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Strasburg, Fluvanna flex muscle

Against three quality Jefferson District wrestling squads, Strasburg showed why they were last year’s Group A runner-up at the quad-meet hosted by the Monticello on Wednesday night as they found a way take down the Mustangs in addition to Fluvanna County and two-time defending JD champion Louisa.

The Rams, who came into the match with just one loss and pushed their win total to 17, cruised through all three of their matches and drove out of Charlottesville feeling pretty good about their showing.

“It was nice to get some pins along the way,” said Strasburg coach Rick Bowley. “We don’t know a lot about the teams here and it’s nice to see some different competition. Fluvanna was a particularly good squad, and we matched up pretty well with the other two.”

The Flucos followed their strong 5-0 showing at Albemarle on Saturday by going 2-1. Fluvanna fell by double-digits to Strasburg but was able to edge Monticello late in match, 45-37, and finish the night with a 44-25 victory over longtime rival Louisa County.

“After four years it’s nice to finally have paid due or dues and come out on top of Louisa,” said Flucos coach Craig Conner. “Our kids are having a lot of fun. Even the kids that have had, or are having great individual success are enjoying the team’s overall success more so than anything else. They had a lot of fun on Saturday going 5-0 and I think it was the same tonight going 2-1.”

Willie Crawford — who was last year’s Group AA champion at 171 pounds — improved to 17-1 on the year after winning all three of his matches. Junior Christian Chirico also took home wins against his three opponents.

Louisa County went 1-2 on the night and beat Monticello 44-31. The Lions, who arguably lost more talent than anyone in the district — Kevin Whitmer, Logan McNutt, and Charlie Elkins each won over 100 matches for Louisa during their wrestling careers — saw success from some of its most familiar names. Josh Scharf, Nate Whitmer and Ethan Faulls each winning all three of their matches on the evening.

“There were a lot of close matches for us, particularly against Fluvanna, and that’s something that we’ve got to work on — winning those,” said first year Lions coach Dan Bono. “If we win those I think that match could be a lot closer. But give Fluvanna a lot of credit. They’ve come a long way in a short time and have worked really hard.”

Monticello’s Timmy Rollins and Alex Via also each had outstanding nights. The senior and sophomore tandem each went 3-0, and while their team fell in all three of its matches, their coach, Tom Sutliff, has been pleased with the way his group has improved since they first took the mat back in December.

“We came in with some momentum after beating Charlottesville on Friday and I was hoping that would carry over,” Sutliff said. “But I’m still real proud of the kids. We’re making improvements and our goal is to be better in February than we are now and I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Fluvanna and Louisa will travel to the Free Lance Star Super 32 Invitational at Riverbend on Friday and Saturday.

Monticello will head to Freedom High on Saturday at 10 a.m.

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