WHEELING - Five local wrestlers found themselves in position to bring home individual weight class titles Saturday night at Wheeling's WesBanco Arena during the Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Championships.

Big Red's Shawn McGhee, the No. 2 seed at 135 pounds, faced off with No. 4 seed Tyler Richards of Parkersburg South in another championship battle featuring the two schools.

McGhee was the model of intensity as he stood looking like he was ready to pounce on the next person who walked by him.

"I was just thinking that I can't lose." said McGhee. "Last year I didn't win and I wasn't trying to lose again."

Unfortunately for Richards that person was him.

From the beginning McGhee looked to set his pace immediately flying out for a takedown attempt. The referee stopped the action because McGhee had moved to action to quickly but as Richards got up off the mat the tone had been set.

"I did that early on in the tournament," said McGhee. "I thought I would come back to it and it worked to set the tone."

McGhee jumped up quickly and controlled the action from start to finish en route to an 8-0 decision win and the 135 pound title.

"I thought I'd do well (in the Ohio state wrestling tournament) but after this I feel like I want go in and win it," said McGhee.

McGhee (21-2), now a second-generation OVAC champion, won his semifinal match earlier in the day by pin late in the third period over Bellaire's Josh Davis.

At 103 pounds Big Red's Anthony Craig, the No. 1 seed, faced off with team juggernaut Parkersburg South's Lance Hill, the No. 2 seed. The two sophomores had faced off once before this year when Craig defeated Hill by a 3-2 decision.

This time around it was just as close as the two battled beyond regulation into a double overtime. Both wrestlers earned escapes in regulation to make the score 1-1 going into the first overtime session.

Neither wrestler was able to score in overtime to set up the second overtime.

In the first period of the second overtime, Hill was able to escape Craig's control to take a 2-1 lead. Craig was unable to answer in the second period despite great effort and had to settle for the second place finish after dropping the 2-1 decision to Hill.

Craig (21-4) won his semifinal match earlier in the day by a 6-3 decision over Martins Ferry's Damon Outward.

The 112 pound championships saw number two seed and undefeated Zach Brown of Oak Glen facing off against number one seed Josh Bartrug of River. These two wrestlers that met before last year with Bartrug able to get by Brown with a 2-0 overtime decision.

Brown, unlike a majority of the wrestlers on hand, was a model of calm as the participants were announced at the beginning of the championship round. As many of his peers jumped around he stood there patiently waiting for his turn to take the mat.

"I just kind of stood there and waited," said Brown. "I didn't want to burn myself out. I don't want to get too fired up until I win."

And win he did, though it didn't come easy. The two stalwarts of the mat once again found themselves in overtime this time around. A takedown by Bartrug gave him a 2-0 lead in regulation but Brown did not give up fighting to get a reversal to tie the match at 2-2.

Overtime saw the evenly matched contestants unable to one up each other until late in the period. That's when Brown shot in on Bartrug, grabbed a hold of his opponent, and brought him harshly to the mat. The 4-2 overtime win gave Brown the 112 pound title and some confidence heading into the West Virginia state tournament.

"I wasn't really working for the takedown," said Brown. "I was waiting for him to give me an opening and he did. There really wasn't much skill to the takedown.

"It does make me feel better that I know I can win in overtime because mostly all my losses last year were in overtime."

Brown (22-0) reached the finals by defeating Indian Creek's Kyle Moffitt by an 8-7 decision in the semifinal.

At 215 pounds Oak Glen's Dylan Davis who entered the tournament as the number two seed took on unseeded Caleb Gunn of Cambridge. The two faced each other during last year's OVAC tournament where Davis was able to pin Gunn.

Again the OVAC fans were treated to a dandy as the contestants battled tooth and nail to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation. At the end of the first overtime the score remained even at 2-2 between the two evenly matched wrestlers.

In the first period of the second overtime Gunn was able to hold Davis down to keep the score tied. In the second period Gunn escaped the control of Davis to take a 3-2 lead.

Gunn almost gave the match away after the escape though as he began to celebrate thinking it was sudden death. It wasn't and Davis shot after him attempting to secure a takedown and steal the win but the action went out of bounds and Gunn ran out the final seconds for the 3-2 win.

