Heritage takes first leg of NGAC mat championships

After Heritage’s narrow 39-36 victory over Gordon Lee in the regular season dual match finale earlier in the week, another close battle between the two rivals was expected Saturday during the NGAC Duals at Ringgold Middle School.

That anticipated battle took place in the tournament finals and resulted in another win for the Navy-and-Red, but by a slightly bigger margin.

Trailing by four points after the first four matches, Heritage took control in the middle and heavier weights and went on to a 51-28 victory.

Heritage got to the finals after victories over LaFayette 54-24 and Saddle Ridge 66-18 , but dropped the first match of the finals as Gordon Lee’s Landon Williams scored an 18-4 major decision at 86 pounds.

Boston Chandler 94 answered for Heritage with a 4-0 victory, but a pin by Carson Alexander 100 put the Trojans up 10-3. Jonathan Arehart 108 battled for a 6-2 win to pull the Generals to within 106, but the next match would be a turning point.

On his back early in the match, Boone Wells fought his way back to get a pin for Heritage at 115 and give his team a 12-10 lead.

They would not trail again. Billy Hamilton got six more points for the Navy-and-Red with a pin at 123, and, although

Gordon Lee’s Dino Selimajic came back with a pin at 130 to cut the gap down to 18-16, the next five bouts would seal the deal for the Generals.

It started at 140 as Tucker Hayes got a pin before Brady Pritchett followed up with a pin at 150. Three more pins would follow — Trey Wilson 165 , Luke Jones 180 and Elijah Hughes

220 — before first-year grappler Hunter Baker scored an 8-7 win in the heavyweight bout to increase the lead to 51-16.

Gordon Lee won the last two matches by forfeit, Cooper Saine at 72 and Jack French at 78, but it would be too little, too late for the Trojans.

Heritage, who went 9-0 in league matches during the regular season, finished 12-0 in duals on the year. They will look to complete the NGAC tournament sweep when the traditional league tournament is held this Saturday in Trion.