The Ashe County High wrestling team had two place finishers, and nearly had a state champion in the process on Saturday in Greensboro at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 2A State Wrestling Championships,.

Michael Elliott (45-2) just missed winning a state title at 145 pounds as he lost to Josh Stephens of Chase 10-8 in the finals on Saturday night. Elliott marched his way to the finals by pinning Justin Harrell of St. Paul's (1:05) in the opening round; he pinned Michael Lafferty of Northside in 3:29 in the quarterfinals, and he Alex Guevara of Trinity, 9-3, in the semifinals.
Justin Scarborough (33-12) finished fourth at 182 pounds. He lost to Alex Jones of Beddingfield 13-2 in their third-place match. Scarborough had defeated Jones 12-10 in the quarterfinal round on Saturday. Team-wise, the Huskies finished 14th with 37.5 points. Croaton won the Class 2A title with 120 points; Newton-Conover finished second with 100 points.
In class 4A, Jeremy Ward, who defeated Demetre Kostis (50-2) of Watauga in the state quarterfinals on Friday, lost the championship at 132 pounds to Jake DeAngelo of Southern Alamance, 3-2. Parkland won the Class 4A title with 133 points. Orange won the Class 3A title by nosing out Charlotte-Robinson 106.5-98; North Rowan staved off West Wilkes 88-85 to win the Class 1A championship.

Regionally, St. Stephens finished fourth with 78 points. The Indians had five place finishers. Andrew Christopher finished second at 220 pounds; Warren Boyette finished third at 170; Zacharias Fincannon at 152 and Blake Rogers at 106 both finished fifth; Dakota Griffith finished sixth at 113.

Fred T. Foard, which won the dual-team state championship, finished 12th with 34 points. The Tigers had two place finishers. Ben Pitts finished fourth at 132; Ben Hughes finished fifth at 138. Freedom, which will join the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference next season, finished 30th with 21 poiints. Dalton McGalliard of the Patriots finished second at 126 pounds. Patton, which will join the NW3A/4A next season, finished in a tie for 46th placer with ten points. Jeremy Guinn of the Panthers finished fifth at 120 pounds.