UCA advances to state wrestling championship

Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Jair Ulloa works the arm bar against East Davidson’s Bryson Young in the 145-pound match in November. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL

ASHEBORO —Randolph County will be represented in the Class 1-A dual team wrestling state championship meet as Uwharrie Charter Academy is the last remaining of the five county teams that qualified for the postseason.

UCA (35-0) will face Avery County for the state championship at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Fieldhouse on the Greensboro Coliseum grounds.

UCA defeated Pamlico County 45-40 in the regional semifinal before toppling host Rosewood 44-34 in the East Region final Wednesday.

Trinity came up short in the Class 2-A regional final in the West Region.

The Bulldogs, the No. 2 seed in the West Region, suffered a 33-31 road loss to top-seeded Bandys, which earned a trip to Greensboro to face another East Region No. 1 seed Bunn.

Trinity beat Newton-Conover 38-33 earlier Wednesday to advance to the nightcap against Bandys.

UCA and Trinity were both home teams for the first and second rounds Monday.

UCA notched victories against Neuse Charter and South Davidson, which reached the second round by topping Bradford Prep. For UCA, it was a forfeit against Neuse Charter, which chose not to compete, and then a 45-36 outcome against South Davidson.

Trinity advanced with victories against West Wilkes and Eden Morehead through the first two rounds.

Three other teams from Randolph County fell in the first round Monday.

In Class 3-A, Asheboro dropped a 34-31 matchup to West Rowan in the North Henderson gym.

Seven wrestlers for Asheboro won matches, with Xavier Santos (113), Yu Chen (138), Christian Diaz (152), Luke Lambeth (160), Logan Lambeth (182), Eduardo Soto-Canas (220) and Arhman Tyson (285) coming out on top.

The Blue Comets (25-5) had won the Mid-Piedmont Conference regular season, but they stalled right away in the postseason team competition.

In Class 2-A, Southwestern Randolph (14-11) tumbled by a 66-21 score against host Rutherford-Spindale Central.

In Class 1-A, Eastern Randolph (1-19) was drubbed 52-6 by host Pamlico County. The lone winner for the Wildcats was 126-pounder Adrian Lopez. Pamlico County then eliminated South Stanly.

By Randolph Record