Connor Craddock, white in the face and drenched in sweat, stumbled over to the garbage can inside the Colorado Springs Christian School Fieldhouse on Saturday morning shortly after his 8-2 victory over Dolores Huerta’s Julian Gallegos.

The CSCS junior curled his arms into the side of the bleachers and let his head slide down soon after his semifinal match at the 3A state wrestling regionals, trying to wipe away some spit, before a couple of seconds of dry heaving gave way to the 152-pounder finally getting sick.

Not too far away stood his brother, Corey, waiting to give his younger brother another hug and pat on the back after Connor had to spend the final 45 seconds of his match fending off Gallegos on the sweat-splattered, blue-and-gold mat.

“I have been fighting a cold since last week and a lot of sweat and hard work on the mat,” Connor said. “I was a little bit out of breath there and felt a little bit sick.”

However, those painful and agonizing moments were nothing compared to the emotion of qualifying for the 3A state tournament.

“It felt great,” Connor said. “That’s been my goal all year. My brother and I have been staying after practice every day working for this.”

Now, his brother knows what it finally feels like to make it, too.

Corey (132 pounds) qualified for the first time in four tries courtesy of a 10-7 decision over St. Mary’s Michael Mills.

“I never made it so I was really, really emotional and happy about it.” Corey said.

He knew Saturday was his last chance to qualify for the state tournament. He admitted it was a long Friday night after day one of the two-day regional.

“I woke up all last night thinking about this match five or six times,” Corey said.

“I was really antsy and kept moving around. It was really difficult waiting to get to my match.”

To help overcome each other’s Saturday morning nerves, the two sons of coach Mike Craddock wrestled in the auxiliary gym and warmed up together, just like they have so many times in their basement wrestling room or before a CSCS practice.

It’s a brotherly bond that exists beyond just the Craddocks. The Lions also feature senior twins Cameron and Christian Krautschun. Their father, Chris, is a high-energy, passionate assistant coach who Corey called “a second father.”

Before clinching his berth to the 3A state tournament, Christian watched as Cameron (170) lost to Florence’s Lane Masar 8-0 in the semifinals. As the final seconds counted down, Christian stared at the scoreboard before slamming the back of a chair with his fist.

The 182-pounder channeled his disappointment for his brother and used it to motivate him to defeat Florence’s Preston Sandoval to qualify for the state tournament.

“We are twins and we are both fighters,” Christian said.

“We are partners in there. I don’t know, you just get a feeling when you see your brother getting beat or see him down and you want to go out there and do something about it, but you really can’t.”

Christian and both Craddock brothers all finished the regional in second place in their respective weight classes.

Cameron later defeated Alamosa’s Chris Aguirre via a 10-1 major decision in the fourth-place match to clinch the final berth to the state tournament despite wrestling with torn rib cartilage.

“It’s a lot better than walking away and going outside and not having anyone to come talk to,” Cameron said about his brother and father. “You know someone still cares when you lose. It’s hard to lose when you are the only one out there. It’s better when you go out and somebody comes and talks to you and tells you, you did a good job still.”

Monte Vista’s Jose Duran defeated Centauri’s Patrick Esparsen in the 113 Weight Championship match during the Class 3A Region 4 Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, February 15, 2014 at Colorado Springs Christian High School. Photos by Spotlight Sports Photography.

WENDY COLLISON, SPOTLIGHT SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY