Mat Canes Finish Second in Region Individual Matches

The Mat ‘Canes traveled to Morgan County Saturday for the Region 4-AA traditional matches and finished in a close second place behind Morgan County, who moved down in classification from AAA this year.
The second place finish qualifies nine wrestlers to advance to the East Sectionals.

Three ‘Cane Wrestlers, Justin Bradley at 103 pounds, Patrick Clements at 140, and Oscar Sandoval at 160, finished in first place and are individual Region Champions.

In his final match, Sandoval defeated Jared Rector, one of the top wrestlers in the state.

Nick Tarleton at 103 and Brandon Barger at 170 finished in second place. Edgar Bautista at 119 and Patrick Hutchison at 130 placed third, and Brian Harper at 145 and Blake Bell as a heavyweight placed fourth.
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These nine will advance to the East Traditional Sectionals in Dublin tomorrow, Feb. 11, with action getting underway at 4 p.m.
This will be a 16 man tournament in each weight class, and the top eight wrestlers in each class will advance on to the state tournament at Gwinnet Center on February 17, 18 and 19.

Head Wrestling Coach Andy Rewis said, “We’re getting close to where we want to be. We did finish behind Morgan, the region champions, but they are ranked as one of the top teams in the state. Five of our nine wrestlers who placed competed against one of their wrestlers, and we won three out of five, so we are slowly but surely making progress as a team and as individuals.”

On February 25 and 26, the team will travel to Lyons in Toombs County for the AA State Duals Tournament.