WH hosting lower half of state team duals district

Brackets for the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association Division II State Team Duals district tournaments were released on Jan. 8. West Holmes was selected to host the Gallia District’s lower half, which will be contested Saturday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. in The Dungeon.

The Knights received the second seed by a vote of the district’s participating school coaches and will face No. 7 Sheridan in the semifinals. No. 3 Miami Trace will battle No. 6 Logan Elm in the other semifinal matchup.

The upper half of the bracket has No. 1 Steubenville taking on the winner of the No. 8 Washington Court House-No. 9 John Glenn quarterfinal dual. No. 4 Indian Valley will battle No. 5 Athens in the other semifinal matchup.

The winners of each semifinal dual will meet for the bracket championship and a trip to state on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Bishop Watterson High School. The losers of the semifinal duals will wrestle for third place.

This year’s state team duals appearance marks the 13th time in the past 14 seasons that the Knights have qualified for the tournament. The tournament was not held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Knights have captured regional championships and state berths five times over that span — 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2023. Hosting this year’s regional tournament marks the third time West Holmes has held the tournament. The other two times were in 2022 and 2023.