Braxton wins, ‘Jackets 4th at Rumble
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WILLIAMSTOWN -- Braxton County head coach Sterling Beane watched a trio of his wrestlers win Bob Zide Rumble individual crowns here Saturday night, which included 195-pounder Colton Moore earning the Most Outstanding Wrestler award, as the Eagles secured the team title with 202 points.
Riverside and Winfield tied for second with 146.5 points. The host Yellowjackets of head coach Tyler George finished a strong fourth with 136 points. Sissonville's 108.5 total was good for fifth while Roane County (104), Wirt County (93.5), Doddridge County (79), University JV (78) and Shady Spring (75.5) rounded out the top 10.
Williamstown's lone finalist was 106-pounder Ashton Wasmer, who thought he had a 2-0 lead early in the second only to end up losing a 9-0 major decision to Gavin Boland of Elkins.
"I thought we did better than I initially expected coming in," admitted coach George, who watched 220-pounder Jensen Burge take third while getting fourth-place showings from Cayden Blankenship (113), Kipp Freed (132) and Brayden Buckley (182) along with a pair of fifths from Jacob Ricucci (12) and Logan Borkowski (126). "We locked up fourth place and number one single-A team. I thought we did tremendous. Lost a few early on, a bunch of guys did, but we battled back like consolation warriors. Those pins give us those bonus points.
"We had, I think, two or three guys beat some state-ranked opponents today. When they go out there and wrestle like that it's 'Jacket wrestling. Ashton Wasmer's loss in the finals, the kid was a state runner-up last year as a freshman. We had that controversial slam and had the kid on his back. It was a 9-0 match, but that kid came up and talked to him after and said 'man, you really shocked me right there. It was a fun match' and I think we are slowly getting our name out there. That's all we can do. We're so young. Just let it come with experience and time."
Moore, who was ranked second, found himself in a 5-0 hole in the first period against top-ranked Tate Britton of Sissonville. However, the Eagle stormed back with a five-point move of his own to even the match going into the second period. Moore then needed just 20 ticks of the clock to earn his mat slapper.
"I came out slow," admitted Moore. "We haven't wrestled this year. I figured I was going to see him, but I didn't know how it was going to go."
When asked what the key was after falling behind 5-0 the Eagle replied "just working hard. Faith, family and coaches."
The first Braxton County crown came by Logan Bennett at 152 via a 5-2 decision against Wirt County's Chase Lowe, who actually recorded the first takedown. Coach Beane's other title came at 182 when Bryce Leegan secured a takedown with four seconds left to earn a 3-1 decision against Winfield's Logan Howell, who was 31-0.
Finishing runner-up for the Eagles were 138-pounder Blayne Jarvis, 170-pounder Bryson Spell and heavyweight Ryder McLaughlin, who lost via fall in 5:19 to Doddridge County's Adam Burnside. Jarvis lost 5-3 to Riverside's Kaleb Ramirez while Spell was pinned in 1:05 by Warrior Zach Holstion.
"Our kids are pretty tough and pretty resilient," stated coach Beane, who was without his 106-pounder. "If they get behind they know there's still time left in the match, and if they just get in there and get busy they can catch back up. We have a good bunch of kids.
"They are aggressive. We've done pretty good so far this year. Our kids are really dedicated. They come to practice and work hard every day. We only got a couple seniors in the lineup. We're coming along pretty good. Got to keep working."
Other than Riverside's Ramirez and Holstion winning titles for their school, the only other programs to win a pair of crowns were Doddridge County and Tyler Consolidated. Burnside was joined atop the podium by 132-pounder Riley Curran, who earned a 5-1 decision versus Riverside's David Pomeroy.
Kaden Huffman won the Silver Knights' first title. Down 6-5 in the third, Huffman got a takedown and three near fall points to secure his 10-6 victory against Winfield 113-pounder Jacob Schilling. At 160, Trenton Huffman registered the first takedown and finished off University's Wenkai Campbell by a fall in 3:44.
Two other Little Kanawha Conference grapplers won their respective weight class. Calhoun County 126-pounder Jett Sampson built a 4-1 lead against Riverside's Josh Slack and won 4-3 after allowing a pair of stall points in the third. Wirt County 145-pounder Kolton Parsons registered an 18-3 technical fall against Roane County's Lane Watson.
Also winning titles were Shady Spring 120-pounder Josh Goode, who doubled up Sissonville's Austin High 4-2, as well as Winfield 220-pounder Zander Huffman, who pinned Justin Mace of Doddridge County in 1:05.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com