Point Pleasant freshman Justin Cornell locks in a hold on an Oak Hill opponent during a 106-pound match Friday night at the Jason Eades Memorial Duals tournament held in Point Pleasant, W.Va.
Bryan Walters/OVP Sports
Wahama junior Ethan Herdman maintains leverage on an opponent in a 152-pound match Friday at the Jason Eades Memorial Duals tournament held in Point Pleasant, W.Va.
Bryan Walters/OVP Sports
POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — It went down to the wire.
The Point Pleasant wrestling team posted a 37-36 victory over Greenbrier East in the final head-to-head match, which allowed the hosts to go a perfect 9-0 while winning the 2016 Jason Eades Memorial Duals tournament held last Friday and Saturday at Point Pleasant Junior/Senior High School in Mason County.
The Big Blacks rolled through the Black Pool after winning all five of its matches by at least 20 points, then PPHS claimed a 63-18 win over George Washington, defeated St. Albans 42-33 and also claimed a 42-34 win over Riverside to remain unbeaten headed into the final match of the day.
Senior Brian Gillispie, who finished the weekend with a perfect 6-0 mark, scored a major decision win in his final heavyweight match — which allowed PPHS to claim first place with the narrow one-point team victory over GEHS.
The Big Blacks captured their first Jason Eades Memorial Duals title since 2013. St. Albans ended up finishing second with an 8-1 mark, while GEHS (7-2), Riverside (6-3) and Musselman (5-4) rounded out the top five team efforts.
Point Pleasant had four grapplers go unbeaten at the two-day event. Besides, Gillispie, Justin Cornell was 9-0 at 106 pounds, Austin Wamsley went 7-0 between the 152- and 160-pound divisions, and Grant Safford was 7-0 at both 195 and 220 pounds.
George Smith (113) and Logan Southall (132) both went 8-1 over the weekend, while Miles Williams (152-160) and Andrew Roach (195-220) both ended the two-day event with matching 6-1 marks.
Caleb Lane was 7-2 overall at 126 pounds and Juan Marquez was 3-1 at 220 pounds. Jacob Roub (145) finished the weekend 4-2, while Nazar Abass (160-170) and Tyler Clendenin (182) also posted respective records of 4-3 and 5-4 overall.
Jeffrey Simpkins (145), Steve Trent (152), Colton Carr (170) and Thomas Jeffrey (285) also scored a win apiece for the hosts.
Point Pleasant defeated Shady Spring (60-24), Musselman (46-26), Oak Hill (57-16), Bishop Fenwick (63-12) and Mingo Central (65-6) in the opening day of competition in the Black Pool.
“The kids wrestled well this weekend,” PPHS coach John Bonecutter said after the event. “We still have a ton we can improve on, but this was a huge step in the right direction. I’m very proud of our guys … this was a total team effort.”
Wahama also competed at the event, finishing 13th overall out of 18 teams. The White Falcons went 1-4 in the opening round of matches in the Gray Pool, but then posted a perfect 3-0 mark in head-to-heads on Saturday.
Ethan Herdman was the lone WHS grappler to go unbeaten after finishing the weekend 8-0 at 152 pounds. Antonio Serevicz (195) and Braden Weaver (285) both posted 7-1 marks, while Trevor Hunt was 6-2 at 126 pounds.
Payton Brewer (138) and Brady Powell (160) both earned 5-3 records in their respective weight classes, while Trey Peters was 4-4 at 120 pounds.
Jace Heckaman was 3-4 at 170 pounds and Wesley Peters was 2-4 at 145 pounds. Christian Thomas was also 1-3 overall at 182 pounds.
Wahama defeated Capital 47-6 in the Gray Pool round, then scored wins over Mingo Central (42-18), Nitro (42-18) and Bishop Fenwick (48-17) in the fifth-and-sixth place finale.
Complete team results are available on the web at wvmat.com
Bryan Walters can be reached at 740-446-2342, ext. 2101.
