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Justin Gordon and Ben Wyatt advanced out of the Division 4 individual wrestling regionals at Rogers City last Saturday.

Wyatt's older brother, Tom, was the last Forest Area wrestler to reach the state finals in 2005.

The state finals will be at The Palace of Auburn Hills on March 6-7-8.

"It's the first time that our school has sent two wrestlers to the state tournament," Forest Area coach Robert Morgan said.

"So, it's a pretty big accomplishment for us. Ben was seeded fourth coming out of the district.

"Now, he's leaving the regionals seeded second. He did some good work last week getting ready, and he was able to move up a couple of notches."

Gordon and Wyatt both finished second in their respective weight classes at the regional tournament.

Wrestling at 145 pounds, Gordon opened with a 6-3 decision over Matt Hill of Munising.

In the second round, he defeated C.J. Knutson of Rudyard by a 6-5 decision. He lost in the finals to Joey Woolum of Iron Mountain, 18-4. Woolum is ranked fifth in the state at 145. Wyatt also went 2-1 on the day, starting out with a pin over Stefan Saffian of St. Ignace in 4 minutes and 35 seconds.

Then he wrestled Ethan Keillor of Pine River and won by a 6-5 decision, before losing to Traverse City St. Francis's Andy Anderson by a fall in 2:46.

Gordon and Wyatt both rushed for over 1,000 yards for the playoff-qualifying football team.

"So, we knew some big things were going to happen with both of them," Morgan said.

"Justin definitely brought it [last] weekend. He got himself ranked 10th in the state.

"We're just looking forward to hopefully bringing home a couple of medals from the state tournament."