entering the day. In all, nine Huskies are Huntington-bound. “He didn’t get down on himself and kept wrestling. The guys did a great job of that.”
A young Fairmont Senior squad is taking eight wrestlers south. It’s lone champ Saturday was at 130, where Eric Annan got up early on Hedgesville’s Sean Huff and sailed to an 8-2 win.
“He’s worked harder than anyone on our team,” Fairmont Senior coach Mark Delligatti said of Annan. “Today, he wrestled fundamentally sound. He did what he can do and did it well.”
Other state qualifiers — the top four finishers from each weight class advance — were: Fairmont Senior’s Austin Patterson second (103), Brett Brooks fourth (119), Jamie Allard fourth (145), Isaac Morgan third (171), Drew Cameon fourth (189), Matt Jackson third (285), East’s Layne Michael third (103), Hunter Onderko third (119), Mike Baker third (130), Mike Holyfield third (152), James Mascaro third (189), North’s Josh Bombard fourth (130) and Wesley Wheeler third (160).
E-mail Nick Cammuso at ncammuso@timeswv.com.
