CARY — The Lumberton boys wrestling team has made a habit of having individual wrestlers win regional championships. Saturday, the Pirates went one step further.

Lumberton won the team championship at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4A Mideast Regional held at Panther Creek High School, a first for the program, behind five individual titles. Devon Connor (126 pounds) also won an individual title for Purnell Swett, meaning six of the 14 weight classifications were won by a Robeson County wrestler.

“We’re always trying to do better than the year before, and last year we were third and some previous years we’ve gotten runner-up a few times, but we’re always trying to improve, always trying to do better,” Lumberton coach James Bell said. “We definitely haven’t had five regional champs; I think the most we’ve had in the past was two regional champs. We’ve had runner-ups and placers and things like that, but having five regional champs was another first and that’s pretty big.”

Lumberton’s five individual titlists were Travelian Hall at 106 pounds, Matthew Foil at 157, James Ellison at 175, Jackson Buck at 190 and Jalen Terry-Winston at 285. The Pirates scored 168.5 points in the team competition to defeat runner-up Hoke County, who had 158, and third-place Pine Forest, with 128.5.

“We’ve been shooting for that since I was a freshman, and to finally reach our goals feels really good,” said Foil, a senior who became a four-time state tournament qualifier.

Each local regional champion advances to the state championships, which begin Thursday in Greensboro, with a top-four finish. Those six wrestlers were the only state qualifiers from Robeson County, with no other local wrestlers finishing second, third or fourth.

Jackson Buck

Buck became a three-time regional champion, improving to 49-0 on the season. The senior, a four-time states qualifier, pinned all four of his opponents in the first round of the match: East Chapel Hill’s Troy Kacan in the tournament’s opening round, Jack Britt’s Xavier Lorenzo in the quarterfinals, South View’s Christopher Ehman in the semifinals and Hillside’s Deyari El-Amin in the championship match.

“We hadn’t seen that guy before, but (Buck) has already wrestled most of the top guys in the state,” Bell said. “He’s undefeated, he’s No. 1 right now, and he just goes out there and scores points, has fun with it.”

Buck’s stated goal for this season has been a state championship ever since finishing second in last year’s tournament.

“As a team, we’re just going in there to do our job,” the 170-match winner said. “Each of us have a specific goal, some different than others, but most of us are going for the state title of course. My goal is to get on top of that podium this year. Last year I fell short, so I plan on going all the way.”

Travelian Hall

Hall (38-10) won his second regional title for the Pirates. The sophomore had a first-round bye before pinning East Chapel Hill’s Roland Owen in 54 seconds in the quarterfinals and beating Southeast Guilford’s Jacob Bone with a third-round pin in the semifinals. Hall pinned Hoke County’s Jekai Sedgwick in just 32 seconds in the title bout.

“The final round, it was probably my quickest pin I’ve ever gotten in this season so far, so I was all boasted up about it,” Hall said.

“He went down a weight class this year in the regionals; we knew he would do a little bit better at 106, and he dominated,” Bell said. “We told him, go out there, set the tone, make a statement and that’s what he did. He went out there, he grabbed the guy, put him right on his back and knocked him out.”

Hall returns to states after a fourth-place finish in the event as a freshman last year.

“I just want to take it step by step and be mentally prepared as well as physically prepared as much as possible,” Hall said. “Just taking it slowly but surely, being further than most, as I just want to be successful in my own way and also with my team.”

Matthew Foil

Foil (49-5) will finish his high-school career at states after earning his first regional championship. He pinned Hoke County’s Joseph Gaynor in the first round, won by 16-4 major decision over Green Level’s Thomas Gingerich in the quarterfinals and won by 6-1 decision over Cary’s Jeremiah Johnson in the semifinals. He then won by 4-2 decision over Apex Friendship’s Augustus Elliott in the final.

“I got to the semis, it started getting a little more difficult, but I knew if I kept ticking away the points would come up on the board and I’d win the match, so I won by decision in the semis and in the finals,” Foil said. “It was a close match, and I got it done, got my regional championship and we’re looking forward to states.”

“We had beat him before and we already had a game plan,” Bell said. “Matthew went out there and calm, cool, collected, did what he had to do and plugged away at points, didn’t give up anything and just dominated the match.”

Foil finished fourth at states last year.

Jalen Terry-Winston

Terry-Winston (42-2) won the regional title and advanced to states in the junior’s first year of varsity wrestling. He pinned his first three regional opponents — Fuquay-Varina’s Lucas Prestipino in the first round, Cary’s Ezequiel Medina-De-La-Rosa in the quarterfinals and Hoke County’s Tafari Parker in the semifinals — before winning by 6-1 decision in the championship match over Apex’ Ben Bartelt.

