PARKERSBURG - Although it was only a triangular for the Parkersburg South wrestling team here Thursday night inside the Rod Oldham Athletic Center, Patriot head coach Paul Jackson's squad nearly registered three knockouts.
The host Patriots not only knocked off Nelsonville-York 62-13 and defeated George Washington 58-13, but during Parkersburg South senior David Jeffrey's 126-pound battle with GW's Jensen Lorea veteran referee Woody Burns was accidentally kicked in the head and became woozy for a spell. Referee Toby Ray finished the match, a 16-2 major decision victory by Jeffrey which gave the Patriot a record 202 Class AAA wins, but Burns eventually made it back on the mat.
"I've seen that before," said coach Jackson of a referee nearly getting knocked out cold, although he couldn't recall exactly where or how long ago it happened.
In the other match, GW 220-pounder Grant Cokeley gave his team a 39-36 lead against the Buckeyes following his 8-0 major decision versus Jacob Coon. However, N-Y heavyweight Brandon McCune lifted his team to the 42-39 victory when he got a mat slapper in 3:40 against GW's Jack Skidmore.
Cokeley, ranked eighth in triple-A, scored a 3-2 double overtime victory against No. 6 Evin Sams of Parkersburg South. Cokeley, who was joined in going 2-0 by fellow teammates Jake Smith (145) and Eric Cheng (195), scored an 8-0 decision versus Coon. Coon, ranked fifth in Division III Ohio by the Brakeman report, lost a 9-0 major decision to Sams.
Buckeye 170-pounder Zach Mays, ranked second, and 132-pound teammate Thomas McLaughlin, ranked third at 126 by Brakeman, were the only N-Y teammates to go unbeaten.
Parkersburg South's Bryce Gainer earned career win No. 150 during his first match when he got a pin of N-Y's Dakota Mays in 1:43. Gainer and Jeffrey were two of nine Patriots to finish the night with 2-0 marks. They were joined by Lance Hill (106), Tyler Karcher (120), Briar Shively (138), Stewart Morris (152), Jake Alexander (160), Steven Brogle (182) and heavyweight Thomas Hall.
The second-ranked Shively bolted out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and scored an 11-6 decision against fourth-ranked Marvin Kirk of George Washington.
Kyle Knotts, who suffered a 14-2 loss to McLaughlin but came back to register a pin of GW's Jakob Nehls in 40 seconds, was filling in for the injured Tyler Richards. Knotts' mat slapper was the second quickest of the night, but top honors went to Hill, who stuck GW's David Pancake in 22 seconds.
Parkersburg South, with a new dual meet winning streak of two, returns to action for senior night next Thursday when Huntington comes to town.
