The Fuquay Varina Bengals participated in two events this past week. The latest was the Wolverine Challenge held at Wakefield High School where the Bengals finished 11th place out of 18 teams. Soren Ferrell, Robert Fernandez, Jarrod Miller, and Drew O’Rourke grabbed top honors for the Bengals, finishing first, second, and forth places, respectively.

In addition to winning first place, Soren Ferrell was also voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the upper weight classes 145-285.

This was the second year in a row that Soren won first place and the Most Outstanding Wrestler honors at the Wolverine Challenge. In route to his first place finish, Soren dispatched his first two opponents with relative ease, scoring pins in the first and second periods.

The championship match with Southern Durham’s Johnson was a very tactical battle, ending with no score in the first period.

Johnson won the toss in the second period and elected to take the down position.

Johnson scored one point on an escape and the second period ended with Johnson in the lead by a score of 0-1.

Soren tied the score with an escape at the beginning of the third period. The third period was very much like the first and second, each wrestler looking for the opportunity to score a takedown.

With just over a minute to go in the match Soren was able to take his opponent down, but the referee ruled they were out of bounds and the score remained tied 1-1.

With roughly 30 seconds left in the match Soren stepped up the pace, putting Johnson on the defensive and at the 18 second mark, scored the takedown that would win the match. The match ended in Soren’s favor 3-1. Soren’s record for the season is 9-0.

On the way to his second place Robert Fernandez easily over powered his first opponent from Apex, scoring a pin at the 2:27 mark. Robert was then matched against Sanderson’s Marshal Bass. The wrestlers wasted no time in scoring, both seeking to impose his will over the other. When Robert grabbed the lead, he did not relinquish it. In the end Robert defeated Bass by a score of 7-5 to advance to the championship match. In the championship match Robert lost to Clayton of E. E. Smith. Although Robert did not capture the first place medal, he is off to a great start with an impressive 13-3 record early in this season.

Jarrod Miller started the day off with wins over opponents from Apex and Wake Forest Rolesville. In each match Jarrod scored quick and decisive pins at the 1:49 and 1:45 marks to advance to the next round. In the next round, Jarrod lost to Robinson of Nash Central, but went on to score his third pin of the day over Sessoms of Douglas Byrd to qualify for the consolation champion round. In a very close and hard fought match, Jarrod lost to Helms of Southern Durham by a score of 5-6 for fourth place.

Drew O’Rourke lost his first match to Torres of Douglas Byrd, by at fall in the second period. From there Drew went on to beat opponents from Enloe and Sanderson to propel him to the consolation championship match where he would again face Torres. This time Drew avoided the fall, but was not able to score enough point to win the match and came in fourth place. This is Drew’s second forth place finish in individual tournament competition.

Earlier in the week the, Bengals faced off against Apex on the Cougars home turf. The

Bengals put on a valiant effort with pins by Jahel Carter, Chris Keaton and David MacMiller. Freshman Drew O’Rourke put on a strong performance to take a 4-0 decision over his Apex opponent. The Cougars forfeited the 189 pound match to Soren Ferrell, giving the Bengals six more team points. Despite the pins and forfeit, the Cougars had amassed enough points through a combination of pins and decisions to top the Bengals 40-30.

This week the Bengals will host Holly Springs. This is the second meeting of the teams in as many weeks.