“(He’s) patient, and with him this is his first year of wrestling varsity, getting 40-plus matches in, it just comes from that experience,” Bell said. “You get 40 matches in, you start to figure out what you’re good at, what you can and can’t do.”

“My last match was probably my hardest match, mainly because he was so slippery and he was stronger than me, and I won by decision in the third period,” Terry-Winston said. “I’m really just aiming for the top (at states). There’s only one person I’ve lost to in the whole bracket, and everybody that I’m somewhat worried about is on the same side of the bracket, so I feel like it should be an easy route, but I’ve still got to work hard no matter what.”

James Ellison

Ellison (52-2) pinned three opponents and beat the other by technical fall in his run to the regional title. The Pirates’ junior pinned Hillside’s Marcos Mitchell and beat Cary’s Donald Haley by technical fall in the first two rounds before pinning Southeast Guilford’s Quintin Adt in the semifinals and Green Hope’s Gavin Lopez in the finals, both in the first round of the bout.

“We hadn’t seen the guy before, but James had definitely wrestled tougher competition and he took care of business pretty quick there in the finals,” Bell said.

Ellison will look to place for the first time in his third state championship appearance.

Devon Connor

Purnell Swett senior Connor (56-6) advanced to states for the first time. He beat Lumberton’s Trenyce Campbell-Bethea by technical fall in the first round, won by 15-6 major decision over Cary’s Sidd Atri in the quarterfinals and advanced by medical forfeit in the semifinals. He won an 8-5 decision over Pinecrest’s Justin Travers in the championship.

“The tournament was fine; I went out there and gave it my all and I came out on top,” Connor said. “I worked really hard for what I got, so it really means a lot to me.”

Connor did not qualify for regionals in his first year wrestling as a sophomore and did not reach states last year as a junior; this has driven him this season, he said.

“It’s been motivating me a lot, on how I didn’t even make it to regionals, and then I didn’t place at regionals, and now I’m winning regionals,” Connor said. “That’s a big motivation.”

“I’ve been saying it all year; he’s a senior and this is his last year, and we had to just go all in and put in the work,” Purnell Swett coach Rashaad Saunders said. “He was like, you know what, I’m never going to feel that feeling again, and so he’s been working he’s been working all summer with that one thing in mind.”

Other wrestlers

Seven Lumberton wrestlers competed in the event and did not advance to states. These wrestlers, however, were also key to the Pirates’ team championship, accumulating points by wrestling through the consolation rounds with no one going 0-2 in the event.

“It takes those guys on the back side, when you’ve got them, to boost up those points,” Bell said. “Without them — we’re talking about the finals and the regional champions, but without those guys on the back side we wouldn’t have had those points we needed to come out on top.”

Damicquen Powell (120) and Cameron Karshner (138) each reached the consolation semifinals for the Pirates; Alexander Moody (113), Campbell-Bethea (126), Ladarius Page (150) and Bryce Ivey (165) reached the consolation third round before elimination and Avery McNeil (215) reached the consolation second round.

Purnell Swett wrestlers Jachriston Kline (120) and Chris Locklear (190) lost both their regional matches and were eliminated. The Rams finished 19th in the team standings.

State championships

Lumberton will seek another high finish in the team competition at states — with each competitor naturally looking for their highest possible individual finish.

“The goal is the same; we’re just going to go out there, wrestle and give it our all, and if we do that we’ll run away with the team title,” Foil said. “If not, selfish season, if you get to the finals yourself go win it.”

Five Lumberton wrestlers and one from Purnell Swett will compete in the girls state championship, which will be held concurrently to the boys tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum from Thursday through Saturday.

“We’ve done all the hard work throughout the year, and now it’s our time to show it and earn our accolades and awards, and that’ll just be a testament to all the work we’ve put in over these seniors’ career, their season, and that’ll be the culmination of everything where we land here on Saturday,” Bell said.

St. Pauls, Fairmont compete in regional

In the 2A Mideast Regional held at Morehead High School in Eden, St. Pauls and Fairmont each saw no wrestlers advance to the state championships.

St. Pauls finished 16th in the team standings and Fairmont was 20th.

Troy McCaw (132) and Dontez Leach (175) had the best results for St. Pauls, with each reaching the consolation semifinals before they were eliminated. Kayden Bondurant (106) and Chayton Smiling (113) reached the consolation third round and Brandon Tuggle (126), Kaden Cunningham (138), Freddy Aguilar (190) and Dashawn Collins (285) each reached the consolation second round for the Bulldogs.

Fairmont’s Jacob Jacobs (215) reached the consolation third round; Bradley Floyd (175) lost both his matches and was eliminated.