The Panther Classic has always been one of the premier high school wrestling tournaments in the Ohio Valley. Its placement in middle-to-late February allowed teams from the tri-state area — Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — to prepare for their upcoming postseasons against some top-flight competition.

On Saturday, the 30th annual Panther Classic will be unlike any of the previous 29 events held at Buckeye Local High School. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions that have been put in place in the Buckeye State preventing many of those same teams to gather in the southern Jefferson County hamlet of Connorville.

So, instead of 25-or-more squads, the event has been downgraded to a six-team dual tournament. Teams involved, in addition to the host Panthers, include East Liverpool, Edison, Martins Ferry, Shadyside and Union Local. Each team will get five matches.

There will be several state-ranked (according to Borofan.net) competitors, including Buckeye Local’s Brian Palmer Jr. who is ranked second at 152 in Division III. Martins Ferry’s Kameron Hughes is sixth at 170 while teammates Dylan Ward is 17th at 106 but has been competing all season at 113 and Zak Dobson rounds out the top 10 at 220. Edison’s Ethan Waggoner checks in at 16th as a 152-pounder. In Division II, Union Local’s Brady Crum is 20th at 152 while East Liverpool’s Eric Williams is 12th at 160 and Howard Williams is 10th at 170.

Weigh-ins will take place at each school prior to that team leaving for the competition Saturday morning. They will be done on an honor system. Skin checks will take place at 9, with wrestling starting one hour later on three mats.

Awards for the top team and Most Outstanding Wrestler will be presented following the final match.

Tournament schedule as follows:

Round 1

Mat 1—Martins Ferry vs Edison; Mat 2—Union Local vs East Liverpool; Mat 3—Buckeye Local vs Shadyside

Round 2 (Approx. 11:15 a.m.)

Mat 1—Martins Ferry vs Union Local; Mat 2—Shadyside vs East Liverpool; Mat 3—Buckeye Local vs Edison

Round 3 (Approx. 12:30 p.m.)

Mat 1—Martins Ferry vs Shadyside; Mat 2—Edison vs Union Local; Mat 3—Buckeye Local vs East Liverpool

Round 4 (Approx. 1:45 p.m.)

Mat 1—Martins Ferry vs East Liverpool; Mat 2—Edison vs Shadyside; Mat 3—Buckeye Local vs Union Local

Round 5 (Approx. 3 p.m.)

Mat 1—Edison vs East Liverpool; Mat 2—Union Local vs Shadyside; Mat 3—Buckeye Local vs Martins Ferry

Amos Watch

Parkersburg South graduate and University of Wisconsin freshman Braxton Amos returned to action last week as he competed in “The Badger State” on the Underground 3 card.

Although Amos was originally expected to tangle with former Nebraska All-American T.J. Dudley, Dudley was scratched and C.J. Brucki of the New Jersey RTC. Brucki, a 2018 Central Michigan University graduate who was a multiple time NCAA qualifier, took his place. Brucki is in his third year as the director of wrestling operations for The College of New Jersey. Brucki was fighting for the 12th time since last April.

At least on paper, Amos entered the freestyle 95 kilograms (209 pounds) match, which consists of just two three-minute periods, as an underdog.

However, despite not having a live match in nearly 100 days, that made little difference to the 2019 Pan-American Junior silver medalist. Amos used a pair of early exposure points to take the lead and proceeded to get a takedown and turned Brucki twice to help forge an 8-1 advantage. The match was stopped before the end of the first period with Amos getting his hand raised following a 14-3 technical fall.

WVU Update

The Mountaineers overcame a 15-13 deficit to defeat Cleveland State, 18-15, last weekend at Woodling Gymnasium, in Cleveland.

With two bouts remaining, WVU (4-2, 0-1) desperately needed a pair of decisions to claim the team victory over CSU (0-1). Top-ranked Noah Adams, a redshirt junior, answered the call for the Mountaineers, as he posted an 8-2 decision over Ben Smith at 197 pounds, giving the visitors a 16-15 edge. However, the Mountaineers had a team point deducted due to an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Adams after he threw his head gear.

With the outcome of the dual hinging on the 285-pound outcome, redshirt freshman Michael Wolfgram turned it up in the to earn a 6-3 win as WVU walked away with the 18-15 victory.

Freshman Peyton Hall, of Oak Glen and ranked No. 24 nationally by FloWrestling, cut the Mountaineers’ deficit to two with an 8-2 decision over Riley Smucker at 165 pounds.

Sophomore Scott Joll followed suit with a hard-fought, 12-11 win over Steubenville product Anthony Rice. With the bout tied at 8-8 heading into the final frame, Rice decided to start in the defensive position and earn the escape. Joll registered a takedown to secure the ride-time point, but Rice used a reversal with one second remaining to force sudden-victory. However, Joll was awarded the win following a controversial stall call on Rice in overtime.

WVU will return home to compete against Big 12 affiliate Northern Colorado (3-0, 2-0) on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET, inside the WVU Coliseum.