Region II Wrestling

By Brad Fauber - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

NOKESVILLE -- Local wrestlers took to the mats for the final day of the Region II tournament at Kettle Run on Saturday, bringing with them plenty of drama and excitement with a few surprises mixed in.

In one of the bigger surprises of the day, Sherando sophomore Jacob Guthridge made an impressive run through the 113-pound bracket. His title run included a triple-overtime victory in his semifinal match with Fauquier's Matt Raines, to force a championship rematch of last week's Northwestern District title bout with James Wood's Taylor Swartz.

Guthridge, fueled by more crowd support because of his underdog role, started the match aggressively and scored a takedown on Swartz in the opening period. Guthridge nearly pinned Swartz with less than 10 seconds remaining and held a 4-0 lead after the first two minutes.

Swartz, last year's regional champ at 103 pounds, garnered a point via escape in the second period. However, both wrestlers battled to a scoreless third period, giving Guthridge the 4-1 championship upset and his first victory over Swartz in his two-year career.

"I shocked the world three times today," Guthridge said. "I was a really big underdog in this tournament and I came out on top. I just took the talents that God gave me and used them to the best of my abilities."

Sherando got another nice surprise when senior Aaron Laboy redeemed his loss to Skyline's Joe Bass in last week's district tournament by beating Bass 3-2 in the 145-pound title bout on Saturday.

Warriors coach Pepper Martin said he thinks Laboy is beginning to re-find his groove after battling through most of the season with a shoulder injury.

"[Laboy's] pretty much had to reinvent his wrestling style," Martin said. "There's some things that he did really well prior to [the injury] that he can't do any longer because the shoulder's not stable."

Drama struck in the 220-pound title match, also a district championship rematch, as James Wood's Mark Bean and Millbrook's DeAndre Johnson faced off for the second time this season.

Johnson scored a powerful takedown in the first period that left Bean slow to get up as he clutched his chest near his right shoulder. In the second period, Johnson once again threw Bean to the ground, and Bean was once again slow to get up, but Johnson was called for an illegal slam that knotted the score at 2-all.

Johnson was penalized for stalling in the third period to which he voiced his displeasure, prompting the referee to call unsportsmanlike conduct. After a several-minute discussion between referees and the coaches of both sides, Johnson was disqualified, giving Bean the title.

"Anytime James Wood and Millbrook wrestle, it's going to be an emotional match," Millbrook coach Jake Forestiere said. "But what happened here tonight cannot take place; it's not the way we run our program. DeAndre knows that and he let his emotions get to him.

"He apologized to all parties involved and it will be handled through our program."

All drama aside, Forestiere was pleased with the effort Millbrook put forth on Saturday as the Pioneers (196.5 points) finished as the runner-up to Fauquier (220.5 points) for the second year in a row.

Other local teams in the top 10 included Sherando (fifth, 108.5), Skyline (sixth, 103), Warren County (seventh, 85) and James Wood (ninth, 81).

Millbrook finished with three regional champions as Dylan Wisman (138), Jake Crawford (160) and Joe Jessen (195) each won their respective title matches.

Crawford won all four of his matches by pin, including a pin at 1:41 in the championship match with Loudoun Valley's Josh Casseda-Maple.

With the regional championship victory on Saturday, Crawford is three victories shy of 200 going into next weekend's Group AA tournament in Salem, and is one step closer to his fourth state title, a goal that has been set in place since he began his high school career four years ago.

"I've been training really hard all year, it's just time to go out there and put it all on the line and don't hold anything back," Crawford said. "[I just need] to go out there and be as dominant as possible."