PINSON—In the state’s first-ever dual championships, Pinson Valley advanced past Gardendale, Helena and Homewood on Friday night in first and second-round action.

In the opening round Pinson Valley worked past Helena by a final of 55-9, and later upended Homewood 45-22 to advance to the semifinals on Tuesday at Southside-Gadsden.

The Panthers, ranking second in the state behind Pinson Valley, according to southeastwrestling.com, beat Clay-Chalkville 53-12 in the second round on Friday.

For Pinson Valley, Zeke Lawrence (220 pounds), Taylor Rhodes (285), George Vazquez (106), Quenmarius Byrd (126), Cameron Hamby (132), Josh Walker (138), Christian Hopkins (152), Tracy Reed( 160) and Khymel Chaverst (170) each finished the night 2-0.

“What we have that most guys don’t have is a solid team. We don’t just have a couple of individuals and that helps me stress team, so when you watch us wrestle we’re about each other first, not about the individual,” said Pinson Valley head coach Gene Richardson. “We’re going to keep focusing on each other and do this as a team.”

According to Richardson, his team will not change its practice regiment as it moves forward in the AHSAA State Dual Championships.

“Outwork your opponent and good things will happen,” he continued.

For Gardendale, Russ Boackle (106), Sebastian Oswalt (113), Daniel Webb (132) and Trevor Muncey (160) nabbed wins over Homewood in the opening round, but came up short as a team, 48-24.

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.