CLASS AAA WRESTLING STATE TOURNAMENT: PHS looking to make waves
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PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg head coach Matt Littleton is hoping his Big Red gang of nine can do plenty of damage at this week's state wrestling tournament, which gets underway tonight inside Huntington's Big Sandy Superstore Arena.
The PHS qualifiers include six seniors, led by two-time state champ John Martin Best. The future Air Force wrestler won it all at 120 as a freshman, was runner-up at 138 in 2018 and then bested the field a year ago at 152. Best enters the tournament as the man to beat at 160 with a 33-2 record.
"I think I can say for all the seniors the mood is mostly we leave it all out there," said Best, who hasn't faced any of the other three regional champs. "We don't hold anything back. We don't leave any doubt on that mat.
"What we put out there is our best result. What we do throughout the whole entire tournament is to better us and we don't slow down. We continue to pressure and get the job done."
Big Red senior 182-pounder Chace Mathess (26-8) is ranked first in high weight class, but fellow classmate Garret Donahue (29-8) is ranked second at 120 behind Wheeling Park 10th-grader Nate Shelek (27-7).
Donahue, a two-time state runner-up who also has a third-place finish on his resume, actually pinned Shelek in their only match.
"I think Chace is wrestling really well right now," said coach Littleton. "If you looked at him you'd never believe he's not been a state placer, but he's had some bad luck and last year things didn't go his way.
"He's really focused and having a great year and he's mentally ready and I hope that continues into the state tournament."
Bo Moler, third-ranked at 138 with a 26-7 record, is a two-time state runner-up who also has a fourth-place finish. He is joined in the red and white senior class by 152-pounder Noah Inboden (31-5) and 170-pounder Ty Boyd (9-16). Moler is likely to face Wheeling Park's Andrew Shelek in the semifinals. Inboden could face Spring Mills regional champ Hunter Dodson (35-7, JR) on Friday morning, an opponent he's beaten twice.
"We've got some head to head matchups in the semifinals (against Wheeling Park). They could make a difference and some of our other guys got some matchups that have to come through," added the coach.
"But we're in the fight to get some hardware home. It would be nice to see two Parkersburg teams bring hardware home to one city."
Sophomore 145-pounder Aydan Edwards (25-11) faces off against Spring Mills regional champ Patrick Jackson, a 43-7 freshman.
"He's split with him and we won the most recent one, but that's a big matchup for him in the first round," Littleton added.
PHS also will be looking for key team points from 10th-graders Zach Howard, who is 11-16 and qualified at 195, along with 18-17 heavyweight Jeffery Jones.
"Howard hasn't wrestled much at 195. He's been weighing in at 195 and wrestling 220 most of the year and the injury to (Jacob) McCune has forced him into action at 195," Littleton said. "He'll be fresh to those guys."
Best knows things are never easy in Huntington, but added "I'd like to have all of our guys place. We have probably one of the best chances to place all the guys. We're looking pretty good. I'd like to get the next chapter started, but I don't think I've done everything I possibly could here yet."
As for this weekend, Best said he just needs to be himself and take things on the fly.
"Plans and me don't get alone," Best said. "I just go along with whatever works best in the moment. I just wrestle. I'll get the job done."
Head coach Matt Smith's Ripley Vikings have six state qualifiers and are led by senior 195-pound regional champ Austin Boggess (37-6) and junior heavyweight regional champ Matt Moore (7-5).
∫ In Class AA/A, Braxton County continued its dominance at the Little Kanawha Conference tournament earlier this year and the Eagles have 10 qualifiers.
Jordan Williams, last year's 170-pound champ, leads the way. The senior sports a 50-1 record and is the only area small school grappler ranked first in his weight class. The Eagles also boast regional champs in Logan Bennett (126, FR, 39-9), Jake Long (132, SR, 43-7), 220-pound junior Sturgis May (40-8) and senior heavyweight Quin Meador (48-2).
Defending single-A state champ Greenbrier West appears to be the frontrunner for another title, although both Ritchie County and Wirt County could be in the mix for small school runner-up honors.
The Rebels are led by lone regional champ Hunter Leggett. The 220-pound senior sports a 43-4 record. Head coach Alan Davis' squad will have four other entries and that includes the fourth-ranked duo of Kayden Procacina (152, SR, 34-11) and Kaleb Kovacs (182, SR, 38-11).
Danny Life's Tigers are led by No. 3 ranked 132-pound junior Logan Powell, who is 34-14. Orange and black 120-pound sophomore Kolton Parsons (31-9) is ranked fourth.
Doddridge County, which is hoping to make a run for some team hardware with its seven grapplers, had regional champs in 120-pound freshman Riley Curran (35-5) and 138-pound junior Reese Burnside, who is 40-4 and ranked sixth. Sophomore 152-pound teammate Dylan Knight (32-4) is ranked fifth.
During today's opening round, which begins at 6:30 p.m., four matches will pit area grapplers going head-to-head.
At 113, Clay County's Rush Sparks (27-21, SO) is set to take on Rebel Brady Layman (38-5, JR). The Tiger Parsons squares off against Magnolia junior Jason Beisel (32-5). Ravenswood's Ethan Tanner, a 39-10 sophomore, faces Bennett of Braxton and Kovacs is set to face Clay junior Riley Perkins (42-12).
Friday's matches begin at 11:30 a.m. with session three starting at 7:30 p.m. Wrestling then resumes at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with championship finals getting underway at 6 p.m.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com