Davis (21-3) defeated Nicholas Pederson of Brooke in the semifinals by a 9-4 decision to advance to the finals.

The night capped with the heavyweights.

No. 1 seed John Eckroth of Big Red took on No. 2 seed Aaron Silverio of Shadyside. This was a rematch of last year's OVAC tournament semifinals where Eckroth defeated Silverio by a 2-1 decision.

This one turned out to be the shocker of the night as the defending champion at heavyweight, Eckroth, found himself the victim of a pin as time expired in the second round of a 0-0 tie.

In the semifinals Eckroth (10-2) defeated Weir's Darren Star by an 8-4 decision.

WHEELING?- Former Springfield High School wrestling coach Rich Gregor was honored as the 2011 Mr. Mat recipient Saturday night at the Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Championships at WesBanco Arena.

Rich Gregor began wrestling competitively at Springfield High School, where he was an outstanding varsity performer on the mats for four years.

After graduating from high school in 1959, Gregor decided to matriculate at Ohio University.

Gregor wrestled under legendary mat mentor Harry Houska for four years, graduating in 1963, and later earned his masters degree from Central Missouri State in 1965.

Over five decades, Gregor has coached in Florida, Maryland, and Ohio at both the collegiate and scholastic levels. But his true home has always been Springfield High School (now Edison Local High School), where he began and ended his coaching stint.

Gregor's overall coaching record is 326-162-3, winning 69 percent of his dual meets.

His 1980 Springfield High School squad won the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class A team championship. As well as coaching many OVAC and state placewinners, he also produced one of the OVAC's greatest wrestlers - Kelly Shields, who is one of only six elite wrestlers to have won four Ron Mauck OVAC wrestling tournaments.

In 1998, Gregor's wrestling biography was spotlighted on the cover of the OVAC tournament souvenir program.

Nick Trombetta, former successful coach at East Liverpool, once said of Gregor: "A Gregor team was always in great shape, mentally tough and extremely disciplined. A team always reflects the attitude and values of their coach - and his wrestlers did. Coach Rich Gregor has always been respected by all of us in the OVAC wrestling family as a great coach, loyal friend, and an outstanding human being."

In the mid-2000s, Gregor coached at Springfield Junior High School, where he had the rare privilege of coaching his grandson Ryan, now a senior at Edison High School.

WHEELING - Five local teams made the trek south to the annual Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Tournament at WesBanco Arena.

The teams are bringing back plenty of hardware.

Oak Glen captured the OVAC Class AAA championship for the second straight year. The Golden Bears finished the two-day tournament with 164.5 points. Martins Ferry finished second in the class with 108 points.

Also, Zach Brown captured the title at 112 pounds. Brown defeated River's Brandon Bartrug by decision by a score of 4-2 in overtime. Brown scored two points with 34 seconds showing on the clock to earn the victory.

"It feels awesome to win," Brown said. "I worked really hard. My friends helped push me all the time. They pushed me to get in better condition, so I could win if I got in an overtime situation.

"I know I wasn't as tired as he was. At the end, I could hear him breathing hard."

All told, 17 local wrestlers placed in the top eight.

Oak Glen had eight wrestlers place.

"The kids wrestled really well," first-year Oak Glen head coach Frank Crain said. "That last round we went 6-2."

East Liverpool had four wrestlers place.

"It (the tournament) went really well," he said. "I am very pleased with how they responded to the practices that we have had. We had four placers tonight, and all four of the placers did not place last year."

Beaver Local had three wrestlers place.

Edison had two wrestlers place.

"Overall, not bad today," Edison head coach Bill Koehnlein said about his team's performance. We definitely made some improvements over last season. We scored more points this year at the OVAC's. Last year, we only had one placer. This year we had two placers."

The Golden Bears nearly had two individual champions, but Cambridge's Caleb Gunn defeated Dylan Davis by a score of 3-2 in the 215-pound final.

Beaver Local's Johnny McComas also came up short in his bid to win an OVAC title in the 125-pnd weight class. University's Jesse Schiffbauer pinned McComas in 3:02.

