West Holmes wrestling finishes second at OCC Meet

The West Holmes wrestling team entered the Ohio Cardinal Conference Meet with more momentum than any team in school history.

The Knights were coming off a program-best third-place finish in the OHSWCA Division II State Duals, but host Ashland showed its power by pulling away for a convincing championship.

The Arrows three-peated as OCC champion with 425.5 points, led by eight champions. West Holmes was second with 319 points, three champions and six runners-up.

Rounding out the field were Madison (202), New Philadelphia (139.5), Wooster (130), Dover (125), Lexington (99.5) and Mansfield Senior (20).

“With the strength of the Ashland team coming in, I knew we’d have to wrestle just about perfect to challenge them,” West Holmes coach Scott Vaughn said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy. The big dogs came through for us, with Louden Dixon (157 pounds), Camden McCluggage (190) and Gabe Umstead (126) all taking first.

“They’ve been wrestling well all season. We had a lot of other guys who wrestled well also. Whenever you get to the OCC finals, you’ll have a really tough kid.”

West Holmes’ runners-up were Wyatt Crabb (junior, 106), Colton Garver (freshman, 113), Peyton Martin (senior, 120), Lincoln Goans (junior, 175), Easton Ross (sophomore, 215) and Dylan Sours (senior, heavyweight).

Noah Grassbaugh (sophomore, 144) placed third, and Liam Angle (sophomore, 138) brought home a fourth-place finish.

Dixon, a returning state champion, became a rare four-time OCC champion when he pinned Ashland’s Tuff Hutcheson in 2:26. He was named the OCC Most Valuable Wrestler.

After going 5-0 on the day, Dixon joined Cael Woods (2017-20) as the Knights' only four-time OCC champs.

“It means a lot every year,” Dixon said. “There's good competition, and the tournament ran well. It’s a tournament for sectionals, the postseason, to tighten up on your technique and everything like that. It's a huge blessing to be able to win it four times in a row.”

The Knights had hoped to make a run at Ashland for the team title, but Dixon gave his respect to the Arrows.

“We finished in third place at the state duals, which is best in our school history,” said Dixon, who has committed to wrestle at Ashland University. “Before that, the best was a seventh. All around as a dual team, we're good from top to bottom. Ashland’s good up and down too, and they came away with that team title today. We came up short with that, but it’s just little things we’ve got to improve on, and that would make a big difference.”

Umstead defeated talented Wooster freshman Vincenzo Peretti 18-12 in their 126 title bout while McCluggage scored a 12-0 major decision over Madison’s Alex Thompson in his finals bout.

Leading the list of Knights taking second was senior 120-pounder Peyton Martin, who dropped a tough 4-2 bout to Ashland’s Max Ohl in the title bout.

Martin, who had dropped from 126, became a four-time OCC placer.

“This week I made the decision to drop to 120 just for a better opportunity in the postseason,” said Martin, who was eighth at last year’s state meet. “We’ve got sectionals coming up, so we’re getting ready for that. Hopefully, being at 120, I can get higher on the state podium. The goal is to be a state champ.”