<I>The Eagle/Tina Cook</I><BR>Will Hunt (left) and Ty Sharp do drills as Keith Hutchison instructs them.

Grant County’s cagefighting team “The Redneck Militia” continues to fight throughout the state. The team has gone to Portland, Klamath Falls and Lakeview since the St. Patty’s Brawl and the fighters have maintained a good record. They have only lost one fight out of the last six.

On June 3, Ty Sharp, Will Hunt and Jeff Harmon each won their match in Lakeview. Harmon walked away with a WCF (Westcoast Fighters) belt in the 185-pound division.

Sharp, 22, of John Day, works at Winner’s Choice. He fights in the heavyweight division. He choked James Knutson out in the second round with a rear-naked choke.

“I felt like I had done exactly what I had trained to do. The fight went the way I wanted it to go,” Sharp said.

Hunt, 22, of John Day, fights in the 155 division. He fought Grady Lowry. Lowry outweighed Hunt by 20 pounds. Hunt also won in the second round with a rear-naked choke. Hunt works at the Ford garage.

“I’ve always liked contact sports,” Hunt said.

Keith Hutchison holds the 170-pound WCF title. He will make his debut as a professional fighter this fall in Sacramento, Calif.

“If it wasn’t for our sponsors, Body, Fitness and Dance, Dirty Shame, Ace Hardware, Silver Spur, Dress and Press Cleaners, Cheryl Sherman Investigation, Pepsi of John Day and Jesse Madden, we wouldn’t have the training and support to get to competitive fights,” Hutchison said.

The team continues to train hard. Nearly every day of the week they work on cardio, combos, striking form, grappling, bag drills and several consecutive types of circuit training with light weights. At least twice a month, they do full-contact sparring.

Ty Sharp, Will Hunt and Jeff Harmon will fight again June 24 in Lakeview. Other local fighters still training are Chad Law, Justin Morgan, Logan Titus, Justin Shuffle, Sterling Horn, Garry Allen, Josh Moulton, Justin Bartlett, and brothers, Matt and Matt Elliott.

Morgan Bowe, the fighter who suffered a neck injury March 18 during the St. Patty’s Brawl in John Day, has been unable to interview for an update. He has been home from the hospital, and the last time he was contacted he was doing OK.