By Rubin E. Grant
Since the inception of the Alabama High School Athletic Association wrestling duals in 2017, Homewood had won its regional championship just once. And that was in the first year of the competition.
The Patriots finally secured another regional duals title last Friday, but just barely. Homewood edged Mountain Brook 32-31 in the finals of the Class 6A, Region 4 duals tournament at Homewood.
Second-year Homewood coach Frankie McKeown described it as a “big accomplishment.”
“Mountain Brook is a really, really good team,” McKeown said. “I’m super proud of our guys. It was a big accomplishment.”
Homewood recorded four pins, Joseph Marcum at 106 pounds, Moeen Almansoob at 126, Sam Sutton at 152 and Bardon King at 285. Mountain Brook had two pins, Stephen Springfield at 113 and William Courtenay at 220.
McKeown liked the enthusiastic atmosphere at the tournament.
“It was really cool,” he said. “We had a number of people there and they were really into it.”
Neither Homewood nor Mountain Brook had any trouble in the early rounds. The Patriots knocked off Minor 82-0, Hueytown 81-0 and Jackson-Olin 70-6, while Mountain Brook defeated Jackson-Olin 78-6, Hueytown 84-0 and Minor 84-0.
Both schools advance to the ASHAA Duals tournament this weekend. Homewood will host Pelham in a preliminary round match Friday, while Mountain Brook visits McAdory. If the Patriots and Spartans win, they will clash again in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Duals semifinals will be held Jan. 17 and the finals Jan. 20 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Here are complete results of the Homewood-Mountain Brook match:
Homewood
32
Mountain
Brook
31
106 – Joseph Marcum (Homewood) pin. Bobby Rutkoff (Mountain Brook)
113 – Stephen Springfield (MB) pin. Barrett Bridgmon
120 – Buddy Ketchum (H) major dec. Davis Smith
126 – Moeen Almansoob (H) pin. Douglas Johnson
132 – Hanif Muhammed (H) major dec. Bill Bradford
138 – Nathan McCain (MB) dec. Bobby Chamarro
145 – Stuart Andrews (MB) dec. Jordan Cottrell
152 – Sam Sutton (H) pin. Coleman Bates
160 – Jude Smith (MB) dec. lanham Boyd
170 – Sam Carroll (MB) major dec. Blas Correa
182 – Jack Windle (MB) dec. Randall Jaquez
195 – Allen Baker (MB) dec. Hayden Eldridge
220 – William Courtenay (MB) pin. Trust Darnell
285 – Bardon King (H) pin. Daniel Ellis
