Independence reclaims Class AA-A Region 3 championship

Apr. 11—And they're back.

Losing its grip on the Class AA-A Region 3 championship last season proved to be just a blip for Independence. Placing 11 wrestlers in the finals, the Patriots qualified all 14 for the state tournament and outdistanced Herbert Hoover Saturday to win their seventh regional championship in eight seasons.

The Patriots finished with 281 team points and had seven individual champions. Hoover, which ended Independence's run of six straight region titles last season, was second with 224 points.

Being able to field an entire lineup definitely helped the Patriots, who were missing several wrestlers due to grades when they lost a dual to Hoover to start the season. The West Virginia Department of Education waived the 2.0 grade-point average requirement for athletic participation because of the effects of remote learning, but Raleigh and Ohio counties overrode the decision and maintained the requirement.

Students with 2.0 GPAs when the nine weeks period ended the last week of March were permitted to rejoin their teams.

"It was definitely nice to have everybody back, for sure," Independence coach Jeremy Hart said. "This is the team we thought we would have all year. I thought they wrestled well considering what little practice we have had. We've missed half our season. Just to see them show up and get to wrestle, I was tickled with that. Then to see the effort they put into it, I was very pleased."

No way was Hart expecting this kind of dominance.

Senior John Sanders decisioned Herbert Hoover's Ethan Dye 8-5 at 113 pounds to claim his fourth Region 3 championship. Fellow senior Sam Adams repeated at 170 with a second-period pin of Nicholas County's Dalton Hanshaw, as did 126-pound senior Bryce Perdue with a 3-0 decision over Tyler Teel of Herbert Hoover.

A pair of freshmen picked up their first regional titles. Dillon Perdue pinned Hoover junior Jonathan Pauley in the second period at 106, and Caleyb Nichols pinned Webster County sophomore Darren Barnette at 132.

Sophomore Judah Price won his second regional, this one at 138 when he pinned Greenbrier West's Brad Blevins in the second period. Price was a state finalist at 120 last season.

Colton Caron, also a sophomore, defeated Hoover's Andrew Rollyson via 5-1 decision to win the title at 145.

The Patriots also had four runners-up, two in third place and one in fourth — Makenzie Taylor at 120. She won the 101-pound middle school championship in last season's inaugural West Virginia Girls State Tournament.

"The semifinals were huge for us," Hart said. "We put some kids in the finals that we were worried might not make it to states. That was big round for us. I thought that made a difference in the tournament, us winning some big matches in the semis."

Greenbrier West's Noah Brown was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after he won the 285-pound championship with a first-period pin of the Patriots' Logan Isom. Brown is now a three-time regional champion.

Other champions were Dalton Heath (160) of Greenbrier West, Dylan Corbin (120), Wyatt Baldwin (152), Zach Paxton (195) and Mason Atkinson (220) of Herbert Hoover and Connor Jones (182) of Nicholas County.

Two-time Class A state champion Greenbrier West finished third and will send nine wrestlers to the state tournament — the same as last year. Shady Spring was fourth and finished with five state qualifiers, as will fifth-place Nicholas County.

Webster will send three, Liberty, PikeView and Richwood will all send two and River View one.

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com

Team scores

1. Independence 281, 2. Herbert Hoover 224, 3. Greenbrier West 162, 4. Shady Spring 89, 5. Nicholas County 85, 6. Webster County 54, 7. Liberty 43.5, 8. PikeView 38, 9. Midland Trail 28, 10. Richwood 24, 11. River View 16, 12. Bluefield 14, 13. Meadow Bridge 3.

Individual place winners (top 4 qualify for state tournament)

106 pounds: Dillon Perdue (I), Jonathan Pauley (HH), Tucker Lilly (GW), Josh Dudley (R), Walker Furrow (SS), Gretchen Cogar (WC)

113: John Sanders (I), Ethan Dye (HH), Roger Thomas (NC), Ben Schafer (WC), Leslie Ward (SS)

120: Dylan Corbin (HH), Joshua Goode (SS), Moses Gray (GW), Makenzie Taylor (I)

126: Bryce Perdue (I), Tyler Teel (HH), Hayden Brown (WC), Clayton Robinson (GW), Michael Kinzel (L)

132: Caleyb Nichols (I), Darren Barnette (WC), Logan Hylton (PV), Joseph White (HH), Colby Winnings (GW)

138: Judah Price (I), Brad Blevins (GW), Landen Chambers (SS), Preston Thomas (NC), Josh Simons (WC)

145: Colton Caron (I), Andrew Rollyson (HH), Levi Price (SS), Max Hicks (NC), Robert Ruffner (NC), Corey Kincaid (MB)

152: Wyatt Baldwin (HH), Colten Miller (I), Andrew Shrewsberry (SS), Eli White (GW), Nick Holbert (PV)

160: Dalton Heath (GW), Joshua Hart (I), Randy Hughart (HH), Ben Polk (SS), Kaden Duckworth (PV), Perry Knight (WC)

170: Sam Adams (I), Dalton Hanshaw (NC), Cole Vandall (GW), Tyler Grindstaff (HH)

182: Connor Jones (NC), Isaiah Duncan (I), Zakarie Bailey (HH), Ashton Weatherly (PV), Mason Brown (GW), Peyton Pettry (L)

195: Zach Paxton (HH), Joey Terry (GW), Houston Shrewsbury (I), Jaeden Naylor (L), John Bowman (MT), Brett Wood (SS)

220: Mason Atkinson (HH), Jeff Bowles (L), Atticus Goodson (I), Tyler Workman (R), Christian Penn (B)

285: Noah Brown (GW), Logan Isom (I), Christian Hall (HH), Skylar Payne (RV), Kellen Queen (MT), Dane Robinson (B)