Winning a region championship is not lost on Independence coach Cliff Warden. But he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way his team performed in the finals.

The Patriots had eight wrestlers in the championship matches and lost six of them. But they had enough of a lead built up to hold off Greenbrier West and a hard-charging Liberty team to claim the Class AA/A Region 3 title Saturday in Shady Spring.

“It’s nice, but next week is the one that counts,” Warden said. “That’s what I’ve been telling them, and that’s our goal. To finish where we want to at the state tournament.”

Despite its hardship in the finals, Independence still qualified 13 of its 14 wrestlers for the state tournament that starts Thursday in Huntington. In addition to their two individual champions and six runners-up, the Patriots had a pair of third-place finishers and three fourth-place.

Individual champs for Independence were Teddy Stover at 106 pounds and Colton Ward at 132.

Warden expected to qualify 10, so 13 is no unlucky number for the Patriots.

“There were some ifs in there, but we got three (extra) in there,” Warden said. “One fell just a little bit short, but he wrestled as well or better than the others. I don’t want to leave Dustin Justice out of the equation.”

Indy finished with 238 points, while Greenbrier West and Liberty tied for second with 202.

Both West and Liberty had seven wrestlers in the finals, but with different results.

The Raiders won five individual titles, including R.J. Elam’s win over state No. 2 Jabez Fleming of Greenbrier West at 152. Trey Fitzwater avenged his Coalfield Conference loss to the Patriots’ Antoine Brown in the 182 match when Brown’s coaches elected to have him forfeit after he had his head slammed to the mat near the end of the first period.

Brown, who appeared woozy, protested his coaches’ decision, to no avail.

Also winning titles for the Raiders were Daniel Carpenter (138), Cody Caffro (170) and Tyler Bays (220).

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers were imploding. They lost five of their seven title matches, including arguably the biggest upset of the season.

Shady Spring junior Nick Farley upended Malik Boatwright for the 145 title. The win helped earn Farley the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award.

Farley was able to contain his excitement long enough for the post-match handshake, then ran to his coaches and teammates to begin the celebration.

“I’m pretty ecstatic,” Farley said. “I don’t think this grin is going to come off my face for days.”

Boatwright, the state runner-up as a freshman last season and currently ranked second in West Virginia, was ahead on points in the second period. But Farley was able to go back to a move he had success with against Boatwright in a Coalfield loss.

“After the last time I wrestled him, and it was a close match, and I knew I had just made some simple mistakes, I thought if I cleaned those up and just kept my head in it, I would be able to pull it off,” Farley said. “Whenever I got that ‘cowboy’ (applied), I knew it was over. I wasn’t going to let go. I held on for dear life.”

Shady Spring was fourth with 173 points and Oak Hill fifth with 120.

— E-mail: gfauber@register-herald.com

Team Scores

1. Independence 238, 2. Greenbrier West 202, tie Liberty 202, 4. Shady Spring 173, 5. Oak Hill 102, 6. Fayetteville 80, 7. Webster County 74, 8. Bluefield 68.5, 9. Richwood 46, 10. Wyoming East 36, 11. Midland Trail 31, 12. River View 20, 13. PikeView 16, 14. Mingo Central 12

State Qualifiers

106: Teddy Stover (I), Ben Alderson (GW), Cody Gillespie (OH), Hunter Sizemore (F)

113: Marc Williams (OH), Tristan Harvey (I), Bailey Bowles (F), Richie Miller (I)

120: Dustin Yoakum (GW), Cody Clifton (I), Robert Alderman (F), David Meadows (SS)

126: Tyler Kosut (SS), Chris Clark (I), Cole Hinkle (GW), Mason Holliday (WC)

132: Colton Ward (I), Nick Barker (L), John Duncan (SS), Dakota Miller (OH)

138: Daniel Carpenter (L), Isaac Cales (I), Brandon Stump (SS), Chris Shumaker (OH)

145: Nick Farley (SS), Malik Boatwright (GW), Matthew Bailey (L), Micah Neff (OH)

152: R.J. Elam (L), Jabez Fleming (GW), Sam Wood (I), Henry Matos (SS)

160: Tyler Parker (GW), Brandon Eldridge (B), Logan Asbury (L), Thomas Williams (I)

170: Cody Caffro (L), Marquis Frazier (GW), Cody Harvey (OH), Trey Williams (I)

182: Trey Fitzwater (L), Antoine Brown (I), Seth Keith (OH), Tanner Bolt (F)

195: Austin Syvertson (SS), Chris Nelson (I), Curtis Starcher (R), Jordan White (PV)

220: Tyler Bays (L), Travis Mills (I), John Bennett (WE), Julius Thomas (B)

285: Colton Cogar (WC), Andrew Spade (GW), Zach Fleshman (I), Mason Burton (B)