Jan 21, 2025
Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Ayden King takes Wheeling Park’s Isaac Sands to the mat during their 165-pound finals bout at the 71st annual OVAC Ron Mauck Wrestling Championships Saturday at WesBanco Arena in downtown Wheeling. King won, 2-0.
WHEELING — It was a night of firsts for the University High wrestling team as the 71st annual OVAC Ron Mauck Wrestling Championships closed out its three-day stand Saturday night inside WesBanco Arena.
The Hawks — despite going just 2-5 in the finals — won both the overall and Class 5A titles with 281 points, which was nearly 100 more than runner up Beaver Local (183). Steubenville was third with 182.5 and Parkersburg South fourth at 177. Defending overall champion Barnesville was fifth with 161.5.
“It feels good. We knew we were going to be the underdog in a lot of matches this round,” University head coach Ken Maisel of the championship finals. “It wasn’t the best of rounds for us, but at the same time, we had some guys who maybe wrestled beyond where we thought they would place. It was a good tournament.
“The championship is good for our school and good for our program,” Maisel continued. “Hopefully, we can continue this throughout the remainder of the season.”
University’s Brock Kehler captured his third straight OVAC Ron Mauck championship with a first-period pin in the 285-pound finals of Harrison Central’s Landen Thomas in 1-minute, 48-seconds.
He also pinned Thomas in last year’s finals.
For his efforts, the West Virginia University recruit was voted the David Bierkortte Award winner as the Most Outstanding Wrestler and he won the Hercules Award for most pins in the championship bracket in the least amount of time. Kehler advanced to the finals with four pins in less than 45 seconds each.
The Hawks had one other champion in Pepper Martin (113) repeated his 2024 crown at 106. He earned a 16-5 major decision over Oak Glen’s Aiden Anderson.
The city of Wheeling finished with four titlists as Linsly freshmen Brock Humphrey (106) and George Mamkos (132) ruled their weight classes. Humphrey opened the final session with an 8-3 nod over Beaver Local’s Justuce Fisher and Mamakos doubled up University’s Nico Maisel, 4-2. It marked the first time in program history that the Cadets had two champions in the same year.
“We’re excited about our future with these two freshmen as champions,” Linsly head coach Brian Valentine beamed. “We look forward to the future.”
Wheeling Park’s Jameson Maynard (190) posted a 16-1 technical fall over Southern Local’s Johnny Bailey to remain undefeated at 18-0. It was Maynard’s second title — he won at 165 as a sophomore — and his fourth time on the podium. He was second last year at 175 and sixth at 170 as a freshman.
“Jameson just goes out on the mat and scores points. It’s really awesome to watch him wrestle,” first-year Wheeling Park head coach Danny Doyle said. “Jameson made sure to give himself enough time to heal from football. I think that he waited the perfect amount of time, enough time to let him heal but early enough to make sure he was properly prepared for this tournament.”
Wheeling Central’s Isaac Martin (215) ran his record to an impressive 32-2 with a workmanlike 15-6 major decision over University’s Jackson Pate. Martin finished second last year. It was the Maroon Knights first champion since Zach Basich.
“I’m really excited about Issac’s improvement over the past two years,” Wheeling Central head coach Rick Welker said. “He was fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore and lost to a pair of really talented kids that are wrestling at the collegiate level.”
Beaver Local and Steubenville both had two champions each and three of the titlists were repeat winners. Beavers junior Bobby Buchheit (138) won his third straight with a 21-6 technical fall over John Marshall’s Zander Ward, the No. 4 seed. Buchheit has now won at 120 and 132. Freshman teammate Jake Hughes (150) scored a 2-0 victory over Cameron’s Slaton Pettit.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve won this, so this feels good,” Beaver Local head coach Johnny McComas said. “We’ve got a combination of some great young wrestlers and some great leaders.”
The two champs helped Beaver Local slip past Steubenville, 183-182.5, for second place overall.
Big Red’s Cooper Smith (144) and Brody Saccoccia (157) duplicated their efforts of 2024. Smith blanked University’s Carter Pauley 4-0 for his 100th career win as a junior. Saccoccia, a Purdue University recruit, posted a 19-4 technical fall over Cameron’s Eli Tedrow. It was Saccoccia’s fourth trip to the finals — he won at 120 as a freshman and finished second at 132 as a sophomore. He is now 21-0.
“Both guys won again. We knew (Carter) Pauley was a good wrestler, but Cooper is getting better and better each week,” Steubenville head coach Lucas Huffman said. “We told him to execute his game plan, and he did. Brody was doing Brody things. He was very dominant and is locked in at this point in time.”
Cameron’s Braxton Birch (126) defeated University’s Colton Gillespie 10-3 for the Dragons’ lone title. They had two runner ups and won the Class A/AA title.
“Fast. Exceptional skills,” first-year Cameron head coach Chad Burge said of Birch. “He works hard. The sky is the limit for him.”
“It feels good. This is why we came here,” Burge said. “I thought we could have finished a little better in the overall than we did, but we’re still missing a couple of guys. Not having those guys definitely affected us in the overall standings, but, fortunately, we were good enough on the mats this weekend to get the job done.”
Barnesville’s Ayden King (165) topped Wheeling Park’s Isaac Sands, 2-0, for his first title after placing second last year and third the previous two seasons. The Shamrocks easily defended their Class 3A title.
“Winning the Class 3A title is something we always set out to do, but it’s not our top goal,” Barnesville head coach Jayson Stephen admitted. “We’ve got a young team this year and the kids wrestled pretty well. As a coach, you’d always like to see everyone win, but that’s not going to happen all the time.”
Union Local freshman Gamble Gossett (120) knocked off top-seeded Tristan Eckles of East Liverpool, 7-6. It was Eckles first loss and second straight runner up finish. He was second at 113 in 2024. It was the first title for the Jets since Bobby Stewart won in 2016.
“Tough kid. Works really hard,” Union Local head coach Nate Starkey said of his young champion. “He pushes the pace and he’;s one of those kids that you can always rely on to get points.”
Warren Local’s Aden Strahler went to 34-0 with a 7-1 decision over University’s Emerson Murphy.
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
(AP) — Ben Johnson helped Jared Goff establish himself as one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks. Now, he’ll try …
South Carolina has so far cruised through the difficult part of its conference schedule and remained No. 2 in The …
(AP) —A wild week of upsets and court stormings led to a massive shakeup in the AP Top 25. One constant: …
WHEELING — Haylen Cook netted 26 points as Linsly took out visiting East Liverpool, 60-37, Monday afternoon …
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Steve Eft has built a championship culture at Indian Creek during his seven years at the helm …
Copyright © The Times Leader | https://www.timesleaderonline.com | 200 S. Fourth St., Martins Ferry, OH 43935 | 740-633-1131
