TENNERTON, W.Va. – A pair of Buckhannon-Upshur High School’s finest wrestlers are headed to the Mountain East Conference.

Teammates Julius Hobbs and Breagan Pearson have signed to continue their wrestling careers at the next level.

Hobbs, a state champion in 2020, is headed to Wheeling University to wrestle for the Cardinals.

Pearson, meanwhile, will head to West Liberty to compete for the Hilltoppers.

Hobbs says he had roughly five schools interested in him, but Wheeling ultimately became the right choice because he feels the Cardinals are the right fit.

“He told me that the spot’s not going to be given to me. You got to earn it. That’s where I want to go. I want to be able to earn my spot, not be given it. Being given a spot’s not going to help me for competition. If I earn it, it’s going to make me way better for the competition,” said Hobbs.

Pearson has battled back from a pair of meniscus tears to reach this point. He finished third in the state in his weight class this year.

“Freshman year, it was a huge weight cut for me. Sophomore year, I blew out my knee, I had to have two surgeries for that. Junior year, I was still coming back from that knee injury. So, just finally having stuff all come together, like all that hard work pay off, it felt good,” Pearson said.

Both Pearson and Hobbs made it to Huntington all four years of their high school careers.