TRINITY — Ethan Emrich and Kyonta Burns led a group of Anson High wrestlers that competed in the NCHSAA 2A Individual Wrestling Mideast Regional over the weekend at Wheatmore High School.

Emrich dominated through the 152-pounds bracket, while Burns worked through the 220-pounds class to eventually receive regional runner-up honors, stamping their tickets to the state championships on Thursday.

Emrich won the first two matches with pins over Carlos Blackwell from Reidsville, and Roy Oxendine of Fairmont. In the semifinals, Emrich won by tech fall over Oak Grove’s Dylan Barker, then fell in the championship match to Ledford’s Issac Shelley.

Meanwhile, Burns was just as impressive. He scored pins over St. Paul’s Ronald Reed and Landis Simms from Walkerton. He used a 16-2 decision to beat Cummings’ Emere Hinton in the semifinals before losing to top seed Jahki Rankin from Reidsville.

Anson’s Jarvis Marsh (195 pounds) secured pins in his first two matches of the event over Andy Bonilla Reyes and Camron Sapp before losing to Barlett Yancey’s Dylan Wall in the semifinal round. Wall would fall in the consolation bracket to eventual third-place finisher Keyan Floyd from Reidsville.

Bearcats wrestler Jason Zell won a pair of matches in the 113-pounds division.

Zell defeated Trinity’s K.J. Stafford via pin in the opening round before losing to Connor Wishon in the next match. He bounced back with a pin over Levi Johnson in the consolation bracket, but couldn’t overcome Zion Everette in the following match, falling by way of pin.

Anson’s Shawn Hersey dropped his opening-round match against John Gilmartin, but proceeded to get pins in his next two matches. Hersey won by fall over Logan Horning, then did the same against Sterlandjy Metayer. Hersey as eliminated in the following match, losing to Wheatmore’s Connor Nelson.

Dakwan Cash also notched a win by fall in his sole victory of the competition.

As a team, the Bearcats posted 12 total pins, which ranked seventh among 24 participating schools.

Anson hoops wraps up regular season

Both Anson varsity basketball teams closed out their regular season slate on the road this past week.

The boys team went 1-2 during the stretch, starting with a nail-biting 58-56 win at West Stanly on Tuesday when Masson Sanderson banked home a last-second 3-pointer.

Wednesday, the Bearcats lost to Marvin Ridge, then fell to Rocky River Conference rival Forest Hills on Friday.

Anson (10-12, 6-4 RRC) finished second in the conference behind Forest Hills and thus receives an automatic bid to the state playoffs. They await the NCHSAA bracket release on Saturday to determine who their first-round opponent will be.

Meanwhile, the girls team dropped all three games, losing to both West Stanly and Marvin Ridge by a score of 60-31, then Forest Hills, 68-24.

The Lady Bearcats finish the year 8-15 overall and 4-6 in conference play.

Courtesy Photo Anson wrestlers Ethan Emrich, left, and Kyonta Burns pose after taking second place in their respective weight class during the 2A Mideast Regional over the weekend.
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/web1_AnsonWrest_regionals.jpgCourtesy Photo Anson wrestlers Ethan Emrich, left, and Kyonta Burns pose after taking second place in their respective weight class during the 2A Mideast Regional over the weekend.

Staff reports