Marietta junior Zach Carver tries to control Warren senior Gavin Cox during a 190-pound match at Saturday's Hickory Grove Market Invitational. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

VINCENT — Five area wrestlers stood atop the podium during a snowy Hickory Grove Market Invitational here Saturday at Warren as Logan nipped Nelsonville-York 215.5 to 208.5 for the team crown with 144-pound Buckeye junior Holden Hodgson earning the Most Outstanding Wrestler award.

“This is our true first tournament other than a couple duals,” said Hodgson, who admitted winning back-to-back individual titles was “no doubt, a good feeling. My ultimate goal is to go place at the state tournament.

“These matches ultimately don’t mean anything. It’s what happens in March. We have super high expectations. We’re in and out of the room grinding, taking it day by day. One percent better everyday.”

Hodgson, who won via a 19-1 technical fall versus Philo’s Griffin Swartz, watched fellow teammates top their weight class at 132 with Raiden Boney getting the only points of the match in overtime (3-0) versus Alexander’s Landyn Wandling as well as Brandon Handley at 157 and heavyweight Will Odenthal, who pinned Marietta’s Teddy Bauer in 24 seconds. Handley won via fall 20 ticks into the second against Meigs’ Quinton Stewart.

Waterford 165-pound junior Hayden Jones won his second career HGMI crown via a 7-2 decision against Buckeye Mason Giffin. The Wildcat was the 150-pound champ as a freshman.

Waterford's Cadon Riley and Fort Frye's Steven Lenhart battle during a heavyweight match at Saturday's Hickory Grove Market Invitational. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We still got a lot of work to do. We still got guys that aren’t where they are supposed to be yet,” admitted Waterford head man Greg Offenberger. “We got to get down in some weight classes.

“We looked good in certain spots, but we still got a lot of work to do. We’re going to get back in the room on Monday and we’re going to get ready for next weekend. We’re taking some guys to Barnesville next weekend.”

Eastern’s Kyler Basham, last year’s 113-pound champion as a freshman, edged Athens junior Ben Counts 4-3 to win the 120-pound title.

Marietta 215-pound junior Eli Vessels won his final via a 15-0 tech fall against Philo’s Dakota Kinney.

“We had two of our district qualifiers from last year, this was their first tournament,” said Marietta head coach Garrett Davis. “They weren’t able to compete last week so it was exciting to see how they were doing.

Waterford's Kameron Johnson records a first period pin of Marietta's Cooper Brown in the fifth-place match at Saturday's Hickory Grove Market Invitational. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Eli got first and Teddy placed second. Just high expectations for those two as well as everybody else and I think we kind of lived up to that expectation.”

The other two area victors came at 150 with Williamstown sophomore Ethan Morrison (10-5 dec. vs. Logan’s Taylor Turner) and Morgan 175-pound junior Tanner Bankes (1:22 fall vs. Meadowbrook’s Javion Blackstone).

Logan was aided in its title run by a trio of champions in 113-pound freshman Brayden Markin, 126-pound junior Carson Carroll and 138-pound junior Blake Coakley. Markin needed 50 seconds to get the mat slapper on Buckeye freshman Noah VanDyke. Carroll had a 10-0 major decision against Meadowbrook senior Brayden Jensen. Coakley, the 106-pound champ as a freshman, secured his second title after handing Philo junior Robert Dorsey a 4-1 setback.

Last year’s team champion Philo, whose only first-place effort came in dramatic fashion with senior 190-pounder Gibson Swartz pinning Logan sophomore Adyn Lambert in two seconds, finished in third with 164.5 points. Morgan’s 137 was good for fourth as Waterford (125), Marietta (122), Warren (111), Meadowbrook (105.5), Athens (96.5) and Alexander (87) rounded out the top 10.

The host Warriors, who were being led by associate head coach Levi Congleton, had their best finish from 106-pounder Kaiden Snyder. The freshman was pinned in 4:46 by Alexander ninth grader Rayden Crossen in the final.

Nelsonville-York junior Holden Hodgson defeated Philo senior Griffin Swartz via a 19-1 technical fall and repeated as the 144-pound Hickory Grove Market Invitational on Saturday at Warren en route to being named the Most Outstanding Wrestler. (Photo By Jay W. Bennett)

“I saw a lot of good wrestling. I was happy with our guys,” said Congleton, who received consolation finals wins from 138-pound sophomore Dylan Legleitner and 215-pound senior Eric Carr.

“We might not have done great, but I saw a lot of stuff that we’ve worked on in the past week being used on the mat and we’re making progress. We’re not young, but we’re new. I’m pretty happy with the way they are wrestling.”

Other wrestlers who won their consolation finals match to finish in third included Buckeye Audie McDonald (106), New Lexington’s Anthony Wolford (113), Philo’s Ryan South (120), Waterford’s Briceson Cline (126), Morgan’s Joel Burkhart (132), Meadowbrook’s Logan Ellis (144), Athens’ Luke Pero (150), Marietta’s Cameron Stoke (157), Alexander’s Aiden Lachman (165), Logan’s Luke Abele (175), Fort Frye’s Grayson Goodwin (190) and Morgan heavyweight Devin Waggy.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com