"Johnny wrestled a great tournament up until the last match," Beaver Local head coach Jordan Williams said. "I'm not saying he didn't wrestle well. I think maybe nerves got a hold of him a little bit, but overall I thought he was wrestling a competitive match until he got and stuck.

"I think he will use this to get better to make sure he reaches his goal at the end of the year."

Parkerburg South captured the overall team title with a record 283 points.

 

Crain’s Now In Charge at Oak Glen

January 22, 2011 - By RICK THORP, Staff Writer

 

WHEELING - It was Patriots' Day on Friday at WesBanco Arena.

Parkersburg South, with its 12 seeded wrestlers, holds the lead heading into the final day of the 58th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Championships at WesBanco Arena.

The Patriots lead the team, and Class AAAA, standings with 175 points.

University, participating in its first OVAC Tournament, is a distant second with 128 points, while John Marshall is third with 111.5 points.

Steubenville (107), Caldwell (105), Oak Glen (105.5), Wheeling Park (87), Beaver Local (84), Brooke (84) and Shadyside (78) round out the Top 10. Caldwell leads the Class AA standings, while Oak Glen is tops in Class AAA. Cameron, which is 13th overall with 72 points, is the leader in Class A.

South has 10 wrestlers in today's championship semifinal matches, which begin at noon. The fifth-round of consolation matches also begins at that time.

Championship bouts will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Patriots coach Paul Jackson wasn't sure how many wrestlers he had left in the championship bracket when first asked about his team's performance Friday. It's really a moot point, though, as South looks like its well on its way to a second straight OVAC crown.

''As long as we do our job things will turn out fine,'' Jackson said. ''I'm happy for the young men.''

Earlier this week Jackson said if he could bring back four individual champs he would would be pleased. It looks like that number might have been a bit low.

''I have great confidence in these young men that they'll get things done.''

Thirteen of the 14 top seeds remain in the championship bracket, including the three returning champions - River's Josh Bartrug, Wheeling Park's Kyle Bauer and Steubenville's John Eckroth.

The only No. 1 seed that failed to advance was Oak Glen's Cody Churchill, who was upended by No. 8 seed Jesse Perroots in the quarterfinals. Perroots was the only No. 8 seed to advance to the championships semis.

Form held true for the most part, as the top four seeds in seven (103 pounds, 119, 130, 135, 152, 160, 285) of the 14 weight classes advanced to the championship semifinals.

In three of the remaining classes (112, 125, 171), three of the top four seeds advanced.

Four No. 5 seeds advanced. They are Indian Creek's Kyle Moffitt (112), South's Tyler Karcher (125), Beaver Local's Steven Swartz (145) and Buckeye Local's Brent Kirk (171).

Three No. 6 seeds moved on. They are South's Briar Shively (145), Weirton Madonna's Christian Roe (189), and Brooke's Nick Pederson (215).

Brooke's Trevor Vilga (140) and Cambridge's Caleb Gunn (215) are the only unseeded wrestlers alive in the championship bracket.

NOTES

Prior to the start of the evening session, two individuals were recognized for their devotion to the sport of recognition in the Ohio Valley.

Tom Rataiczak

Rataiczak, the OVAC's executive secretary, was recognized for his service by having his photo on the front of this year's event program.

Rataczak has been with the conference since 1999.

In addition to his work with the OVAC, Rataiczak has been the scorekeeper for the Bellaire High School boys' basketball team for many years. He is also the school's ''sports historian'' and record keeper.

Chuck Baker

Baker received the Syd Stolz Worker of the Year Award.

The Hannibal resident has been involved with wrestling for 36 years, 30 of that as a coach at River High School. He served as head coach for 10 years. He is currently a Pilots' assistant.

Baker was an assistant coach at Tyler Consolidated for two seasons.

WHEELING - The Patriots came into the tournament as favorites, and on Friday they lived up to the hype.

Parkersburg South's 14 wrestlers - all seeded - won all their first round matches. At the end of two rounds, 12 Patriot grapplers were still in the championship bracket.

