The St. Augustine Prep wrestling team reached the finals of the Virginia Duals American Cliff Keene Division before coming up just short against Corner Canyon (Utah), 29-27, in the championship match on Saturday.
St. Augustine won the last three weights including pins at 215 and heavyweight by Brody Taylor and Braden Shields but came up two points short.
Corner Canyon won the match by jumping out to a 15-0 lead on the lower three weights to start the dual, the winning four matches by a total of eight points in the middle weights.
Luke Ward’s 5-4 tiebreaker decision at 165 kept St. Augustine in the match but when the teams traded decisions at 175 and 190 it clinched the dual for Corner Canyon before Taylor and Shields pinned out.
St. Augustine advanced to the final with a 48-26 win over Skyline (Va.) in the semifinal. Rocco Fanelle (113), Adrian Arbelo (144), Jack Olivo (175), Daniel Francis (190), Taylor (215) and Shields (285) all had pins.
West Deptford finished with a fourth-place finish in the American Townebank Division, going 0-2 Saturday after reaching the semifinal on Friday.
The Eagles fell to eventual champion Grassfield (Va.), 68-5, then dropped the third-place match to Cox (Va.), 49-30.
West Deptford pinned or received a forfeit on the lowest four weights against Cox. John Anthony Fenuto (106), Hunter Whinna (113) and Ryan McConaghy (126) all won by fall, and the Eagles also picked up a pin from Charles Schriver (215).
McConaghy posted the only win against Grassfield with a technical fall.
