The Pinecrest wrestling team went to the Courier Tribune Duals hosted at Asheboro High School on Dec. 4 to compete in a dual team format with eight other teams. The team placed third overall despite forfeiting the 112 and 119 weight classes.

They finished with two team wins — one against Asheboro 48-28 and one against Wheatmore 46-32 — and two losses — one against Trinity 28-39 and one against Southwestern Randolph 30-54. Pinecrest had five wrestlers from their varsity lineup go undefeated against all four teams.

Junior captain Zac Lupien, 103 (7-0), had two pins against Asheboro’s Cesar Salinas and Southwestern Randolph’s Bailey Taylor, a forfeit and 9-1 MD win against Wheatmore’s David Niemitalo.

Freshman Dallas Roemer, 130 (9-0), had four pins against Asheboro’s Ryan Murphy, Wheatmore’s Darren Autry, Trinity’s Shane Stafford, and Southwestern Randolph’s Troy Loutzenheiser.

Junior captain Garrett Bateman, 140 (7-1), had one MD win against Trinity’s Casey Bruce and three pins against Asheboro’s Felix Reyes, Southwestern Randolph’s Carlos Mancilla, and Wheatmore’s Matthew Peek — ranked sixth in the state (2A).

Junior captain Dustin Roemer, 145 (9-0, currently ranked first in the state 4A), had four pins against Asheboro’s Leo Garcia, Wheatmore’s Chase Saunders, Southwestern Randolph’s Justin Anderson, and Trinity’s Alex Guevara — ranked fifth in the state (2A).

Freshman Rider Excell 152 (6-3) had four pins against Asheboro’s Matt Needham, Wheatmore’s Bailey Le, Trinity’s Jay Allen, and Southwestern Randolph’s Dylan Brown.

The Pinecrest jayvee team also competed at the team duals in Asheboro, taking second as a team and finishing with seven undefeated wrestlers.

The Pats were scheduled to travel to a meet at Anson High School this today and then to the Trinity Invitational on Saturday.

U.P. Wins Second Tourney

The Union Pines wrestling team won its second tournament title of the year Saturday in Cary, claiming the 14-team Green Hope High School Scramble with a lofty total of 270.5 points.

Host team Green Hope placed second with 187.5, while Sanderson High rounded out the top three with 174 points.

With the victory, the Vikings are now two for two, having won both individual tournaments they have entered by large margins. Overall, Union Pines had six champion wrestlers at the event, including Philip Mondi at 119-pounds, Chris Rubinosky (135), Danny Deardorff (140), Adrian Soto-Perez (152), Jared Bartram (171) and Mike Brennan (189).

Finishing as runner-ups for the Vikes on Saturday were Darrel Utt (103), Ryan Hull (125) and Josh Huskey (215).

Still the top-ranked 3A dual team in the coaches’ poll, as well as the No. 1 rated 3A tournament team (according to retrorankings.com) Union Pines opens its Cape Fear Valley Conference dual season tonight in Spring Lake against League foe Overhills at 7 p.m.

O’Neal Boys Fall

The O’Neal boys’ basketball team lost to St. David’s Friday 65-41.

According to Falcon head coach David Graves, Peyton Robbins sparked a late third quarter run by St. David’s to break open a tight game. He led all scorers with 31 points.

Charlie Johnson led O’Neal with 18. Jacob Talbert scored 10 and Stephen Chamberlain had nine.

O’Neal (3-3) was scheduled to entertain Caldwell Academy Tuesday.