WH M.S. wrestlers face adversity

It would be a huge understatement to say it was a tough weekend for the West Holmes Middle School wrestling team.

With illness striking the team through the week and into the weekend, the Knights fought through to a 1-4 record and an eighth-place finish at the Blue Streaks Middle School Duals at Lake High School in Uniontown on Saturday, Dec. 17.

West Holmes dropped its opening dual to Lake 42-30, then rebounded with a 39-36 victory over Canton McKinley. The Knights then dropped their final duals of the day to Rootstown (49-38), Massillon Jackson (56-30) and North Canton (48-24).

“As far as the duals went, it was hard for me to go in with high hopes to win all of our duals this weekend knowing we were going to have so many holes in the lineup from kids being sick,” Knights first-year coach Justin Wilcox said. “However, I did expect those that were able to wrestle to go out and battle.”

According to Wilcox, that effort was not there when the Knights took on host Lake in the first dual of the day.

“Admittedly, we did not battle in our first dual against Lake,” he said. “Of the seven weight classes that actually had matches, we only won two of them. I will give credit where credit is due. The wrestlers that Lake brought were solid and were ready to wrestle. However, the entire team, myself included, could have been better prepared for our matches. As a result we let Lake run away with the dual.

“After Lake, we all knew that we were capable of giving a better effort than we gave. After the coaches and I spoke with the team and got everyone back in gear, we looked much more like ourselves heading into the second match.”

The Knights heeded their coaches’ wishes and won their second dual before dropping the next three duals.

“Personally, the competitive side of me does not like saying that as a team we went 1-4 on the day,” Wilcox said. “It is simply not in my nature to accept defeat. However, I believe that, with a few limited exceptions, we went out and gave our best effort in our last four duals, which is all I can ask for.”

Individually, eighth-graders Lincoln Goans (150 pounds) and Colton Leyda (160) went undefeated on the day with 5-0 records. Liam Angle (seventh grade, 80) and Cohen Wilson (eighth, 172) each posted 4-1 records.

Grady Jones (seventh, 92) went 3-2 while Ian Daugherty (eighth, 110), Wade Miller (seventh, 116) and Wyatt Garens (eighth, 122) all finished with 2-3 marks. Oliver Hiller (seventh, 128) and Brady Milam (seventh, 205) posted 1-4 records while Bronson Myers (eighth, 104) won his only match.

“Overall, this weekend was a crucial weekend for a lot of the kids on the team,” Wilcox said. “Almost everyone at one point was knocked down. However, I am very proud of everyone on the team for picking themselves back up and battling our last four duals. We grew a lot from the beginning of the tournament to the end of the tournament.”

One wrestler who stood out was Daugherty, who earned the middle school Knight of the Week award from Wilcox.

“Ian is our Knight of the Week because he went out and battled in every match,” Wilcox said. “A big stress for me as a coach is that our success is not just measured in wins and losses. Looking at Ian’s record on the weekend, one might think he did not have a successful weekend. However, Ian was sick almost all week, and for a while, it was up in the air whether he would be able to compete this weekend. Regardless, he wrestled with aggression and intensity, gave his best effort, and faced the day like a man. Ian had every excuse to not wrestle well this weekend, but instead, he showed toughness and grit in every one of his matches. That is why he is our Knight of the Week.”

Attack Team stays
undefeated in duals

The Holmes Area Wrestling Club Elementary Attack Team closed out the 2022 portion of its schedule by posting a 3-0 dual meet record in Ohio Youth Wrestling Association Mid-Ohio Division at Loudonville High School on Sunday, Dec. 18.

The grade-schoolers pounded an outmanned Rittman team 69-6 and handled Loudonville 84-35 and Dalton 99-53 to push their season record to a perfect 9-0.

“It was another successful day of wrestling for our group,” Attack Team volunteer coach Jarrett Mathie said. “Rittman had a pretty small team. That being said, we sent a bunch of our grapplers over to the All-Star pool. The wrestlers on both the dual mat and in the All-Star pool wrestled very well in round one. With exception of the first match, every other match was decided by a fall. (I’m) proud of the way our boys started off the day.”

Facing the host Redbirds in round two, the Attack Team powered out to an early lead and never looked back, easily chalking up the dual meet win.

“As we have in a lot of our other duals, we started fast, jumping out to an early lead,” Mathie said. “In the middle weights, we had a run of great matches. We wrestled tough, coming out on the winning end and losing end of some, but we battled, and that’s what matters.”

The final matchup of the day with Dalton was a back-and-forth affair through the middle stages of the dual before the Attack Team’s upper weights took command to sew up another win.

“Dalton always has a good group of kids, so we knew we would see some tough matches,” Mathie said. “Most of the dual was back and forth until we started to pull away with our bigger guys. Again, very proud of the way we battled against them.”

Mathie was impressed with the efforts of fifth-grader Carter Kick and fourth-grader Briggs Patterson in the duals, honoring them with the Attack Team Wrestler of the Week award.

“These two are drill partners in the practice room more times than not, and they have both stepped it up this season,” Mathie said. “Both are very deserving of this nod.”

With an extended break from competition over the holidays, Mathie will keep his troops busy in the practice room.

“We will get back to work in the practice room over the next few weeks,” he said. “Although we wrestled tough today, we saw a few minor hiccups as well. We will look to get these ironed out before our final set of dual meets on Jan. 8. The end of the season is sneaking up on us quickly, and we’ve got plenty of work to do before then.”

Varsity “B” performs
well at Iron Boy #2

The West Holmes High School varsity “B” (junior varsity) team had a successful evening on the mats on Monday, Dec. 19 at the Iron Boy #2 Matchups at Marlington High School, winning 19 of 37 contested bouts with 11 fall wins.

Freshman Cam McCluggage (144) posted an unblemished 3-0 mark with two pins and a tech fall victory to lead the Knights’ nine wrestlers in competition.

Posting 3-1 records were freshmen Logan Van Dalen (175) and Grady Hawkins (190, fall). Senior Cylie Couch (106) finished 2-1 with two fall wins.

Junior Gabe Averbukh (215) posted a 3-2 record with three fall wins. Freshmen Royce Milam (157) and Wesley Yoder (heavyweight) both went 2-3. Milam scored one fall win while Yoder’s wins both were via pin.