FAYETTEVILLE — Asked before he left Cary Tuesday afternoon if his team had enough to get by New Bern, Green Hope wrestling coach Chip Bunn said he wasn’t sure.

With three starters out and one just recently cleared to wrestle after recovering from a concussion, the Falcons entered the NCHSAA 4-A dual team tournament shorthanded.

But they proved they had just enough to get by the Bears, and then Leesville Road.

Green Hope overcame at 25-12 deficit against New Bern and won the final four matches to eke out a 26-25 win in the first round at Cape Fear High. Against the Pride in the second round, the Falcons came back from a 22-10 hole and won the final seven matches to earn a 46-22 win and their first regional berth since 2003.

“I asked the kids to step up, and they did,” Bunn said. “We don’t have our starting 189, our starting 171, our starting 130, and the kids just focused in and did a great job. I’m amazed.”

Against New Bern, the match was tied 6-6 after four bouts. The Bears jumped out to a 25-12 lead by winning five of the next six matches. New Bern’s Lee Rouse earned a 12-1 major decision at 189, Anthony Grist a 5-2 decision at heavyweight, Zach Jaramillow a pin at 103, Josh Bradley a 7-2 decision at 112 and Sean Corcoran a 6-0 decision at 119. Green Hope’s Preston Mitchum broke up the run with a pin at 215.

Green Hope 125-pounder Kenny Buchanan scored a first-period takedown on New Bern’s Jeremy Althizer, the No. 3 ranked wrestler in NCMat.com’s Super 32, and rode those two early points to a 2-0 decision.

“When Buchanan upset the New Bern kid, I said, ‘He’s given us a chance,’” Bunn said.

Mikail Mannan followed with a 5-2 decision at 130, and Pedram Rahmatabadi earned an 18-2 technical fall at 135, pushing the score to 25-23 and setting up a make-or-break match for Brett Farina at 140.

“The pressure was on,” Farina said.

Farina fell behind 2-0 early in the first period to Justin Rice, but Farina scored two points for a reverse to even the match 2-2 going into the second.

Starting down, Farina escaped then took down Rice to lead 5-2, and he rode the advantage to the match-clinching win.

“I just fought through,” Farina said. “Even though he got the first two, you’ve just got to keep on fighting for the points.”

Like the New Bern match, Green Hope and Leesville Road were tied 10-10 through four matches.

Alex Chapla earned a 14-2 major decision at 152. Leesville’s James Burchette pinned at 160, and Green Hope’s Miles Shaw answered with a pin at 171. Leesville’s Dylan Edwards earned a 13-2 major decision at 189 to even the match at 10-10.

Edwards’ win kicked off a four-match win streak for the Pride. John Schmittle earned a 3-2 decision at 215, Kirk Lincoln won by the same score at heavyweight and Trevor Kamens pinned at 103, giving the Pride a 22-10 lead with seven matches to go.

“It was a similar thing,” Bunn said. “I knew they were good at 189, 215, heavyweight, 103. I knew those guys, so I said if we can get through those matches and keep it close, I knew we were strong and it was just a matter of them not getting too far out.”

Chris Godfrey got the Falcons’ comeback started with a pin at 112 at the 1:20 mark of the first period.

At 119, Matt Gardner built a 5-1 lead over Mark Goodwin and held on for a 7-5 decision.

Buchanan earned his second win of the evening with a pin at 125. Buchanan built a 10-3 lead on Leesville’s Kevin Boggs early in the second period, but Boggs scored seven unanswered points (a takedown and five mat points) to even the bout at 10-10 heading into the third. From the down position to start the final period, Buchanan reversed Boggs to take a 12-10 lead before earning a pin with 58 seconds left in the match. The sudden pin gave the Falcons a 25-22 lead.

Mannan, at 130, was tied 4-4 in the third period against Nick Gagliano until he took Gagliano down with 36 seconds to go. Gagliano escaped a few seconds later, and Mannan was able to fight off his shots and hang on for a 6-5 decision.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done,” Mannan said. “I was out for a couple weeks, and I just came back. That was my first tough match.”

Rahmatabadi followed with a pin at 135, and Leesville Road forfeited the final two bouts to give the Falcons the win.

Cary romps to regional

About 20 miles southwest of Cape Fear High, Cary rolled through its two matches at Jack Britt High and improved to 29-0 this season.

In their first match, the Imps dusted Britt 45-19.

Winners included Ben Creed at 103 pounds (12-2 major decision), Cordale Risk at 119 (8-1 decision), Lawrence White at 130 (pin), Matt Colvard at 135 (pin), Justin Koren at 140 (pin), Brendon Parker-Risk at 145 (5-4 decision), Gabe Brotzman at 152 (pin), Josh Cobb at 160 (pin) and Kevin Puetna at 285 (forfeit).

In their second match, Cary crushed Wilmington Laney 52-14.

Winners for Cary included Risk at 119 (5-3 decision), White at 130 (7-2 decision), Colvard at 135 (4-2 decision), Koren at 140 (3-0 decision), Parker-Risk at 145 (pin), Brotzman at 152 (10-2 major decision), Cobb at 160 (pin), Brett Colyer at 171 (pin), Alec Snow at 189 (pin), Puente at 215 (pin) and Eloheim Palma at 285 (pin).

East Regional

Cary will host the East Regional semifinals and finals on Thursday.

The Imps will face Durham Riverside at 6 p.m. Green Hope will square off against Chapel Hill at the same time.

The winners will then meet for the East Regional title.