The Patriot varsity wrestlers swept through the Anson Bearcats dual team pretty handily Wednesday at Pinecrest High School by a score of 69-12.

The Pinecrest dual team record is now 11-1. The team is ranked third in the tournament team rankings for the state’s 4-A division, with seven of their grapplers ranked in the top 10 in their weight classes.

The meet began with six points on the board for Pinecrest because of a Bearcat forfeit at 120 pounds.

The Patriots went to work quickly when the actual wrestling began, with 18 points earned by junior Mario Contreras (126 pounds), sophomore Dallas Roemer (132), who is ranked third in the state 4-A rankings at his weight class, and senior Garrett Bateman (138), who is ranked eighth in his class. All three wrestlers claimed first-period pins over their Bearcat opponents.

Another Anson forfeit at 145 pushed the Pinecrest’s lead to 30-0 before Patriot senior Dustin Roemer (152), the top-ranked 4-A wrestler at his weight, pinned Darien Little at 1:36 for six more team points.

The closest match of the evening was between Pinecrest sophomore Rider Excell (160), ranked ninth in 4-A, taking on Anson senior Jeremy Buchanan, ranked second in 3-A. Excell prevailed, taking a 10-7 decision as the Patriots’ margin climbed to 39-0.

Anson finally got on the board, with six points for winning by pin in the 170-pound bout.

Pinecrest returned to its winning ways when sophomore Bryson Thomas pinned Jaquan Wall at 182 pounds. Another Anson forfeit at 195, followed by a second-period pin by Patriot junior Luke Fetla (220), ranked sixth, over Terence Dumas brought the score to 57-6.

The Pats forfeited at heavyweight before snagging the last 12 points of the meet when freshman Irvin Enriquez (106), ranked fourth in the state, pinned Drew Honeycutt in 23 seconds. Anson gave up a forfeit at 113 to bring in the final 69-12 count.

The Patriots will travel to the Trinity Bulldog Invitational Saturday before holding their first Southeastern Conference meet against Purnell Swett on Wednesday, Dec. 14, with a 6 p.m. start in the Pinecrest gym.