Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Hines Ford has North Hills’ Carter Morvay in a predicament in their 175-pound bout during the 29th annual OVAC-MAC “Tri-State Clash of Champions” Tuesday night inside Brooke High School. The Pennsylvania-based MAC posted an impressive, 46-12, victory.

WELLSBURG – A talent-ladened Midwestern Athletic Conference team stormed past the OVAC All-Stars Tuesday night in the 19th annual “Tri-State Clash of Champions” wrestling match inside the Brooke Gymnasium.

The Keystone State seniors, which had 13 wrestlers with at least 100 career victories, won 10 of the 14 matches contested – including the first six – in posting a seemingly easy, 46-12, decision. The OVAC, which saw a two-year win streak snapped, still leads the all-time series, however, 19-10.

“This was a solid year for the MAC and every year there is a different crop of kids,” Wheeling Park head coach Danny Doyle, who led the OVAC, said. “Sometimes the OVAC brings in some highly regarded seniors, and sometimes the MAC does. It just so happened the MAC had a lot of Pennsylvania state placers and state qualifiers.”

The OVAC squad is selected by the top senior placewinners during the annual OVAC Ron Mauck Tournament. This past January saw nine underclassmen (2 freshmen, 5 sophomores, 2 juniors) win championships. So, Doyle had to dip into the lower placed wrestlers in some weight classes.

The MAC jumped out to a 27-0 lead before Oak Glen’s Wyatt Wolanski scored a 13-6 decision at 144. The third-place finisher in the OVAC Ron Mauck event trailed 3-0 after one period before tallying seven points in the second and tacked on six more in the third.

The OVAC pulled to within 26-6 after Beaver Local’s Bobby Buchheit fended off Montour’s Rook Smith, 4-1, at 150. Buchheit, who became the eighth wrestler to win four OVAC Ron Mauck Tournament titles in January, tied the match at 1 with a penalty point before securing a takedown.

For his victory, Buchheit was voted the Most Outstanding OVAC Wrestler by the MAC coaching staff. He will continue his academic and athletic careers at Clarion University.

On the short end of a 30-6 count, Wheeling Park’s Isaac Sands doubled up Quaker Valley’s Matt Danna, 4-2, to draw the OVAC to within 30-9. After a scoreless first period, the Patriots’ standout led 3-2 after two periods and earned an escape to start the third.

That was a good win for Isaac,” Doyle noted. “Coming off of that ankle injury, he hasn’t been on the (wrestling) mat since he lost in the West Virginia state finals, so it was nice to see him come out tonight and show what he has.”

The other OVAC winner was University’s Emerson Murphy who posted a 11-6 victory at 190 over Moon’s Michael Olszewski. Murphy, a last-second replacement for Linsly’s Malaki Washington, trailed 4-3 after one period before securing two takedowns in the second for a 9-6 advantage. A third-period reversal capped the scoring.