Josh Metcalf of Polk County came within a few points of capturing the 2A state wrestling championship at 215 pounds on Saturday.
Metcalf finished as the state runner-up after getting edged 3-1 by Jake Tester of North Stanley in the finals Saturday in Greensboro.
Prior to that loss, he picked up three wins of his own by decision. Metcalf, a No. 2 seed in the playoffs, defeated Corey Cardin of Eastern Randolph 12-6 in the preliminaries and got past Jared Saylers of Surry Central 14-7 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, he defeated Oliver Sanchez of Chase 7-5.
Tyler Philpott also delivered an outstanding performance for the Wolverines in the state tournament. He earned a third-place finish at 285 pounds with a win over Bo Henson of Pisgah in the consolation semi-finals match. Philpott won by pin at 4:06.
Philpott reach the match for third place after a win over Chris Fess of Bedingfield. He also won that match by pin, as well as earlier wins in the tournament.
Philpott defeated Joey Berry of Cedar Ridge in the first round with a pin at 1:59. He followed that with a win by pin over Sherrod Young of Thomasville at 1:44, completing two pins in less than four minutes of wrestling time in the first two rounds.
James Maxwell wrestled for Polk County at 160 pounds and also advanced through the first two rounds.
He defeated Alek Walker of Cedar Ridge with a pin at 5:36 in the first round and then advanced with a 6-4 decision over Travis Phipps of North Johnson in the second round. In the quarterfinals, he was defeated by Kenny Lindsay of First Flight, giving him a fifth place finish for the tournament.
Polk County finished with an eight place finish as a team in the 2A competition. Croatan won with 148 points and fellow Western Highlands Conference squad Owen finished fourth with 77.5 points.