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This past weekend wrestlers from the Buckeye 8 Conference gathered in Morristown to tweak their records one last time before heading into this week’s Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Tournament.
Using the eight-team conference dual meet tournament as a spring board into the OVAC tourney isn’t the typical thought process since teams see each other so much during the season anyways. However, that wasn’t the case as St. Clairsville freshman Dominic Prezzia took full advantage of the opportunity to improve his seeding during Sunday’s OVAC seed meeting.
Prezzia would start the day knocking off returning district qualifier Erik Canter of Bellaire with a decision and came back to defeat Tom Parker of Indian Creek in his next match.
The hard nosed freshman moved on to his next match as he toed the line with veteran Chase Clark of Union Local. Clark, a returning two-time state place winner, had his way with Prezzia earlier this season at the Barnesville’s Emerald Pointe Wrestling Invitational, but that was far from the outcome this second time around as Prezzia came away with the one-point victory.
Having the most recent victory, Prezzia should be able to notch the top seed in the 130-pound bracket this weekend at the WesBanco Arena.
Official seeds will be released this evening beginning at 6:30 at a OVAC?press conference.
Buckeye 8 Wrestling Tournament
Bellaire will go out as the last winners of the Buckeye 8 wrestling tournament this year after Big Reds handed Harrison Central a 42-27 dual loss in the final round of competition at Union Local.
“I was a little surprised how well we did,” Bellaire coach Shane Shaffer said during Sunday’s OVAC seed meeting. “There were some good teams and beating Buckeye (Local) was big for us and to come out and top Harrison is great for the program.”
The conference and coaches have decided not to continue the tournament during the 2008-2009 wrestling season.
Beallsville Invitational
Wheeling Park continued to prove it was one of the premier programs in the valley as its junior varsity squad claimed top honors at this weekend’s Beallsville Invitational.
“They wrestled outstanding,” an ecstatic Doyle said. “The guys have really stayed committed with no one quitting this season. Our varsity squad has been doing very well and that filters down. They have a good time competing hard as a team not just individuals.”
The Patriots pocketed four individual titles with Marcus George (145), Brendon Gibson (152), Lucas Goodwin (171) and Bradey McConnel (215).
Goodwin, a senior grappler, has been known to hit gold in the final rounds of competition winning an individual title at Shadyside’s varsity tournament.
“Lucas came in as a senior and expected to start. He got bumped out by Danny Doyle in wrestle offs,” Doyle explained. “A lot of kids that are seniors and don’t start don’t stick it out, but Lucas has been doing so. He works hard in the practice room pushing everyone else and goes to every varsity match when our JVs aren’t wrestling. He's a great kid to have on the team.”
Others taking top honors from the valley included Wheeling Central’s Kyle Bauer (103), Beallsville’s Jimmy Reisz (140), Bridgeport’s Bryan Skoff (160) and Sean West (285) and River’s Jordan Clegg (189).
Taking home the Most Outstanding Wrestler award was Beallsville’s Jimmy Reisz.
Bertolino, Iowa
State take seventh
CEDAR FALLS - Buckeye Local graduate David Bertolino wasn’t at his best this weekend as his third-seeded Cyclones were knocked out of the championship bracket at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in the UNI-Saturday in its first-round dual after losing on criteria to unseeded Hofstra (5-4), 18-18.
The Cyclones were able to bounce back from the opening round loss to defeat a pair of opponents in Northern Iowa (31-3) and fourth-seeded Central Michigan (24-6), before suffering a 22-16 setback to the tournament’s top seed, Penn State.
"This is a great tournament to be able to wrestle different guys that you don't see all the time but you will see at the NCAA Tournament," Cyclones’ David Zabriskie said.
The fall to the Nittany Lions put the Cylcones in position to wrestle for seventh place where they rolled the Wildcats with quick pins from Jon Reader and jake Varner for a 26-16 win.
"Overall I thought we wrestled well," Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson said. "We are working on getting better individually with our eye on March. The move up a weight for several of our wrestlers this season is paying off and making our guys better. We expect to be in the fight in March."
TUCKER, BOBCATS SPLIT
Hampton, Va. - Former Martins Ferry standout Clay Tucker and the Ohio Bobcats wrestling program trip to Virginia this past weekend ended in heartbreak when a late pin gave North Dakota State a 20-19 victory after the Bobcats fell 36-3 to University of Virginia earlier in the day.
A double elimination tournament, Tucker - a former Bierkortte Award winner - wasn’t able to work his match as Virginia’s Dan Gonsor handed the Purple Rider graduate a 11-6 setback in round one.
Hoping to rebound against the Bison, Tucker was apart of a four-match win streak holding onto a 6-4 win over NDSU’s Adam Aho.
The Bobcats held a 19-14 lead going into the final bout, but Ohio’s Jason Marshall was pinned by NDSU’s Tyler Hemmesch to give the Bobcats a ticket back to Athens.
Cook can be reached at bcook@timesleaderonline.com