Gallery by Heather Belcher
Independence last won a Class AA wrestling title in 2018 which capped a five-year run of dominance on the mat.
Since that time, Point Pleasant has been the team to beat, winning each year starting in 2019.
Can the Patriots dethrone the Big Blacks this year?
That question will be answered in a couple of weeks when the state wrestling tournament is contested once again at the Huntington Civic Center, March 2-4.
Preparation for the big event started Saturday with regional action all across West Virginia.
If regional play is any indication, the Indy grapplers are absolutely ready to make a run at Point Pleasant and any other contenders this year.
Qualifying 13 of a possible 14 wrestlers for the state tournament, Independence brought home the Class AA-A regional title with a 60-point win over second place Herbert Hoover.
When discussing the regional win, veteran Independence head coach Cliff Warden emphasized the word “team.”
“With football affecting us early, as well as hands broken, noses broken and all of that stuff, today was the first time we have had our whole team together and it felt good,” Warden said. “Getting 13 guys through (to the state tournament) is really good. I think Fairmont Senior put 12 through and Point Pleasant put 11 through, but it is all about whose kids score the most points in two weekends.”
The Patriots had nine wrestlers in the regional finals with six bringing home the first-place hardware.
One of those six was Kennedy Award winner Judah Price who cruised through the 150 pound weight class and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler for the regional tournament. Price won all three matches by pin fall.
“This week is a dominate week for me. I look to go out there and dominate people. I try to get in the best shape that I can and wrestle the best that I can,” Price said.
Joining Price on top the podium for their respective weight class were Dillon Perdue (106), Caelyb Nichols (144), Jesse Adams (165), Colten Caron (175) and Josh Hart (190).
Nichols also qualified for “match of the night” with a wild win over Moses Gray from Greenbrier West in the waning seconds. Nichols hit a late take down and near fall to take a 6-4 decision.
“That was a solid match and he actually listened,” Warden said. “He kept it fundamental for two-and-a-half periods, then he went Caelyb Nichols on the guy in the last 15 (seconds) and he wasn’t expecting it.”
The match was a tough one for Greenbrier West head coach Jeremy Tincher to swallow on an otherwise solid night for the Cavaliers.
“I thought we wrestled really well. I wasn’t really happy with Moses’ match,” Tincher said. “We were winning the match with 10 seconds left and we get tossed. That is what that kid does and we knew that going in. It is what it is. Other than that we had a great day. We qualified the amount of kids that we thought we were going to qualify and ended up in a pretty good place.”
Greenbrier West finished third in the regional behind Indy and Herbert Hoover, but was the top Class A team sending eight wrestlers to Huntington.
Three Cavaliers secured regional crowns including Tucker Lilly (120), Clayton Robinson (132) and Cole Vandall (215).
One of the wrestlers from Charmco that made the state tournament was freshman Trey Franklin.
After winning his first match, Franklin dropped into the consolation round where he had to win at least one match to qualify for the state tournament. Trailing 4-0, Franklin punched his ticket with a pin and eventually finished third in the 285 pound division.
“He beat two kids this week that he lost to last week, so that was nicely done,” Tincher said.
Franklin was not the only pleasant surprise of the tournament. Seth Snuffer from Independence also was an unlikely qualifier when the tournament started.
“All of my guys wrestled hard, but Seth Snuffer came in at 120 and wrestled his first three matches. He qualified for the state tournament, which is pretty cool,” Warden said.
Herbert Hoover graduated seven seniors last year and started off the regional tournament with a tough opening round.
“We thought this year would be a rebuilding year and it has been a tough year. We had some hiccups here and there, but we kept fighting at it,” Herbert Hoover head coach Richard Harper said. “We knew if we really wrestled well that we could contend for a regional championship, but we had to wrestle better than we had all year. We got in the first round and we had some hiccups there. We knew then that we weren’t going to win a regional title, but we wanted to get as many guys through as we could.”
Although the start was not what Harper desired, the young Huskies refused to fold the tent.
“We had four guys make it through to the semis and we had seven guys in the semifinal consolation round. All seven guys won, so that was a huge turn around for us,” Harper said. “Then we go into the third and fourth round and everyone of those guys finished third. We qualified 11 and the lowest place we had was third. I am really tickled with these guys. Some of them had a bad first round, but fought hard in the consolation round. It wasn’t so much how we started, but how we finished.”
Mac Payne (126) and Andrew Rollyson (157) captured regional titles, which along with the solid performances from the other nine qualifiers, earned Hoover the runner-up spot.
