[Stardust]

Trinity senior John Fahy, ranked No. 1 in the 138-pound weight class, pinned St. Xavier’s Dominic Lampe late in the first period to cap a strong effort at the Region Four high school wrestling meet Friday at Atherton High School.

No. 3-ranked Trinity needed Fahy’s and every other point it could muster to successfully defended its team title with 234 points. No. 4 St. Xavier was second at 229.50.

Fahy, the defending state champion, has come up on the short end only three times this season, all against nationally ranked out-of-state wrestlers. That prepared him for the regional and set him up as the man to beat at 138.

“It just tells me what I need to work on,” Fahy said of his losses to top-notch competition.

Whatever he worked on, it worked, and his pin of an archrival held more than just bragging rights on the mat.

“It helped out the team; we’re pretty close in the standings,” said Fahy, whose Shamrocks were in a 1-2 deadlock with the Tigers going into the championship round.

Despite the first-period pin, there were some anxious moments against Lampe, who knows Fahy’s tendencies and weaknesses. Of course, that goes both ways.

“I’ve known him for a while. You learn the techniques he likes, you can strategize,” Fahy said of Lampe. “But there’s always a chance he could see a weakness.”

And with the state championships a week away, Fahy is still working.

“I’ve got one week left, I can’t slack off,” he said. “But I feel confident.”

Trinity’s Bobby Bryant, top-ranked in the 195-pound class, also came through with a big win over St. Xavier, scoring an 11-3 majority decision over the Tigers’ Matt May.

One of the hottest-contested matches in the championship round took place between Moore’s Jesus Rosado and Trinity’s Ian Kahl in the 126-pound division. With the score tied at 4 andjust 30 seconds left , Rosado scored two and won a 6-4 decision.

Another highly charged match took place in the 160-pound final. Brent Hitchings of Trinity, who had been ranked No. 1 in the state at 152, edged Central’s Omar Jarvis in a 4-3 decision. The Central corner didn’t agree — loudly — and was penalized two team points by the officials. Jarvis had come into the match ranked No. 2 at 160.

Other highly ranked wrestlers to go into the state championships as regional titlists included St. Xavier’s Will Tompkins at 182 and Justin Lampe at 132, and Trinity’s Brendan Darrow at 220.

Fahy and the other top four finishers in each weight class advanced to the State Championships, to be held next Friday and Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena.

http://saxo.highschoolsports.net/section...le?site=B2