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By Mark Trible
FauquierNow.com Sports Editor

Fauquier won the Region II wrestling tournament Saturday at Kettle Run.

The Falcons clinched their third consecutive regional championship with 220.50 points. They finished 23.5 points ahead of second-place Millbrook.

The Falcons had three individual champions.

Fauquier’s Bennett Payne (36-3) defeated Loudoun Valley’s Josh Hawk in the 126-pound class for his second consecutive regional title. 

Payne pinned Hawk just 2:36 into the match.

“It feels a lot better than the first title,” Payne said. “It’s my senior year and I wanted to show everyone I could dominate this tournament.

“My ultimate goal is definitely winning states, but this is a just a stepping stone to get there.”

In the 170-pound class, Fauquier’s Max Strum (25-3) defeated Powhatan’s Thomas Smith in the title match.
Smith had pinned the three wrestlers he faced before his match with Strum.

To the surprise of the spectators, Strum took just 41 seconds to pin Smith.

“It felt like I was in a dream,” Strum said. “He was really aggressive. I thought I’d have a really tough match; I felt really good this weekend, and I felt like I was on top of things.”

In the final match of the tournament, Fauquier’s Evan Oddenino (29-4) defeated Jordan Dowrey of Handley in the 285-pound weight class.

Oddenino won a 4-2 decision in overtime.

“I was worried the whole time,” Oddenino said. “Truthfully, I just tried to do a switch and grabbed his leg and rolled. He’s a great wrestler.”

The Falcons and Millbrook remained close throughout the competition. Fauquier Coach Doug Fisher was proud of his team for finding a way to come through in the late matches.

“It looked bleak for a while there. I just told the kids we dug ourselves a huge hole,” Fisher said. “I told them it doesn’t matter what happened, it’s about coming back from that; they showed some guts out there today.”

Fauquier won five of its six consolation matches and all three title contests.

The state tournament will begin Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Salem Civic Center. Group A and AA wrestlers will participate. Title matches will take place Saturday evening.

Regional Qualifiers
106 — Marco Tcheukado, Fauquier (4th in region)
113 — Matt Raines, Fauquier (3rd)
126 —  Bennett Payne, Fauquier (1st)
126 — Caleb Yost, Kettle Run (3rd)
132 — Chuck Hilleary, Fauquier (3rd)
138 — Tyler Budd, Fauquier (3rd)
138 — Wesley Mirro, Kettle Run (4th)
145 — Landon Dean, Fauquier (3rd)
152 — Jake Raines, Fauquier (3rd)
170 — Max Strum, Fauquier (1st)
285 — Evan Oddenino, Fauquier (1st)
For more information, visit http://fauquierwrestling.org/articles/regionals12.html

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