By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
The championship, for all intents and purposes, has been decided and Calhoun
County isn't winning it.
But for the Reed Devils second place behind Oak Glen in the West Virginia
High School Class AA/A State Wrestling Tournament is not too bad.
Following Friday's matches the Red Devils were 57 points - 164.4 to 107.5 -
behind Oak Glen, which is going for its 10th straight title at the Big Sandy
Center in Huntington.
But with any luck the Red Devils will hold off third place Point Pleasant
(96.5) to come home with a solid second-place.
The Red Devils go into today's matches with three wrestlers trying to win
state titles and five more alive in the consolation brackets.
Calhoun's Tyler Bain (26-6) will face Ravenswood's David Dennis (38-0) for
the title at 119 points. Bain, a junior, advanced to the finals by knocking
off Independence wrestler Jake Justice 9-3. Justice, who came into the
tournament with a 40-5 record, was favored to face Dennis for the title.
Eddie Burrows advanced to the 125-pound title match by knocking off
Greenbrier West's Randy Ferrill, 5-4, in the semifinals. Ferrill had a 37-2
record heading into the state tournament.
Burrows, a junior who is now
37-10, will face Herbert Hoover senior Wes Hanson (37-2) for the title.
The other Calhoun wrestler to reach the finals is Paul Goodrich at 189.
Goodrich has powered his way into the finals with two quick falls and a
decisive 13-6 victory over Oak Glen's Josh Greathouse in the semifinals.
Goodrich, 44-1 and the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class will face
Jacob Antoine of Independence in the championship match. Antoine is 41-8.
Calhoun had seven wrestlers in the semifinals but Jaron Sampson (130) lost
an 11-5 decision to Cornelius Godfrey of Logan; Justin Ramsey (135) was
upset by Oak Glen's Dirk Baker; Caleb Hart (145) lost a 4-2 overtime match
to Williamstown's Brandon Baylor and Dustin Whipkey (275) fell to Anthony
Perrin of Logan.
All four of those wrestlers are still alive in the wrestle-back round of the
consolations and will finish no lower than sixth. Should they win both
matches today they could finish as high as third.
Calhoun still has seven wrestlers alive while Point Pleasant has six (three
wrestling for the championship. Oak Glen has 11 wrestlers still alive.
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