Finally! St. Clairsville’s wrestling program has had its name erased from the OHSAA state tournament media guide.

The Red Devils had the dubious distinction of being the school — in any of the three divisions — to have the most state placewinners without having an individual champion, 28, after senior Gannon Kazmirski took eighth at 113 pounds in Division II.

Thanks to senior Caden Stout’s performance in the 150-pound title match Sunday night inside Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University, Madison High School now holds the mark with 25. Other OVAC schools on the list are Dover (20), Harrison Central (14).

Stout’s 8-7 victory over Indian Creek’s Dom Paterra also snapped St. Clairsville’s streak of four state runner-ups without a titlist, and, at the same time, denied the Redskins their first state champion.

En route to his berth in the state finals, Paterra had to defeat Plain City Jonathan Alder’s Oliver Byerly. Sitting in Byerly’s corner was St. Clairsville alum and four-time OVAC champion Zach Schuler, an assistant coach at JA.

The all-OVAC matchup was the first since 2003 when Union Local’s Koel Davia defeated Harrison Central’s Tony Carrothers, 4-1, at 275 pounds in Division III. St. John Central’s Eric Anderson earned a Division III 103-pound state title in 1993 when he decisioned Wellsville’s Ryan Nightengale, 13-4, and Barnesville’s Tim Moxley nipped Steubenville’s Charlie Keenan, 6-5, in 1985 in the Class AA Unlimited Division epic.

Congrats to WLU

The Hilltoppers represented the Ohio Valley and the MEC well Saturday at the NCAA Division II national championships inside Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis as they brought back the third-place trophy.

Cole Laya won his second straight 125-pound national championship and four others earned All-America honors.

Nebraska-Kearney rolled up 127 points to run away with the team title, but head coach Danny Irwin’s came on strong Saturday and stayed in the fight for runner-up honors until the last few matches of the tournament.

Central Oklahoma won two of the last three individual titles to hold off WLU’s run at second place with 86 points. The Hilltoppers were a solid third at 75.5, followed by defending national champion St. Cloud State (67) and Adams State, Colo. (65).

It the highest finish of West Liberty’s NCAA Division II era, and the highest national finish in nearly 30 years, dating back to the 1995 NAIA runner-up finish in Jamestown, N.D.

In addition to Laya’s championship, Connor Craig placed second at 184 for the second straight year with Ty McGeary taking third at 174, Ty Warner fourth at 141 and Logan Kemp eighth at 197.

Warner ends his career as only the second 5-time All-American and 2-time national champion in NCAA D-II history, joining (165-pound national champion) Matt Malcom of Nebraska-Kearney).

Best of Luck

A pair of former Ohio Valley Athletic Conference wrestling standouts will be seeking Gold as the NCAA Division I national championships unfold, starting tonight inside Little Ceasars Arena in Detroit.

Steubenville’s Tariq Wilson (149) will be competing in his fifth national tournament. He is a two-time NCAA All-American, with a pair of third-place finishes as a red-shirt freshman in 2018 at 133 lbs. and as a senior last year at 141. He is a five-time national qualifier, missing the awards podium by one win in 2019. He did, however, earn honorable mention A-A honors in 2020 at 141.

Fresh off his second ACC Tournament title, Wilson is a perfect 15-0 and received a No. 2 seed for the nationals. He will meet Minnesota’s Michael Blockhaus (13-13) in his opening bout.

West Virginia true sophomore Peyton Hall (165) made it back-to-back national championship appearances with a second-place finish in the Big 12 Tournament in Tulsa. The Oak Glen graduate and four-time W.Va. state titlist is a sparkling 25-3 and his win total leads the Mountaineers. Two of his reversals have come to Keegan O’Toole of (20-0 and seeded No. 2) of Missouri.

Hall received a No. 9 seed and will face Cleveland State’s Riley Smucker (21-4).

Ohio State will have eight grapplers entered, including fourth-ranked Sammy Sasso (21-2) at 149. He is in the opposite bracket as Wilson.

OVAC-MAC Match Set

The annual OVAC -MAC All-Star match is Wednesday at West Liberty University at 7 p.m. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania held state tournaments last weekend, forcing the event to be pushed back one week. The annual banquet is Tuesday in Weirton at Undo’s on Three Springs Drive.

More Congratulations

Kudos go out to Cameron head coach Tim Jones (Class A) and Wheeling Park head coach Brian Leggett (Class AAA) for being voted Coach of the Year in the respective classifications following the 75th annual W.Va. State Wrestling Tournament inside Mountain Health Arena in Huntington.

Both the Dragons and Patriots won state titles.

Information Needed

The Times Leader, along with The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register, are seeking submissions of outstanding high school wrestling matches that have taken place in the Ohio Valley.

If any coach, administrator, or wrestling guru knows of any, please send any information to myself at knorth@timesleaderonline.com or sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com. Please attach a telephone number or email address so we can confirm the information.