By: Tom Bragg, Gazette-Mail | Posted: Jan. 26, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail Preps
Every year, the Mountain State Athletic Conference has a handful of teams with sights set on a state wrestling championship run. This season is no different.
Those teams will see where they stand Saturday when Parkersburg, No. 5 in this week’s West Virginia Coaches Association/wvmat.com Class AAA team poll, hosts the MSAC tournament.
The Big Reds and No. 2 Huntington long have battled at the top for this title, but Kanawha Valley teams St. Albans, Riverside and George Washington could push for spots on the podium in many weight classes.
The Highlanders are fresh off a AAA team title at last week’s WSAZ Invitational, but the No. 7 Red Dragons took second at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena with junior Brandon Holt winning the championship at 113 pounds.
Holt was the only champion SA produced last week in Huntington, but there were plenty of Red Dragons among the place-winners. The tournament format, as opposed to dual formats, is one that SA coach Daren Gilfilen said suits his team.
“We’re not a strong dual team,” he said. “We’re giving up a lot of weight classes. We win a lot of the weight classes we have, but we’ll go in and win nine matches but forfeit five weight classes and we lose by six points. It is kind of heart-wrenching.
“We have a lot of kids that get seeded pretty high and hopefully get to finals, semis or place high in the consolations. That really helps our team out.”
In addition to Holt, five SA wrestlers — freshman Thomas Hartley (fourth, 106), senior Elijah Bailey (sixth, 132), junior Noah Bailey (third, 138) and junior Isaiah Casto (seventh, 170) — placed at WSAZs.
Like St. Albans, Huntington had just one champion last week — junior Zane Lanham at 182 — but the Highlanders cemented their spot at the top of the leader board with a bevy of place winners, including some from the junior varsity team.
Cardinal hits coalfields
Herbert Hoover was scheduled to host this weekend’s Cardinal Conference tournament, but Herbert Hoover’s situation is not like many other schools.
Hoover’s school building was destroyed by flooding in 2016, forcing the Huskies to share the gym at Elkview Middle School for home wrestling events. There was a scheduling conflict this weekend, and Hoover coach Richard Harper said the tournament would take place at the Williamson Field House with Mingo Central as host.
Winfield enters the weekend as the only ranked team in the league. The Generals are No. 9 in Class AA this week after a strong showing at WSAZs, with junior Jamie Ward (third, 152) and senior Alex Hale (fourth, 195) both making the podium in Huntington. Hoover, which was the only team in the “also receiving votes” line of this week’s AA poll, also had two wrestlers place last week with senior Justin Stover taking fifth at 126 and junior Zach Spencer placing seventh at 182.
Not to be outdone, Nitro seniors Vinny Devaney (fourth, 170) and Paul Frampton (second, 182) also put two on the podium in Huntington who should push for conference titles this weekend. Sissonville sophomore 220-pounder Gavin Shamblin, an eighth-place finisher at WSAZs, was the only other Cardinal Conference wrestler to place in Huntington.
Humphreys doubles up
Class AAA No. 1 Parkersburg South, fresh off a team title at the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament in Wheeling, cruised past rival Parkersburg 57-12 in a Wednesday dual. The Patriots picked up points against the Big Reds in all but three weight classes, including a forfeit win at 220 for South’s Braxton Amos, the state championship favorite in the weight class.
South senior Josh Humphreys captured the OVAC title at 152 pounds, giving him the rare distinction of being an OVAC and MSAC individual champion. The former St. Albans and Huntington wrestler won MSAC titles as a sophomore and junior with the Red Dragons.
Humphreys, who has signed to wrestle in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association at Lehigh, also has a shot at history this season at the state tournament. Not only would a win there put him in the exclusive club of four-time state champions, it would also make him the only wrestler in West Virginia high school history to claim championships for three schools. He won the AAA 106 title as a freshman at Huntington before titles at 120 and 145 with St. Albans the last two seasons.
Around the state
Class AA No. 2 East Fairmont came out on top over two other highly ranked teams in a Wednesday tri-meet, beating AA No. 3 Point Pleasant and AAA No. 3 University, according to a report in the (Fairmont) Times West Virginian.
Point slipped past the Hawks 29-27 the same night.
Class AAA No. 6 Greenbrier East clipped county rival Greenbrier West, ranked No. 2 in Class A this week, 32-24 on Wednesday.
Contact Tom Bragg at 304-348-4871 or tom.bragg@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomBraggSports.
By Hannah Kessler Trautwein, Project Coordinator, Next Step Ministries