Lexington falls in wrestling semifinals

The Ashley Ridge wrestling team defeated Lexington 33-25 in the state semifinals Wednesday to advance to the Class 4A championship match for the first time.

The Swamp Foxes will face the winner of the Boiling Springs/Dorman match in the 4A state championship at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at Dreher High School.

“We have never wrestled for a state title,” Ashley Ridge coach Stacey Woods said. “It’s great just to get through Lexington. They have a great program and Coach (Derek) Strobel and his staff are unbelievable. We beat a good team in a dogfight so we are just excited to be able to wrestle on Saturday. I like how we finished the matches tonightand just kept fighting until the end.”

The Lower State championship match couldn’t have started any better for the Swamp Foxes as Tanner Trephan won by pin fall in the 145-pound weight class to get the home crowd going.

Lexington won the next individual match of the night as Preston Painter earned a 12-4 major decision at 152. But the Wildcats would only earn bonus points in two other classes. Aaron Austin won by pin in the heavyweight class and Ashley Ridge forfeited the 138-pound class, the last match of the night.

Ashley Ridge’s Kobi Bell picked up bonus points for the Swamp Foxes with a pin at 120 and Swamp Fox grappler Owen Trephan received a forfeit at 220.

Ashley Ridge wrestlers Maurice Phillips (160), C.J. Himes (170), A’veyaun Dennis (195), Collin Radlein (113) and Robert Cameron (132) all won a decision in their weight class.

Lexington was still mathematically in the match with two weight classes remaining, but Cameron iced it for the Swamp Foxes with his 7-3 decision.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Lexington falls in wrestling semifinals."