CUMBERLAND – The Cumberland High School wrestling team successfully defended its James River District Championship from a year ago by sweeping Randolph-Henry and Amelia on Tuesday night in the JRD Meet.

The Dukes defeated Randolph-Henry 36-30 and Amelia 52-15, while the Raiders edged the Statesmen 34-30.

“The teams are pretty well evenly-matched,” said CHS head coach Robbie Wendell. “We wrestled well tonight, and things fell well for us. Randolph-Henry is tougher at the lower and upper weight classes, while we were tough in the middle weights. We knew it was going to be close.

“Amelia was strong, as evidenced in its win over Randolph-Henry. We got on a roll and wrestled well, and we also got some points on forfeit, since they didn't have a wrestler in a couple of weight classes.”

Amelia had several strong individuals, but didn't have the numbers to compete with the Dukes, who were able to fill most of the weight categories.

“We also had some of our younger wrestlers step up,” said Wendell, who recalled an instance in his team's dual with Randolph-Henry, where a freshman was able to go the entire match against a more-seasoned opponent, rather than surrendering a pin. “That saved us three points, which really helped to give us the match. Our freshmen have been stepping up big time this year. Instituting the middle school program last year has really helped.”

Cumberland will host the Region B Secional Finals on February 5, which gives the Dukes some time to get ready. Cumberland will wrestle at Appomattox next week, and will participate in the Manchester Invitational next Saturday.

“I like that we're going to have some time between the districts and the sectionals. That will enable us to heal-up, and get our weight classes straight.”

Wendell was named the James River District Coach of the Year, while Amelia's Ethan Chamberlin was named the JRD Wrestler of the Year.

Four Dukes made the All-James River District team. The complete team is listed below.

JAMES RIVER DISTRICT

All-District Wrestling

Wt. Representative School

119 Michael Scott R-HHS

125 Daquan Watson R-HHS

130 Sean Brown CHS

135 Casey Hamilton ACHS

140 Mike Albrecht CHS

152 DJ Cooke R-HHS

160 Antonio Richardson CHS

171 Steven Winslow CHS

189 Donte Stovall R-HHS

215 Ethan Chamberlin ACHS

285 Ben Bragg ACHS