PHS, South grapplers compete in regional action Saturday
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PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg South wrestling program of head coach Shaun Smith wants to finish the season as the Class AAA state champion.
Currently, the Patriots are ranked atop the triple-A coaches poll and are set to join Parkersburg and Ripley at Saturday's Region IV tournament, which gets underway at 11 a.m. inside Barboursville Middle School, along with Cabell Midland, Huntington, Lincoln County and Spring Valley.
"It's kind of given us a chance to just get fully healthy," coach Smith said of missing a dual last week with St. Albans. "We weren't really dealing with too many nagging injuries, except the one with Gage (Wright).
"It let us regroup. It gave us a chance to slow down for a little bit. I think we were like five or six straight weekends we were wrestling. Gage is doing well. I have no doubt when he's wrestling it's going to bother him a little bit, but he's tough."
Wright, who has the No. 1 seed at 175 ahead of Ripley's Cooper Durst, is expected to be joined atop the podium by fellow Patriot top seeds Brady Roberts (126), Kyle Wheelers (157), 215-pounder Ayden Morris and heavyweight Brycen Arthur.
Two seeds for the Patriots include Corbin Phillips at 106, Mackiah Claudio at 113, Uriah Morris at 120, Ryan Martin at 138, Makiya Powell at 150 and 190-pounder Robert Shockey, who is seeded behind Cabell Midland's Nick Giompalo.
"They have seen some growing pains and I expected that," coach Smith said of his youthful squad. "Starting the season I wasn't sure what to expect, but around I'd say after Christmas break and we started wrestling a lot more, I think the kids kind of focused in and they started improving a lot.
"There was a pretty good jump there how they were performing. There have been ups and downs with certain kids, but for the most part they've been progressing. Right now I feel like they are wrestling pretty well and that's what you want going into the end of the season."
PHS head coach Matt Littleton's Big Reds have an expected champ with CJ Carrodus at 113. The Vikings of head man Matt Smith feature No. 1 seeds at 144 with Ethan Kay and at 150 with Hunter Brown.
Also expected to best the field on Saturday in their respective weight classes are Huntington's Nate Volk (106), Ben Barrett (120), Joe Riggs (138) and Kameron Phillips (165) as well as Hurricane 132-pounder Saige Walls.
Other top four seeds for the Big Reds include Simon Inboden (#2, 126), Silas Wotring (#4, 157) and third-seeded 215-pounder Adam Elder. The Vikings of coach Smith also have expected state qualifiers in Cam Good (#4, 132) and Garrett Brown (#2, 157).
"Our ultimate goal is to win a state championship again and getting back something we feel like we shouldn't have lost in the first place" admitted the South head coach, who also has a pair of No. 3 seeds in Nathan Murphy (144) and Trent Bush (165). "The kids have been hungry and that's helped them focus even more, especially as of late."
After finishing fifth at the Winner's Choice, coach Smith felt "this is going to be rough, but the next week we had OVAC and we beat University and Wheeling Park. The following week we had two of our starters out at WSAZ and we still should've won the tournament.
"We lost by 5.5 to University and obviously state duals we had one starter back and didn't have Gage and wrestled really well there and ended up wining that. The kids have seen that we do really have a shot at it if everyone contributes and wrestles their best. There's no doubt that we can win, but everyone has to take care of what they need to do."
The lone Patriot not expected to join the team in Huntington is fifth-seeded 132-pounder Derek Sandy, who has the Vikings' Good in his first match.
"He hasn't wrestled the Ripley kid yet," said his coach. "I like our chances with him. He's improved a lot during the year and works hard. He's going to give it his best shot."
Also competing this weekend and trying to finish in the top four to advance to the state tournament in March will be a plethora of Class AA/A grapplers.
Region I, which is held at Fairmont Senior and is considered the toughest small school tournament, will have area wrestlers from Magnolia, Paden City, St. Marys and Tyler Consolidated competing.
Little Kanawha Conference champion Braxton County will join Clay County and Doddridge County at the Region II tournament at Lewis County.
Region IV, set to take place at the Jackson County Armory, will have Calhoun County, Ravenswood, Wahama, Williamstown and Wirt County fighting for points against Point Pleasant.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com