William Verdirame learned on Friday that he would wrestle in the Region 6-7A traditional tournament.

On Saturday, he won a region championship.

Verdirame earned the start because of an injury to Cody Scroggins, leaving North Forsyth coach Travis Jarrard with a hole to fill at 170 pounds.

A couple of pins carried Verdirame into the finals, where he outlasted West Forsyth junior Matthew Rogers to win 9-3.

"He found out yesterday that he was in the starting lineup, and he came out here and won it," Jarrard said. "It's a testament to the program as a whole, it's a testament to Cody, who's been his workout partner for the past year, and it's a testament to everybody else that he wrestles with every day. It's a testament to the coaches. We talk about always being ready and all that stuff. He's a great kid, I'm happy for him and it was awesome to see." 

North captured the Region 6-7A traditional championship, scoring 244 points and producing three region champions in Verdirame, Bentley Wheeler and Tristan Graham.

Verdirame said he practiced with Graham leading up to the tournament. When Jarrard broke the news on Friday, he knew he was ready.

"He just came up to me and was like, 'Hey, you better be ready to wrestle at 170,'" Verdirame said.

Verdirame last wrestled earlier this month during North's playoff match against McEachern, pinning his opponent. Saturday's finals bout was a rematch between him and Rogers.

"Well, I wrestled him before in the season and he beat me," Verdirame said. "Just not leaning on him while tying up and [using] my offense and shooting and stuff."

West finished second with 180.5 points and led the way with four region champions.

Reed Walker [113] earned a bye in the quarterfinals before pinning Gainesville's Christian Rosales to reach the finals, where he won after a forfeit by North's Reece Meyers.

Noah Amick [120] and Noah Danforth [126] gave the Wolverines back-to-back wins, as Amick won 4-0 over Denmark's Josh Wayland and Danforth pinned Lambert's Drew Wentworth in the finals. 

Jay Helstone accounted for West's fourth region championship after pinning North's Collin Miller in the second period of the 220-pound finals.

Lambert finished with three region champions, as Mason McClung [138] beat Gainesville's Demarrie Hayes 14-1, Elijah Castillo [160] topped West's Caide Daltro 4-1, and Thomas Dossett earned a first-period pin against Forsyth Central's Luke Sacchetti.

Cole Williams accounted for South Forsyth's lone region championship after a thrilling 3-2 victory over North's Dylan Lyerly. 

Forsyth Central's Cameron Haynie locked up the first title of the afternoon at 106 pounds with a pin against North's Arcadian Eaton. 

In all, Forsyth County qualified 45 wrestlers for next weekend's Class 7A Section A tournament. The top six finishers at sectionals qualify for the state tournament, which is Feb. 10-12 at the Macon Centreplex.

"Those are the stories that you hear that can always make you smile," Jarrard said. "They're the ones you talk about five, 10, 15 years later — like, 'Yeah, do you remember that time the day before region we had to put somebody in for injury and he won the whole thing?' Hopefully, next week we'll talk about how he qualified for state. The week after that, we'll talk about how he placed at state."