“This is definitely something that we can build off of for the state tournament. I thought we were down and out, but we really stepped it up. It was a team effort,” Harper said. “Max Payne had a huge pin that sealed the deal for us against Greenbrier West. For us, that goes to show you that we have worked hard and the kids believe in what we are doing.”
Nicholas County had two regional champions in Luke Kelly (113) and Caleb Burns (138), while PikeView’s big man Marcus Matney was the champion at 285.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualified for the state tournament.
Team Totals
1. Independence 255.5, 2. Herbert Hoover 195, 3. Greenbrier West 181.5, 4. Shady Spring 129, 5. Nicholas County 118, 6. Liberty 83, 7. Midland Trail 72, 8. Richwood 47, 9. PikeView 41, 10. Webster County 23, 11. River View 20.
Individual Results
106
1. Dillon Perdue, Independence, 2. Austin McKenzie, Greenbrier West, 3. Orion Taylor, Herbert Hoover, 4. Brooklyn McClure, Shady Spring.
113
1. Luke Kelly, Nicholas County, 2. Walker Furrow, Shady Spring, 3. Hunter Hughart, Herbert Hoover, 4. Luke Mullins, Independence, 5. Will Massie, Greenbrier West.
120
1. Tucker Lilly, Greenbrier West, 2. Sailor McKinney, Nicholas County, 3. Jonathan Cottrell, Herbert Hoover, 4. Seth Snuffer, Independence, 5. Trenton Clay, Liberty, 6. Jaden Taylor, PikeView
126
1. Mac Payne, Herbert Hoover, 2. Noah Hines, Nicholas County, 3. Josh Dudley, Richwood, 4. Colton Tolliver, Liberty, 5. Ryder Laws, Shady Spring, 6. Peyton Rikard, Greenbrier West.
132
1. Clayton Robinson, Greenbrier West, 2. Hunter Whitaker, Independence, 3. Lathan Chandler, Herbert Hoover, 4. Talon Cantley, Liberty, 5. Andrew Franco, Shady Spring, 6. Corey Stevens, River View.
138
1. Caleb Burns, Nicholas County, 2. Christian Smith, Shady Spring, 3. Tyson McGinnis, Independence, 4. Jovan Robinson, Greenbrier West, 5. Josh Simmons, Webster County, 6. Max Newman, Liberty.
144
1. Caelyb Nicholas, Independence, 2. Moses Gray, Greenbrier West, 3. Hayden Payne, Herbert Hoover, 4. Preston Thomas, Nicholas County, 5. Garrett Massey, Liberty, 6. Tucker Ransom, Shady Spring.
150
1. Judah Price, Independence, 2. Kolton Fields, Herbert Hoover, 3. Evan Vandall, Greenbrier West, 4. Bryce Lambert, Shady Spring, 5. Isaac Williams, Liberty, 6. Jackie Ferguson, Webster County
157
1. Andrew Rollyson, Herbert Hoover, 2. Kaden Helmer, Shady Spring, 3. Colton Miller, Independence, 4. Cruz Tompkins, Midland Trail, 5. Caleb Horn, River View, 6. Darren Vaughn, Greenbrier West.
165
1. Jesse Adams, Independence, 2. Alex Mobley, Herbert Hoover, 3. Kaden Lephew, Midland Trail, 4. Cameron Whittaker, Shady Spring, 5. Brandon Blenden, Greenbrier West, 6. Enrique Guzman, Liberty.
175
1. Colten Caron, Independence, 2. Jayden Roop, Midland Trail, 3. Braelen Holstein, Shady Spring, 4. Coheen McGeeney, Richwood, 5. Hunter Cantley, Liberty, 6. Reece Baldwin, Greenbrier West.
190
1. Josh Hart, Independence, 2. Dalton Hanshew, Nicholas County, 3. Austin Derringer, Herbert Hoover, 4. John Bowman, Midland Trail, 5. Gabe Knoblet, Shady Spring, 6. Wyatt Burnette, Liberty.
215
1. Cole Vandall, Greenbrier West, 2. Badyn Cox, Independence, 3. Blake Goff, Herbert Hoover, 4. Heath Rye, PikeView, 5. Lakota Grace, Richwood, 6. Hannah Golden, River View.
285
1. Marcus Matney, PikeView, 2. Logan Isom, Independence, 3. Trey Franklin, Greenbrier West, 4. Kordell Brown, Midland Trail, 5. Michael Ferguson, Webster County, 6. Connor Acord, Liberty
