Defending state tournament champion Damascus of Montgomery County continued to roll in Class 1A-2A by winning the South Region championship yesterday at Howard.
The Hornets, defending South Region champs, already had won the state Class 1A-2A dual-meet championship.
Lackey of Charles County finished runner-up, and the Chargers gave Damascus a strong challenge before falling, 164 1/2 to 151. Only 4 1/2 points separated the teams entering the finals.
A key match for Damascus was Dan Wolford's 4-1 victory in the finals over Ryan Hershey of Lackey at 152 pounds.
Hershey was 31-1 and ranked first in the state. Wolford was 30-2 and ranked third. Wolford had beaten Hershey 1-0 last week.
"It was a crucial match for us," Wolford said. "And it was much closer than the 4-1 score would indicate."
Damascus coach John Horwat said: "We move to Class 3A next year and we can't wait to get out of this region because it is the toughest in the state. Winning it means an awful lot."
Damascus placed six in the finals and won four titles. The Hornets will send nine to the state championships. Lackey sends 10. The top four qualify for states.
Oakland Mills, which finished third, placed three wrestlers in the finals, including Choung Nguyen (119), Wade Mitchell (125) and Matt Sutton (135).
Nguyen (13-1), a senior who finished third in the region last year, was the only Scorpion champion, edging Lorne Correia (23-4) of Central, 4-2.
Nguyen went ahead 4-2 on a takedown late in the second period.
"I knew I had it won then because I knew I could hold him off," Nguyen said.
Sutton (23-7) pulled within 8-6 in the third period before losing to Bob by Mann of Damascus, 17-9. Mann is 31-2 and finished third in the region last season.
"I tried as hard as I could," Sutton said.
Mitchell (26-2) lost to Bruce Pendles (18-0) of Dunbar by default after an injured right shoulder made it impossible for him to continue in the first period.
"It was a no-brainer to pull him out because this is the only way he'll have a chance to win states," Oakland Mills assistant coach Steve Carnahan said.
Oakland Mills sends six to states, including Chris Nayor, third at 103 pounds, Justin Robbins fourth at 112 pounds and Brian Howard, third at heavyweight.
Pendles was the only winner for Dunbar, which also had one third and two fourths to finish in fifth place.
Jeremy Lignelli won ninth-place Glenelg's only regional championship by decisioning Premeille Petteway of Central, 14-8.
Lignelli, a sophomore and Glenelg's only finalist, improved his record to 29-1. Petteway's record fell to 28-7.
"It was a sloppy match," Lignelli said. "But I was happy to win and am looking forward to states.'"
Carlo Gerstenfeld, who was a regional runner-up last season, shot for Wilde Lake's only regional title but lost to Frank Rodriguez of Albert Einstein by a tiebreaker, 3-2.
The two heavyweights wrestled a scoreless two-minute overtime period, and the match was decided when Rodriguez rode Gerstenfeld for 30 seconds.
Seventh-place Hammond sent two wrestlers to the finals but both Hansel Henry (160) and Mike Chang (112) came up short. Chang is 27-4 and Henry is 27-7.
Eighth-place Atholton had two third-place finishers, Ricky Trott (171) and Dave Tangredi (130).
Tim McGrail of Atholton finished fourth.