By Gary Fauber
Register-Herald Assistant Sports Editor
HUNTINGTON — One by one they fell, until no one was left.
Class AA/A Region 3 placed eight wrestlers into the state semifinals Friday night. Today, all of them will have to settle for no better than third place.
The region was shut out in the semis, signaling the downfall of a region that once was arguably the best in West Virginia.
Shady Spring’s Sonny Harrah, considered by some the region’s best chance at claiming a state title, saw his run end at the hands of Cameron’s Tevin Hall in the 140-pound class. Hall was able to counter everything Harrah attempted en route to a 6-2 win.
“Hall did an excellent job of staying in control, and Sonny just couldn’t shake him off,” Shady Spring coach Danny Carter said.
Harrah (48-2) fell behind 3-0 in the second period, but was able to get a reversal in the third. However, the scorers inadvertently gave the two points to Hall. The match was halted to clear up the error, and the score was corrected to 3-2 in Hall’s favor instead of 5-1.
But the break derailed any momentum Harrah might have mustered.
“We had a little bit of momentum going at that stop,” Carter said. “I was hoping to get him on a fresh start.”
Carter was looking for Harrah to execute a move that he has been practicing on, but he never got the opportunity.
“He’s got a little move that he does and he’s tough with it,” Carter said. “He just couldn’t get into position for it.”
Hall will wrestle for a second straight state title tonight. He was the 135-pound champ last year, when he defeated Liberty’s Jacob Milam.
Milam returned to the 135 semifinals Friday and was pinned by Cody Clark of Calhoun. Clark was the 135 runner-up a year ago.
Trent Bays, Milam’s teammate at Liberty, was beaten in the semifinals by Brock McClung of Point Pleasant.
Greenbrier West had three wrestlers in the semis. Jon Crane was pinned at 3:30 by Point Pleasant’s Caleb Duong, Aaron Bugby fell 5-1 to Liberty Harrison’s Tommy Dodd at 119 and heavyweight Anthony Trout was pinned at 4:14 by Grafton’s Eli Poston.
Meadow Bridge’s Devonte Pettit came closest to getting a state title shot. He lost 3-2 to Madonna’s Max Nogay in the 171-pound semis. Nogay won the 160 championship last season.
Chris Setliff of Shady Spring took the mat immediately after Harrah’s loss. He suffered a 4-0 loss to Tyler George of Williamstown.
George received a warning point in the second period that seemed to distract Setliff the rest of the way.
“Chris let it bother him too much,” Carter said. “He wrestled a little tentative and that might have been his downfall.”
All of the semifinalists will have the opportunity to wrestle through the consolation brackets beginning today at 11 a.m. But it has been a rough couple of years for Region 3, which placed four in last season’s finals, all of them losing.
“It runs in cycles, and right now we’re in a down cycle as far as Region 3 goes,” Carter said. “We’ve got some really young kids, (Independence) has got some really young kids, Liberty has some really young kids.
“Region 3 will be back up there where it has been. A couple of years ago everybody was chasing us.”
Meanwhile, Oak Glen’s quest for a 14th straight state championship appears to be in jeopardy. The Golden Bears are third with 117.5 points, behind leader Point Pleasant (139) and second-place Calhoun County (131.5).
— E-mail: gfauber@register-herald.com
