Patriot Wrestlers Claim Regular Season and Tourney Titles

By Patrick Love - Tuesday, February 9, 201

The ups and downs of Southeastern 4A Conference wrestling this season ended with Pinecrest on top.

Despite falling by a point at Hoke in their regular season finale, the Patriots claimed the regular season conference title with a 4-1 record in league duals. Scotland also had a 4-1 record, but Pinecrest won the tiebreaker by virtue of its 36-32 win at Scotland on Jan. 13.

The Patriots backed up their regular season title by finishing first at the conference tournament contested at Purnell Swett on Saturday.

Pinecrest had six individual conference champions, one runner-up and six fourth-place finishers to post 260 team points, outdistancing second-place Hoke, which had 237 team points.

The Patriots’ first-place finishers were 103-pound sophomore Zac Lupien with a pin at 5:44 against Colby Porter of Hoke, 119-pound junior Michael Lippincott with a 15-0 tech fall against Seth Cooper of Hoke, 130-pound sophomore Garrett Bateman with a 17-2 tech fall against Jordan Woriax of Lumberton, 145-pound senior captain Zane Excell with a pin at 3:47 against Sam Williams of Scotland, 160-pound junior Nathan Frederique with a pin at 2:28 against Rommel Andre of Hoke, and 215-pound senior captain Daniel Keith with a pin at 2:21 against Damien Taylor of Hoke.

Sophomore Dustin Roemer won second place at 140 pounds, and fourth-place finishers included 112-pound freshman Cody Fitzgerald, 125-pound junior Clem McKenzie, 135-pound senior captain Grey Tampa, 171-pound freshman Hawk George, 189-pound senior Eric Soles-Moore and 285-pound sophomore Trinity Odums.

Pinecrest head coach Travis Flinchum won league coach of the year honors.

Pinecrest will host the first and second rounds of the Class 4A dual team state wrestling playoffs Tuesday night.

The Southeastern Conference champion Patriots will face off against Greenville Rose in the first round at 6 p.m. At the same time, Southern Durham will wrestle Holly Springs on a second mat.

The two winners will then compete against each other at 7:15, with the winner advancing to the third round.