MARIETTA - Once again, Lassiter survived the Region 5AAAAA duals by a slim margin.

After winning last year's tournament by not getting pinned in its final match against Walton, Shelton Sellars clinched Lassiter's 36-34 win Saturday against Etowah by not ending up on his back.

"It seemed like we matched up worse against Etowah than anybody," Lassiter coach Steve Day said. "Our win came down to the last match again."

Lassiter will now return to the Macon Centreplex next weekend as the region's top seed for the Class AAAAA duals. Etowah, meanwhile, will be competing in the state duals for the first time in its history.

Saturday's final match got tense at the end as Lassiter trailed by one point with two matches to go, and it was up to Paul Pelletier, at 120 pounds, to take the lead away from Etowah.

Pelletier, who won the county and region traditional titles as a freshman last year, had trouble in the first period of his bout with Etowah's Joey Payton before putting him into a cradle with 38 seconds remaining in the second period.

"Paul missed a couple of cradles (in the first period), and then he finally got one," Day said. "We've been working on cradles and wings since Day 1."

With Lassiter holding onto a five-point lead going into Sellars' match at 126 pounds, his main focus was not getting pinned and allowing Etowah the six points to clinch the title. His match with Bryce Verones came down to the final 20 seconds, with Verones scoring late for a 9-7 decision, but the three-point tally wasn't enough for the Eagles to come out on top.

Lassiter built a comfortable double-digit lead early in the match by winning most of its upperweight matches.

Etowah then bounced back by winning four of the next five matches. Lassiter's only win during that stretch was when Cody Cheek pinned Ray Harding 20 seconds into their match at 220.

One of Lassiter's pivotal moments during its slump was Josh Danforth avoiding a pin at heavyweight. Weighing in at 197 pounds Saturday morning, he battled a much larger Jeff Shoemaker before losing a major decision.

Most of Lassiter's early wins came on pins.

Ryan Shields (138) pinned Will Alexander late in the third period. Scott Marmol (170) added another pin at the 2:49 mark before Phillip Murray (182) recorded a pin over Ceaser Gonzales in the first minute.

Lassiter also got wins from Caleb Beaver (152) and Josh Patterson (160).

Beaver won a critical 10-6 decision for Lassiter by getting a series of near-falls against Waylon Thomas. Patterson also won by decision, over John Rose.