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Back-To-Back: Orange wrestling wins second straight reigon title

Phot by Bart Isley

Orange County’s wrestling team brought an impressive core back from the program’s 2022 Region 4D championship squad, but a repeat performance was anything but assured in a sport where anything can happen. 

 

Saturday though, the Hornets delivered in a huge way, rolling to a region championship by outpacing runner-up Salem by 28 points on the strength of three region champions in Waylon Rogers, Justin Jones and Solo Mthethwa and another eighth state qualifiers who will head to Virginia Beach in two weeks for the Class 4 state championships. 

 

“We’ve worked really hard this season and we have kind of a young team but they’ve managed to pull through in so many matches,” Mthethwa said. “That’s giving me a lot of excitement and a lot of energy to bring to states.”

 

Mthethwa, who checks in at 32-2 on the year, pinned his way to the 175-pound championship, winning the title match with a third period pin after piling up five takedowns and a reversal.

 

“I just caught him in a bad spot (at the end) he was a really tough opponent, he fought off his back well,” Mthethwa said. 

 

Mthethwa never seemed rattled or frustrated at all during the long match, maintaining his calm and confidence throughout the match. 

 

“I (wrestle) a really offensive, attacking style, so I have to have a lot of confidence in my shooting ability and attacking ability,” Mthethwa said. “So I’ve worked with my coaches in the season and out of the season to build that confidence and get to my shots and my ties during the match.”

 

Mthethwa’s title followed back-to-back wins by Rogers and Jones at 106 and 113 pounds. The Hornets’ tandem of Rogers and Jones, who are practice partners in the two lightest weight classes, is a clear case of iron sharpening iron. 

 

“We drill very hard every day and we’ve got our eyes on the prize – we’re ready for states,” Jones said.

 

Rogers (45-1 on the year) got it going for the Hornets in the championship round with a pin of Louisa’s Lucas Phelps, highlighted by a slick Granby roll for an escape to start the second period. Executing that decisive move successfully was a product of Rogers’ awareness and experience – the junior was fourth in the state as a freshman and was the state runner-up last year. 

 

“His coach yelled at him to go tightwaist and chop off the whistle so I thought, might as well go with his momentum,” Rogers said. “You’ve got to be calm, stay composed and know what you’re going to do when you’re going to do it.”

 

Rogers quickly built off the dramatic escape with a takedown and a pin just 28 seconds into the second period to wrap up a region title and set himself up nicely with good seeding in the Class 4 state tournament in two weeks. 

 

Jones, who is 42-1 this year, worked for a pin in his final, scoring back points and nearly turning his opponent three different times, but ended up scoring a dominant tech fall with a 17-0 win.

 

“I wasn’t worried about what was going on, I was just about scoring as many points as I can, looking for the fall,” Jones said. “He stayed tough but I just kept scoring.”

 

Orange’s state qualifiers included Sophia Slaughter at 132 pounds, who qualified for the tournament with a fourth place finish as just a freshman. She won a hard fought 7-6 match in the consolation semis to earn a spot in the state field. 

 

“It took me a while to get to this point – it was a challenge to get here,” Slaughter said.

 

The Hornets’ Manley Nalls and Kaden Burke each made the region finals and finished in second place at 120 and 150 pounds respectively. Aidan Sliger and Dominic Turner each finished at 126 and 190 pounds. Gavin Meredith, Samuel Sciabbarrasi and Braiden Swift took fourth at 138, 165 and 215 pounds. 

 

Louisa County finished third overall in the tournament and stacked three region titles in a row with sophomore Luke Rowan getting the run going with a win at 150 pounds, Kasey Casazza keeping it going with a win at 157 pounds and then Tanner Painting capping the run with a victory at 165 pounds. 

 

“That was awesome, I’ve been working toward it all year to do it for the second year in a row,” Painting said.

 

Rowan got the win that started the run but he was quick to credit Painting for him being prepared to meet that moment.

 

“He’s my wrestling partner so he’s always pushing me in the room and now I’ve got a goal to beat him, to be better than him, so this is just the start,” Rowan said. 

 

Casazza brought the energy and flair that the Lions’ run needed in the middle of that spurt as he capped his second-straight region championship.

 

“I was just happy to get it for my senior year and I wanted to see my teammates do well – I’m just happy for all of us really,” Casazza said.

 

Casazza is also looking forward to heading to Virginia Beach for states. He didn’t have the kind of tournament he’d hoped for last season coming in as the region champion and got knocked out of contention early. 

 

“I’m just excited to get my redemption from last year,” Casazza said. “I’m looking to get into better shape so I can do better this year.”

 

Louisa also got a pair of runner-up finishes from Lucas Phelps and Robert Tovornik at 106 and 132 pounds and then grabbed a third place finish at 113 pounds from Blake White. Lawton Rowan and Bryan Rodriguez each took fourth at 175 and 125 pounds. 

 

Parker Vorhees led the way for fourth place Western Albemarle with a first place finish in the 285-pound weight class. Vorhees, a junior who just started wrestling in December, earned the region title with three straight pins in the quarterfinals, semis and the championship match. It was an incredible performance considering that Vorhees had never even seen a region wrestling tournament before Saturday. 

 

“It was pretty hard, I was struggling to pin him but coach (Scott) Townsend and coach Collin (Castrina) were in my corner telling me what to do and it worked,” Vorhees said. “I’m really excited, I just kept telling myself it was going to be alright.”

 

The Warriors’ Cole McGinty at 157 pounds and Owen Townsend at 190 pounds finished as region runner-ups, with Townsend qualifying for states as just a freshman. 

 

“I’m excited and I’m excited to place second here, the kid I went up against is solid,” Townsend said. “I’m a little nervous to go to states, but I’m  just going to take it one match at a time.”

 

Thomas Warren took third at 175 pounds to punch his ticket to the state tournament. Western’s Lucas Silva took fourth at 120 pounds, also qualifying for states as a freshman.

 

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