T-L Photo/KIM NORTH MARTINS FERRY’S Trey Regis grimaces as earns back points against St. Clairsville’s Zach McKeever during their 113-pound match Wednesday night on John Jenkins Court inside St. Clairsville High School. Regis eventually won, 11-7, but the Red Devils prevailed, 45-33. They also defeated Tri-Valley, 42-36.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Three teams prepping for the upcoming Ohio Regional Team Dual Meet Tournaments met Wednesday night. The host Red Devils came away with a pair of victories, but, while it’s nice to come out on top, head coach Joel Sansone said it was all about getting his kids the right matchups.

St. Clairsville topped Tri-Valley, 42-36, and then held off Martins Ferry, 45-33, in triangular action on John Jenkins Court. The Purple Riders also defeated the Scotties, 48-24.

“We’ve got a couple of guys battling sickness. We’ve got a couple of guys out of the lineup,” Sansone said. “We had eight guys at practice on Monday and 10 yesterday (Tuesday). Tonight was just about getting the matchups that we wanted for the better competition, so we bumped some guys around.

“We ended up squeaking out a pair of wins with the next-man-up mentality, but it was good competition tonight,” he added. “Two very worthy opponents to get us ready for the state duals. Then it’s time to rest up for the sectionals.”

Half-a-dozen Red Devils collected a pair of victories, with Gannon Kazmirski (106), Mason McCort (145) and Austin DaRe (152) each winning twice by pin. Reese Skaggs (195) had a pin and forfeit, while Derek Witsberger (220) earned a pair of decisions. Koen Kish (132) had a forfeit and a decision, while Quintin Elerick (138) recorded a fall.

“I think everything went as we expected tonight,” Sansone said.

Kazmirski provided the winning points in the Tri-Valley dual when he recorded a pin in 25 seconds that snapped a 36-all deadlock.

In the Martins Ferry dual, Corey Naylor pinned Noah Duck in their 182-pound bout to break a 24-all tie. Skaggs followed with a 25-second pin and Witsberger outpointed Zakary Dobson, 6-1, for a 39-24 margin.

The Purple Riders used a pin from Zeke Bruney (285) to make it 39-30, but Kazmirski pinned Dylan Ward in 3:25 to seal the deal.

Winning twice for Martins Ferry were Regis (113-forfeit, pin); Sabin Ward (160-2 pins); Kameron Hughes (170/182-2 pins) and Bruney (dec., pin).

“Those are two pretty good Division II schools. We beat Tri-Valley pretty handily and had a close match with St. Clairsville,” Martins Ferry head coach Chad Ware said. “I just told the guys that everyone is wrestling better. Even in some of the losses that we took, we wrestled well but some little things here and there didn’t go our way.

“We’re ready for this weekend,” he noted. “I think we’ve got a shot.”