St. Albans top-seeded 132-pounder Matthew McAfee records a pin against fourth-seeded Brandon Karr of Spring Valley during Friday nightƵs semifinals of the Mountain State Athletic Conference wrestling championships inside ParkersburgƵs Memorial Fieldhouse.
St. Albans top-seeded 132-pounder Matthew McAfee records a pin against fourth-seeded Brandon Karr of Spring Valley during Friday nightƵs semifinals of the Mountain State Athletic Conference wrestling championships inside ParkersburgƵs Memorial Fieldhouse.
PARKERSBURG Ƶ St. Albans crowned five individual champions here Friday night inside ParkersburgƵs Memorial Fieldhouse as the Red Dragons won the Mountain State Athletic Conference wrestling tournament by besting runner-up Cabell Midland, 184.5 to 163.
Five teams amassed more than 140 points as the rest of the top five featured Huntington (156.5), the host Big Reds (145) and Riverside (140.5).
ƵIƵm always hoping we will win it, but when we came up here we were banged up a little bit and been sick over the winter,Ƶ admitted SAHS head man Daren Gilfilen, who was honored as the MSAC Coach of the Year.
ƵThe kids wrestled pretty good today. IƵm happy for the turnout they had. They had high expectations. We hope this is a good stepping stone for us. IƵve been coaching about 11 years and weƵve never won MSACs before.Ƶ
Parkersburg head coach Matt LittletonƵs program had a quartet of finalists, but they had to settle for runner-up finishes. CJ Carrodus had the first shot at a crown, but he was stopped by George WashingtonƵs Ben McComas via a 19-3 technical fall at 113. McComas, who improved to 30-0, was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Big Red 157-pounder Silas Wotring was upended 13-0 by St. AlbansƵ Will James, who was the third Red Dragon to win a title. At 132, Matthew Mcafee was able to record a fall with nine ticks left in the second period against Cabell MidlandƵs Matthew Bartley. Moses Eades doubled up RiversideƵs David Pomeroy, 10-5, to stand atop 144.
Coach Gilfilen also received crowns via fall from 165-pounder Elijah Edge and 215-pounder Jaron Allen. Edge recorded the first takedown against Cabell MidlandƵs Connor Wiseman about midway through the first and got his mat slapper in 3:47. Allen needed 91 seconds to earn his pin versus CMƵs Matthew Edwards.
Parkersburg 138-pounder Jesse Showalter appeared to be in good shape against HuntingtonƵs Joe Riggs, who trailed 7-5 early in the third. Despite being down 10-7 with the clock quickly going toward zero, Riggs managed to secure his win by pin in 5:51. Highlander 126-pounder Garrin Arthur pinned ParkersburgƵs Simon Inboden in 58 seconds.
HHS also had a top of the podium finish by 106-pounder Nate Volk, who got the finals underway with a 19-4 technical fall versus George WashingtonƵs Owen Anderson. The Highlanders also had a title via sudden victory by 120-pounder Ben Barrett, who was able to hold RiversideƵs Josh Sergent for the final 30 seconds to win 3-2. The other sudden victory came at 190 when Huntington No. 3 seed Max Spetch knocked off top-seeded Zac Edwards of Spring Valley by the identical score of 3-2.
Of the 14 weight classes, the No. 1 seed reached the finals in all but two. At 175, No. 3 seed Levon Brown of Riverside squared off versus No. 4 seed Jake Eden of Cabell Midland. However, Eden turned an 8-4 lead going into the third into a 20-9 major decision. In the 150-pound finals, fourth-seeded Levi Wiseman of CM secured an 8-3 decision against George Washington No. 2 seed Avery Totten.
In the heavyweight championship match, Spring ValleyƵs Connor McCann won via a 10-1 decision versus Highlander Matt Adkins.
The Big Reds also had five other placers. No. 4 seed Braycon Hedges finished third at 144 as too did 190-pound teammate Adam Elder. Ethan Jones, who wasnƵt seeded at 150, also won his consolation final. PHS had fourth-place efforts from unseeded Jeremiah Shaffer (132) and Cyler Marks (175).
The runner-up Knights also had consolation final triumphs thanks to Isaac Wiseman (120) and heavyweight Luke Bird.
Riverside Ƶ Ethan Pack (106), Robert Hodge (113) and Noah Franklin (165) Ƶ joined the Timberwolves with a trio of third-place finishes. Placing third for SV were 157-pounder Adam Murphy, 175-pounder Garryk McFeeley and 215-pounder Jarrett Pyles.
Finishing third for the champion Red Dragons were Brandon Huffman (126) and Sam Giordano (138). James St. Clair picked up a 10-0 major decision versus the Big Red Shaffer to place third at 132.
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