[Stardust]

On a day when a team champion couldn’t be crowned, it was some top-notch individual efforts that highlighted the Region Three high school wrestling tournament Saturday at Fairdale.

Because of the large size of the region, some wrestlers who fell to the consolation bracket competed in five matches — the limit for a single day under KHSAA rules — before deciding third and fifth place. Because of that, six consolation matches will be held at 8:30 this morning at Fairdale, after which a team champion will be crowned.

That left the individual title in each weight class as the only thing decided, and there were some great matches pitting some of the state’s top-ranked wrestlers against some upset-minded foes.

Freshman Nathan Thompson of DeSales, ranked No. 2 in the state in the 106-pound weight class, needed every bit of his match to score a win over Southern’s Nicolas Douglas.

After a scoreless first period, Thompson took a 3-0 lead in the final moments of the second period. Facing the deficit, Douglas scored at the buzzer and it was 3-2 going into the third period. That’s when things got interesting. Douglas tied it at 3 with 33 seconds left in regulation, only to have Thompson score four points in the final two seconds to win the decision 7-3.

“I didn’t want to wear myself out at the beginning,” Thompson said. “I was aware of the score and the time. I was being cautious. I had wrestled him twice before (winning both). I was trying not to do anything to mess myself up.”

The freshman, now 62-6, moves on to the state championships on Feb. 17-18 at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena. There, he’ll be joined by the top four finishers in the regional, including Douglas.

Senior Jake Maupin of tournament host Fairdale, ranked No. 2 in the 170-pound class, improved to 33-0 with a win over Western’s David Jean, getting a pin late in the first period. For Maupin, who finished second in the state last year, the regional title is just a step in taking care of some unfinished business.

“I want to win more,” he said. “I’ve got more than one move, and my condition is better.”

DeSales senior Trevor Ford, top-ranked in the state at 285 pounds, may have more to prove than anyone, coming off a sixth-place finish in the state last year. That result is becoming a dim memory as Ford improved to 62-1 after pinning Robert Green of Doss in the final.

The best matches of the day involved Southern, the defending champion, which placed nine wrestlers in the finals.

In the 152-pound weight class, Fairdale’s Tyler Goldman needed extra time to edge Southern’s Chris Cash in a 10-7 decision.

The Trojans got the best of it against DeSales in the 126-pound weight class as Trevor Smith, in a controversial call, scored two points at the buzzer to edge Colton Elkins 11-9.