By Jimmy Thomas
DigitalSports.com

Three of the Northern Region's top wrestling programs squared off Wednesday night in what proved to be two very tight matches.

In the first dual match, Hayfield squeaked by with a 34-33 win over Robinson using pins by senior Daniel Mills (11-4) and senior Steven Ours (12-3). The Rams got a pin from by junior Marcus Hathaway (8-1) and wins in a couple of the lighter weight divisions -- including a victory by state champion sophomore Roman Perryman (5-0) -- to keep the match close.

The second of tonight's matches saw Hayfield then fall to defending Northern Region champion Langley, 35-32.

The talk in the crowd was of the match-up between Ours and Saxon junior David Helmer, Virginia's top two ranked wrestlers at 152-pounds entering the night.

The team match was back-and-forth after pins from the Hawks' fourth-ranked junior Raymond Borja (10-4) and Saxons' fifth-ranked senior Michael Bowman. Ours and Helmer then shook hands and started battle with the team score knotted at 14. But Helmer controlled much of the action, and earned himself a 6-1 victory in what should push him into state's top-ranked spot.

Hayfield worked itself into another tie at 32 with one match remaining, but Langley freshman Josh Hyatt defeated Hayfield freshman Nathan Coburn, 10-5, in an exciting match to give the Saxons the three-point victory.