Tigers win it all in Greensboro

Fred T. Foard High’s wrestling team accomplished what no other boys’ team in school history, in any sport, had done by winning the state 3A championship on Saturday.

The Tigers captured the title by scoring 90 points to edge Union Pines (88) and claim the crown after three days of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum.

St. Stephens, second to Foard in the Northwestern 3A-4A regular-season, finished third with 85 points and Hillsborough Orange was fourth with 84.5.

 “Our kids battled extremely hard,” said Foard head coach Mike Carey. “We may not have had the best finishes, but we got a second place and had five guys that placed in the top five, and that’s how you win a state tournament.”

Foard got a runner-up finish from Hayden Albert (160 pounds), who lost a heartbreaker when Max Redfoot of Chapel Hill scored two points with three seconds left in overtime to win 6-4.

The Tigers got fourth-place finishes from Caleb Griffin (112) and Jacob Harper (145) and fifth-place finishes from Dillon Johnson (171) and Cole Schanilec (285).

“This was just an amazing group effort from the seven guys that made it here,” Griffin said. “That plus the other guys that didn’t get to come but helped us get here.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s been a heck of a three-year run since I got here and this tops it all.”

Zackary Jaramilo (130) of Havelock was the 3A Most Outstanding Wrestler.

All-in-all, there were 128 wrestlers who qualified to wrestle in the state championships with 52 from the Greater Hickory area.

 Of those, three came away with state individual championships and all of them were repeat winners.

Bandys’ Jake Nelson was the only 2A representative to reach the finals and came away with a 3-2 win over Robbie Gladwell of Croatan to finish 47-2.

“I knew after that first takedown that I had it sealed,” Nelson said. “I tried to hold him down early but that just didn’t happen. And once I found the escape and got a 3-1 advantage, I knew I had him.

“My opponent was really tough and it just feels great to be able to finish out high school with another state championship.”

Jesse Doyle (189) of Wheatmore was the 2A Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Ray Farnsworth of St. Stephens grabbed his second state 3A title with a 10-0 decision over Christian Holleman of Havelock. Farnsworth, a senior, finished 48-1.

 “This one was better than the first one,” Farnsworth said about winning a title in 2009 before finishing as runner-up last season. “I just worked the entire six minutes of the match and never quit, and that’s why I came out on top.”

The Indians’ Bradley Bader (112) lost 13-10 in the finals to Josh Smith of Ashbrook.

The other area state champ was Scott Hardiman of Hibriten in 3A at 135 pounds. He pinned Hunter Carroll of Mount Pleasant in 1:52 and finished his senior season at 52-2.

Mason Webb of Freedom finished second  in 3A at 189 pounds.

Croatan won the 2A team title with 136 points, Trinity (131) was second, followed by Piedmont (100) third, Topsail (82) fourth and Newton-Conover (79 fifth. Bandys finished eighth with 56 points.

In 4A, Winston-Salem Parkland was the team champion with 145 points. South Caldwell finished seventh with 49 points.

The Spartans’ Alex Cabrera reached the championship match but fell 6-5 against John Sparks of Green Hope.

Tony Deangelo (140) of Southern Alamance was the 4A Most Outstanding Wrestler.