The defending champions from downriver took a major step toward winning another title and held a commanding lead after the first day of action at the 58th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Championships.

With three rounds held Friday - due to weather postponing Thursday's scheduled action - Parkersburg South finished the day with 175 points, nearly 50 points ahead of the closest competitior, University (128).

John Marshall sat in third place with 111.5 points, followed by Steubenville (107) and Caldwell (106.5)

As for the locals, Oak Glen currently sits in sixth place with 105.5 points. Beaver Local is tied for eighth place with Brooke with 84 points. East Liverpool is 19th with 47.5, Edison is 21st with 45, and Wellsville is 29th with 20.

"Overall we wrestled pretty well," first-year Oak Glen coach Frank Crain said. "We got one upset from McGill and unfortunately got upset when Churchill lost. We have eight still alive, eight who will place and five of those have never placed before in an OVAC Tournament."

In second round action, unseeded Oak Glen 145-pounder John McGill scored an upset of third seed Josh Campbell of Brooke. After a scoreless first period, McGill scored a takedown and back points in the second period to take a 5-1 lead. They traded takedowns in the third period and McGill advanced with an 8-4 win.

He didn't fare so well when he met South's Briar Shively, a sixth seed,in the quarterfinals. McGill was tied with Shively 3-3 when he gave up a takedown with three seconds to go in the second period, and lost by that 5-3 score.

Beaver Local's Slade Williams almost scored the upset in his first round match against Union Local's Mitch Friede, a fifth seed. Tied at 9 entering the third period, Williams gave Friede an escape but was unable to score a takedown and lost 10-9. Williams pinned a Bealsville wrestler in consolations before John Marshall's Chad Ingram knocked him out of the tournament.

Two seeded local wresters met in the championship bracket quarterfinals at 130 pounds: Oak Glen's Kole Koper, a third seed, and Beaver Local's Ron Foster, seeded sixth. Koper controlled the match for a 12-3 win to advance.

Second seed Johnny McComas of Beaver Local at 125 pounds pinned Wellsville's Mark Barton in the first round and Martins Ferry's Clay Johnson in the second, then pointed Wheeling Park's Eric Banks, a seventh seed, 18-8 to advance to the semi-finals.

In the same weight bracket, East Liverpool's Kaleb Riggle took down Parkersburg South's Tyler Karcher quickly in the first, but Karcher reversed him just as quickly, then rode him until pinning Riggle early in the third period.

Seventh seed Tyler Brown, Oak Glen's 119-pounder, scored a major decision and pin before being overmatched against second seed Jeremy Border of Caldwell, who cruised to a 9-1 decision in the third round. In the same round, same bracket, Marcus Beebout of East Liverpool met a similar fate at the hands of first seed David Jeffrey of Parkersburg South.

At 103 pounds, Beaver Local's Josh Henderson scored two falls before running into Martins Ferry's Damn Outward, pitting fifth seed against fourth. Henderson scored a takedown and back points in the first period, but Outward, riding in the second, turned him for a near-fall to tie it at 4. Henderson scored in the third period but Outward reversed to tie it 6-6. The Ferry wrestler took Henderson down thirty seconds into overtime to win 8-6 and send him to consolations.

At 215 pounds, Oak Glen's Dylan Davis, a second seed, pinned his first two opponents in the first period. In his third match he showed he can ride, frustrating Caldwell's Tim Schenkel in a 6-2 decision to advance. If Davis meets first seed Greg Moray of Steubenville in the finals, it would be a rematch of their nail-biter in the dual at Oak Glen Jan. 5 which Moray won 3-2 with a takedown in the third period.

First seed Cody Churchill of Oak Glen suffered an upset in tight match to University's Jesse Perroots, an eighth seed. Perroots scored a takedown in the second for a 2-1 lead and escaped in the third period. Churchill appeared to tie it with a takedown at the buzzer, but the referee ruled time had expired before his hand went up. Churchill then pinned Indian Creek's Cody Duggan to stay in the hunt for third place.

