GREENVILLE — The Daniel Lions’ and Seneca Bobcats’ wrestling teams took to the mat on Saturday to wrap up the AAA Upperstate wrestling tournament hosted by Wade Hampton High School in Greenville.

Daniel had three wrestlers and Seneca had six wrestlers vying for an invitation to the AAA State Wrestling Tournament next Saturday at Airport High School near Columbia. The top four wrestlers from each of the 14 weight classes advance to the state tournament.

The first action of Saturday came during the first round of consolations. These matches involved wrestlers who lost on Friday in either of the first two rounds.

For the Lions, 152-pounder Josh Martin received a bye, 189-pounder Leroy Whitner was pinned in the third period by Wade Hampton’s Nolan Courvell, and 285-pounder Michael Stone received a bye. Both Martin and Stone advanced to the second round of consolations.

The Bobcats featured four wrestlers in the first round of consolations; 160-pounder Justin Patton quickly returned to his true form and pinned Greenville’s Thomas Dugas in the first period, 171-pounder Doug DeWitt beat Curt Howell of Blue Ridge 9-3, 189-pounder Joel Smith was pinned in the second period by Aaron Smith of Pickens, and 285-pounder Connor Hawkins pinned Greer’s Kenneth Ramey in the first period. With wins Patton, DeWitt, and Hawkins advanced to the next round.

In the second round of consolations, Martin lost a minor decision to Terrance McKenzie of Berea, 6-4. Stone was pinned by Joey Starnes of Blythewood in the first period. These were their second losses of the double-elimination tournament and left Daniel with no more competitors.

Seneca’s second round of consolations was a little better as all three participants advanced. Patton pinned Jimmy Davis of Greer in the third period. DeWitt won a close match with Camden’s Davis Partin, 5-0. Hawkins wrestled all six minutes and won 7-0 over Zach Arnold of Travelers Rest.

Seneca also had two wrestlers compete in the semi-finals. 119-pounder Josiah Conrad was pinned by two-time state champion Eddie Coles of Eastside in the second period and 135-pounder Letron Glover was pinned by three-time state champion Chris Teague of Eastside in the first period. The losses forced Conrad and Glover to move into the consolation bracket and battle for third and fourth places in their respective weight classes.

In the consolation semi-finals to determine the contenders for third and fourth places, the Bobcats had five wrestlers vying for the semi-finals. Conrad won a hard fought match with David McClain of Woodmont, 9-7. Conrad scored five points in the final period to earn the win. Glover also had to wrestle all six minutes and battled for an 8-6 win over Will Myers of Lugoff-Elgin.

Patton used takedowns to defeat Chris Didyoung of Blythewood, 8-2. DeWitt was pinned by Paul McDaniel of Travelers Rest in the first period after he was caught trying a move and could not turn off his back. Hawkins used strength and quickness to earn a 4-1 victory over Richard Crank of Chester. Hawkins was able to get a takedown and a reversal for the win. With the victories, Conrad, Glover, Patton, and Hawkins advance to the consolation finals and earned a trip to the state tournament next Saturday.

The consolation finals were very unusual for the Seneca Bobcats. Conrad received a win vie injury default from Wes Sexton of BHP. Hawkins also received an injury default from Bobby Jones of Eastside. The injury default wins earned Conrad and Hawkins third place finishes in the tournament.Glover was disqualified in his match with Thanh-Dat Vo of Berea for a move committed after the whistle. Glover did not hear the whistle and he tried to takedown Vo, who suffered a knee injury from the move. The night before Glover had beaten Vo 10-4. Patton lost a minor decision to Omega Richardson of Chester, 6-4. The match went back and fourth with each wrestler scoring points for takedowns and escapes. The final takedown with time running out gave Richardson third place.

State Qualifiers: (1-4 place finishers)

103: Jonathan Wright (Greer), Chris Barrett (Pickens), Justin Farmer (Lugoff-Elgin), Oliver Burman (JL Mann)

112: Justin McClester (Lugoff-Elgin), Marqual Griffin (Greenville), David Perkins (Eastside), AJ Irby (Greer)

119: Eddie Coles (Eastside), Tajih Allen (Berea), Josiah Conrad (Seneca), Wes Sexton (BHP)

125: Wil Baker (Eastside), Horace Madrid (Camden), Anthony Canzano (Berea), Blake Tillman (Lugoff-Elgin)

130: Andrew Jenkins (Eastside), Steven Magazine (Camden), Anthony Perlas (Wade Hampton), Chris Jones (Travelers Rest)

135: Chris Teague (Eastside), Will Long (Camden), Thanh-Dat Vo (Berea), Letron Glover (Seneca)

140: DJ Jules (Greenville), Dylan Lawson (Union County), Matt Golob (Eastside), Will Graham (Lugoff-Elgin)

145: Deral Brown (Lugoff-Elgin), Kyle Blankenship (BHP), Danny Burris (Woodmont), Auston Poynter (Eastside)

152: Bryce Martin (Eastside), Brendan Espy (Riverside), Josh Smith (BHP), Devin Gosnell (Wade Hampton)

160: Corbin Martin (Eastside), John Weber (Riverside), Omega Richardson (Chester), Justin Patton (Seneca)

171: Weston Newton (Eastside), Emerson Allen (Wade Hampton), Paul McDaniel (Travelers Rest), Clay Alexander (Union County)

189: Kyle Smith (Riverside), David Dawkins (Eastside), Larry Carter (Dreer), Jeremiah Swofford (JL Mann)

215: Trey Williams (Pickens), Josh Bowie (BHP), Davion Gambrell (Berea), Richard Pinto (Riverside)

285: Aaron Counts (Lugoff-Elgin), Johnson Jamison (Riverside), Connor Hawkins (Seneca), Bobby Jones (Eastside)