Mat ’Canes Send 12 To Sectionals, Have Four Region Champions

The Mat ‘Canes traveled to Madison last Saturday for the 4-AA Traditional Regional Tournament, and although they finished behind Morgan, in second place, they still qualified 12 wrestlers to advance to the AA East Traditional Sectional Tournament scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11 at Dublin High School.

Head Wrestling Coach Andy Rewis said, “We placed second in the region for the third straight year, and it was a two-team race with Morgan from the start. We were up by 10 points after the first two rounds, but the final score in the tournament was Morgan with 239 points versus our 206. We put nine wrestlers out of 13 into the finals while Morgan put eight out of 14, and they won by having more third and fourth place finishers than we did.”

The following 12 wrestlers including region champions, second, third and fourth place winners will advance on to the sectional tournament:

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Region champions included sophomore Justin Bradley in the 113 pound weight class, junior Patrick Clement at 145 pounds (two time), junior Oscar Sandoval at 170 pounds (two time), and senior Timmy Postlethwait at 220. Coach Rewis said, “Timmy got hurt just before the region tournament last year and wasn’t able to participate. It was good to see him come back and win the region championship in his senior year and advance on the sectionals.”

Second place winners included junior Victor Bautista in the 120 pound weight class, sophomore Emory Cline at 126, senior Jonathan Williams at 138, senior Matthew Chupp at 160, and senior Brandon Barger at 180.

Third place winners included junior Jordan Weaver in the 132 pound weight class and freshman Chase Helms at 195.

Senior Cody Reese finished in fourth place in the heavyweight class.

The AA East Traditional Sectional is a 16 man bracket and the top four from each four regions in the east will advance to the AA Traditional State Tournament at the Gwinnett Center at a date to be determined.

Prior to the region tournament, the ‘Canes traveled to Conyers last week and defeated Stockbridge 41-19, and in a close match, defeated Heritage 37-34, which were their last two dual (team) matches of the year. Cline, Chupp, Barger and Postlethwait all won both of their matches.

Coach Rewis said, “I thought it was a good way to end our regular season and get ready for the region. Our team tied a team record of 46 wins for the season, and broke the school record with only 10 losses.”

The senior Mat Canes were recognized at senior night recently and include Brandon Barger, Matthew Chupp, Nick Martin, Timmy Postlethwait, Cody Reece, Tony Seawright, Jonathan Williams, and Shaquille Wright.