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Ripley takes commanding D2 lead into final day of state wrestling

By Jay W. Bennett 5 min read

HUNTINGTON -- The Ripley wrestling program of head coach Matt Smith has a commanding 149.5-103.5 lead against Herbert Hoover in the Division II team race following the completion of Friday night’s semifinals and blood rounds at the 79th annual West Virginia State Wrestling Tournament being held inside Marshall Health Network Arena.

The Vikings, who brought 11 grapplers to the final weekend of the season, will place nine and have a shot at winning a quartet of state championships.

“We had everybody here until the blood round. Two guys lost and the other two guys won,” said coach Smith, whose finalists are 120-pounder Terry Osborne (vs. Herbert Hoover’s Josh Bostic), 138-pounder Lars Cooper (vs. Keyser’s Jackson Swingle), 150-pounder Carter Price (vs. Point Pleasant’s Bobby Minor) and heavyweight Carter Neal, who pinned Wheeling Central’s Dominic Paesani in 3:15, and will try to seal his first crown when he takes on Philip Barbour’s Malachi Cross.

Osborne was tied at 3-3 with Williamstown’s Landon Miller after the ‘Jacket got an escape to open the third, but the Viking won 9-5 and went ahead for good with 1:22 to go via a takedown. Cooper was facing Williamstown’s Dutch Sandy, last year’s 120-pound state champ, but the Viking emerged with a 4-1 win as he registered the lone takedown at 0:33 of the third. Price also knocked off Yellowjacket Dylan Pucella via fall in 22 seconds.

Ripley’s other trio of semifinalists saw 126-pounder Austin Modrzakowski get pinned in 2:30 by East Fairmont’s Haydyn Spitznogle, 157-pounder Jace Starcher losing by fall in 4:56 to Cameron’s Talen Brown along with 215-pounder Cody Lawrence getting doubled up, 10-5, by Joey Cowger of Shady Spring.

“It’s the state tournament so you are going to have things happen that you don’t expect,” admitted coach Smith, who also will place 106-pounder Enoch Quesenberry and 144-pounder Mason Philyaw. “You’re not going to wrestle quite as well as you want to in some cases. Then some cases you are going to be surprised.

“That’s where we are pretty much at. Our team overall has been pretty tough all season. In terms of consistency-wise we were pretty consistent here so far as far as how we performed and things. These guys have really worked hard and gotten better since the beginning of the season all the way through every single match.”

Williamstown, which sits fourth in the Division II team race with 81.5 points -- behind East Fairmont’s 94.5 and ahead of fifth-place Keyser’s 76 -- had two other shots at having a state finalist.

Although 157-pounder Wesley Freed was pinned by Braxton County’s Paxton Smith in 1:42, the Yellowjackets will be represented by 47-5 freshman Jake Junkins, who got the first takedown 30 seconds into his 150-pound match versus Wyatt Wolanski of Oak Glen en route to a 9-2 decision. The ‘Jacket now has East Fairmont’s Blake Ringer.

Jackson County also was represented in the semifinals at 138 by Ravenswood’s Johnny Heath, who fell via a 10-1 major decision to Swingle.

The only other Little Kanawha Conference wrestler to survive the semifinals was Roane County 175-pound senior Wyatt Nichols, who improved to 51-3, after handing Independence’s Tyson McGinnis a 14-4 major decision setback as the Raider jumped out to an 8-0 advantage.

Also coming up short in the semifinals from the LKC were Wirt County’s Matt Balis, who lost 17-1 to Bostic. Poca 132-pounder Caleb Smith, who lost 10-0 to Chapmanville’s Devin Hensley, as well as Clay County’s Blake Coleman, who fell 10-0 to Ringer. Panther 113-pound teammate Caiden Bryant was upended by Frankfort’s Wes Files, who won by fall in 4:39.

Aside from Williamstown’s five state semifinalists, the ‘Jackets of head coach Tyler George also will receive podium finishes from junior 132-pounder Cole Smith and 175-pound senior Evan Turner. Smith won his blood round match via a 15-0 tech fall versus Doddridge County’s Trey McDonough.

Also placing from the area will be Ravenswood 132-pounder Linkin Andrick, who eliminated Ripley’s Kendrick Durst via a 9-3 decision, along with Red Devil teammates Levi Blackhurst (120) and Atreyu Copen (157), Braxton County’s Eliah Moore (190), Doddridge County’s Noah Wekseth (157) and Roane County’s Mack Webb (165).

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

79th annual W.Va. State Wrestling Championships, Saturday night finals

DIVISION II

TEAM SCORES (top 10): Ripley 149.5, Herbert Hoover 103.5, Cameron (D3) 103, East Fairmont 94.5, Williamstown 81.5, Keyser 76, Independence 73.5, Oak Glen 64, Weir 58.5, Point Pleasant 51, Braxton County 49.5

106: Maverick Lilley (Cameron) vs. Jordan Tomsic (Oak Glen)

113: Wesley Files (Frankfort) vs. Preston Rhodes (Herbert Hoover)

120: Terry Osborne (Ripley) vs. Josh Bostic (Herbert Hoover)

126: Chad Artman (Weir) vs. Haydyn Spitznogle (East Fairmont)

132: Braxton Birch (Cameron) vs. Devin Hensley (Chapmanville)

138: Lars Cooper (Ripley) vs. Jackson Swingle (Keyser)

144: Jake Junkins (Williamstown) vs. Blake Ringer (East Fairmont)

150: Carter Price (Ripley) vs. Bobby Minor (Point Pleasant)

157: Paxton Smith (Braxton County) vs. Talen Brown (Cameron)

165: Joshua DeFelice (Weir) vs. Eli Tedrow (Cameron)

175: Wyatt Nichols (Roane County) vs. Tony Preolitti (East Fairmont)

190: Toby Michael (North Marion) vs. Louis Diaz (East Fairmont)

215: Joey Cowger (Shady Spring) vs. Noah Schmidt (Oak Glen)

285: Carter Neal (Ripley) vs. Malachi Cross (Philip Barbour)

Starting at /week.