Parkersburg South left Morgantown with another regional championship, while David Jeffrey and Chris Smith added their names to the record books once again.

Not surprisingly, Paul Jackson's Patriots dominated the AAA Region 1 tournament held at Morgantown, qualifying all 14 wrestlers for next week's state tournament in Huntington and outdistancing second place University High 263.5 to 190. This was South's third straight Region 1 title and 16th overall.

Six of South's wrestlers claimed individual titles, with Smith (171) becoming only the third wrestler in AAA Region 1 history to win four straight regional crowns. Jeffrey (119) continued his record-breaking ways as he broke his own school record for individual season wins when he captured win number 51 in the semi-finals, and added number 52 in the championship finals with a 30-second pin over Big Red sophomore Sam Phillips.

Lance Hill (103), Bryce Gainer (112), Tyler Richards (135), and Caleb Norman (140) also won individual titles for South.

Second-place finishers for South included Jordan Quiocho (130) and Joel St. Clair (152). Tyler Karcher (125), Briar Shively (145), Steven Brogle (189), and Evin Sams (285) all finished in third place, while Travis Fordyce (160) and Matt Somerville (215) finished fourth.

Perhaps the biggest thrill of the day for Patriot fans was when Tyler Karcher took University's Jesse Schiffbauer (ranked #1 at 125) to his back and nearly registered a pin. However, Karcher was unable to get the slap of the official's hand, and Schiffbauer went on to win the match 8-7.

Of special note were the exceptional performances of Travis Fordyce (160) and Evan Sams (285).  Neither wrestler was seeded 4th or higher by the seeding committee, but both overcame the odds and will advance to the state tournament thanks to a 4th place effort by Fordyce and a 3rd place finish by Sams.

South is now in excellent position to bring home their third straight AAA State Wrestling title, which will be state title #199 for the city of Parkersburg. Action begins Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington.
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2011 AAA Region 1

Morgantown High School
02-19-2011

1 263.50 Parkersburg South High School
2 190.00 University High School
3 160.50 Wheeling Park High School
4 158.00 John Marshall High School
5 127.00 Brooke High School
6 99.50 Parkersburg High School
7 70.00 Morgantown High School
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103 Lance Hill (PS 46-6) 1st
112 Bryce Gainer (PS 44-7) 1st
119 David Jeffrey (PS 52-3)  1st
125 Tyler Karcher (PS 42-12) 3rd
130 Jordan Quiocho (PS 48-9) 2nd
135 Tyler Richards (PS 44-8) 1st
140 Caleb Norman (PS 32-3) 1st
145 Briar Shively (PS 42-12)  3rd
152 Joel St. Clair (PS 28-12) 2nd
160  Travis Fordyce (PS 17-10) 4th
171 Chris Smith (PS 38-3) 1st
189 Steven Brogle (PS 38-8) 3rd
215 Matt Somerville (PS 34-19) 4th
285 Evin Sams (PS 32-17)  3rd

-Jenny Sullivan