In late Friday consolation matches, three East Liverpool wrestlers were on the mats at the same time, and all three won to stay alive. Marcus Beebout at 119 pounds came back to beat C.J. Williams of Martins Ferry by one point. Kaleb Riggle at 125 pounds decisioned another Ferry wrestler, Clay Johnson, by a 7-3 margin. (Johnson was sent to consolations by Johnny McComas.) Mike Mercer completed the Potter consolation trifecta with a 15-0 tech fall of Weir's Reno Castelli.

In a cruel twist of fate, two Oak Glen heavyweights - one former, one current - met in consolations. Curtis VanDyke's family moved to the Indian Creek school district last year. Wrestling for the Redskins, he lost to the second seed, Aaron Silverio of Shadyside, then pinned Oak Glen 285-pounder Dalton Davis in consolations.

WHEELING - Twenty-five years ago East Liverpool wrestlers coached by Nick Trombetta brought an OVAC Wrestling Championship to ELHS for the first time.

Tonight that team, its coach and four champions, along with other 10 individual champions from 25 years ago, will be honored in opening ceremonies before the championship finals of the 58th OVAC Tournament at WesBanco Arena.

That was the year Mark Emmerling, wrestling at 98 pounds, won the first of his four OVAC titles.

Paul Ice and Rich Wright repeated as champions in that finals round, but the moment that most remember was Gary Ice's upset win over Danyasha Yetts in the finals. Yetts would win three OVAC titles and two Ohio state championships in an incredible high school career, but that night belonged to Gary Ice.

Emmerling was a freshman, but he went into the finals confident because earlier that year he beat his opponent. He led all the way and scored a pin at the end.

"That was in the beginning of Mark's brilliant career," recalls Trombetta. "Paul Ice and Rich Wright had won the year before and were expected to win. But Gary's was an upset win. He was winning the entire match and at the end he turned Yetts and pinned him.

"There are a few times in your life when you hear an entire crowd gasp. That was one of those times."

East Liverpool had a losing team when Trombetta, a young teacher and coach in the school system who was a fierce competitor at Quigley Catholic in his own high school career, took over in 1980. The Potters had gone 0-11 in duals the year before and 1-11 the year before that. Some fathers had started the Potter Mites youth program before he came around 1975.

By 1986, the Potters were solid contenders.

"We had a mixture of kids who had started the program in grade school and kids who came in in middle school," Trombetta said. "We were in the running the year before and knew who we had on that team coming back. We knew we were going to be good. We had four champions that night. When they walked out you had a sense it was going to happen."

The Potters also went undefeated in dual matches that year.

For years after that "we were always in the running, always in the hunt for the championship," Trombetta said.

The Potters won again under Trombetta in 1988 and won twice under Scott Heimstra in 2000 and 2001.

That 1986 championship year, he said, "every weight class contributed. Everybody did their part."

Richard K. Wolf, a longtime OVAC volunteer, has been a member of the East Liverpool school board since the Potters' title in '86. Although 25 years have passed, Wolf can still recall that tournament.

"The championship caliber teams of that era "demonstrate what inspirational and motivational leadership can do for any program," he said.

WHEELING - One week from today, the area wrestling community will gather at Wheeling's WesBanco Arena for the 58th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Tournament.

Wednesday night, Mauck, the tournament's ''director emeritus,'' and other tournament officials gathered at Uncle Pete's Restaurant to discuss the event.

Actually, they met to approve T-shirt designs.

While that doesn't seem like much, it's just one of many things that go into planning the three-day event.

''There's a lot of things that need to be taken care of every year,'' Mauck said. ''Those little things make this a nice event. And, we're able to do those things because we have a great committee.''

Mauck praised his successor, Dan Doyle, for taking the tournament to new heights.

''He orchestrates everything,'' Mauck said. ''When I stepped down, the spokes remained the same, we just changed the color of the paint.

''There are so many guys that do so many things. And so many of the guys have been around for a long time.''

The seeding meeting takes place Sunday morning, with the annual tournament news conference set for Monday evening.

Wrestling begins at noon on Thursday and continues through Saturday when the championship matches begin at 6:30 p.m.

Parkersburg South is the defending champion. The Patriots joined the tournament field last season. OVAC newcomers University and Morgantown will be competing in their first tournament.

South Stretches Winning Streak

Speaking of the Patriots, Parkersburg South crushed cross-town rival Parkersburg, 55-9, on Wednesday night to stretch its consecutive match winning streak to a school-best 70.

Coach Paul Jackson's squad captured 13 of the 14 matches and extended a dual-match winning streak that began in 2009. The previous school record was 68.

Complete results can be found on Page 20.

Bauer Returns Strong

Wheeling Park's Kyle Bauer will be one of the few wrestlers looking to repeat when the OVAC Tournament gets under way.

Bauer missed 4 weeks because of a bout with mono, but returned last week and posted a pair of victories as the Patriots defeated Buckeye Local and lost to Oak Glen.

''He's been cleared by the doctors,'' Park coach Sean Doyle said of Bauer, who is 11-0 this season. ''It's not showing in his system, but mono can hang around for years.''

Doyle said Bauer, a Kent State recruit, who won last season's 125-pound OVAC crown, has experienced bouts of fatigue for about the last six months.

''Having mono can really affect a wrestler, as far as the fatigue factor,'' Doyle said, noting the senior is training seven days a week.

''We wanted to give him a few weeks off to get better.''

Park was scheduled to face Steubenville in a dual meet Wednesday night. But with that contest postponed by weather (no make-up date has been finalized), the Patriots won't wrestle until OVACs, and that's fine with Doyle.

''We usually try to schedule our matches so we have seven or eight days off before things like the OVACs and tournaments,'' Doyle said. ''It's important to give your body a break.''

Rick Thorp can be reached via e-mail at Thorp@theintelligencer.net

WHEELING - The 58th annual Ron Mauck OVAC Wrestling Tournament is slated to begin today at noon after wintry weather forced officials to postpone opening-day activities.

A swath of snow blanketed the Ohio Valley on Thursday afternoon and evening, prompting the decision, which was made even before a flake fell.

''The biggest thing is to get as much information as you can in a situation like this,'' tournament director Dan Doyle said Thursday night. ''We were in contact with ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation), the West Virginia Department of Transportation and also with the National Guard (at the Ohio County Airport).

''We were told by everyone the heart of the snow was going to arrive between 3 and 9 p.m., and that we could expect between 3 and 6 inches. We knew we'd be putting a lot of people in harm's way.''

Not only was Doyle speaking of the competitors and the coaches, but also of the personnel needed to operate the tournament and the staff at WesBanco Arena, which has been playing host to the event for more than 30 years.

Despite the weather, teams that were coming in from the far reaches of the bi-state conference elected to arrive Thursday afternoon and settle in to their accommodations. Those teams were able to workout at the arena until 6 p.m. Thursday.

''By that time, we wanted to get everyone home safely,'' Doyle said.

A committee of folks was consulted on the decision to postpone, with Doyle ultimately making the call.

''With the OVAC we have a one-call system that alerts everyone from athletics directors to coaches to the media and so on,'' Doyle explained.

The system is similar to the ones that many schools use to alert parents of school closings and delays.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for most of the area that was to expire at 6 this morning.

Some locations to the south, such as Parkersburg, were under a winter storm warning.

Doyle said he was told the snow was supposed to subside after midnight and that road crews were going to go ''full tilt'' to get the major thoroughfares cleared by early morning.

''We told the coaches that if anything changes we would inform them by 8 a.m.,'' Doyle said.

Today's action will begin with the traditional opening ceremonies and first-round matches, both of which normally take place Thursday night.

Following that, the regularly scheduled Friday events will take place.

All tickets for Thursday's sessions will be accepted today. The arena will not be cleared between the first-and second rounds.

This isn't the first time Mother Nature has hit the event, and Doyle is confident his staff will come through with little problem.

''Most of our staff are pretty seasoned tournament veterans,'' he said. ''When you have experienced people, they know what to do,'' he said. ''We are blessed with so many so many experienced people.''

That includes the staff at WesBanco Arena.

''We've had a wonderful partnership with it going back to when it first opened,'' Doyle said. ''I can't say anough about them. They really go out of their way for us.''