MHS Grapplers Finish Fourth In Brooke Wrestling Classic

Caleb Nice
The Magnolia Blue Eagle Wrestling Team finished fourth in the 18-team Brooke Classic Wrestling Tournament Sat. Jan. 24 at Brooke High School.
Alliance High School won with 208.50 points, while Archbishop Hoban placed second with 173.50 points. St. Clairsville nipped Magnolia 122-121 for third.
Magnolia took only 10 wrestlers to this large tournament, as the other grapplers were participating in a River tournament where they nipped the Pilots for first place.
Nine of the 10 Blue Eagle grapplers placed, with Caleb Nice winning the 182 lb. weight class, while Riley Nice at 120 lbs. as well as Clay Adams in the 132 lb.. weight class .
At 106 lbs., Kyler Cecil opened the tournament with a bye. He then defeated Owen Stein of Jefferson by a pinfall. In his next matchup, he lost to Lukus Strickler of Archbishop Hoban, but fought back and claimed a 7-0 decision over Brayden Carter of Carrollton. Cecil lost the third-place contest to Reese Wainuskis of Alliance.
In the 120 lb. weight class, Riley Nice opened the tourney with a bye and then won by a pinfall over Garrett Best of Carrollton. Riley went on to pin Anthony Gardner of Washington, but fell to Luke Coniker of Steubenville Catholic Central in the championship match.
Doug Riter at 126 lbs. won his first bout by a pinfall over Elliott Dean of Bridgeport, but lost the next bout to the eventual champion Zeke Beatty of Laurel Highlands. He then lost to Dalton Wood of Cambridge in the seventh- placement match.
to open the tournament, Clay Adams, at 132 lbs., won by a pinfall over Lane Miller of Cambridge and then defeated John Bartolo of St. Clairsville by a pinfall. He then won by a DQ over Zac Daugherty of Beallsville, before losing the finals to Nick Spalla of Cambridge.
Chase Street lost his only matchup in the tournament to Dayvon Milbry of Archbishop Hoban in the 152 lb. weight division.
Paden McConaughy won his first contest to Chuck Smith of Carrollton by a pinfall in the 170 lb. weight class. He then lost a close 4-3 decision to the eventual champion, Owen Mellon of Archbishop Hoban. Paden then defeated Derek Martin of Cambridge 9-2 and won by a pinfall over Matt Carnes of St. Clairsville. He would then lose 15-4 to Jerrell Martin of Alliance in the third- place bout.
Kaleb Simpkins wrestled up in the 170 lb. weight division and won his opener 18-3 over Devonte Wright of Ellet. Simpkins won by a pin over Derek Martin of Cambridge, but fell to eventual winner Owen Mellon of Archbishop Hoban. He lost to Jerell Martin of Alliance, then defeated Matt Carnes 7-0 for fifth place.
After receiving an opening bye, Caleb Nice scored victories over Travis Holmes of Jefferson and Garrett Grimm of Chartiers-Houston before finishing off Carlos Kusic of Bridgeport in the finals by a pinfall.
In the 195 lb. weight division, Joel Hatfield won his first two bouts over John Cook of Beaver Local and Alex Liddell of Jefferson, before losing to the eventual runner-up Matt Doll of Brooke. He lost to Harold Rogers of St. Clairsville and to Nathan Stelts of Crestview in the fifth-place bout.
Brian Wilson won his first bout in the 220 lb. division by a close 9-8 decision to James Isler of Laurel Highlands. He then lost his next two bouts to London Talbort of Crestview and Ean Tucker of Archbishop Hoban, before beating Alex Leasure of Alliance.
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The #1 seed Magnolia Blue Eagles qualified for the OVAC Duals and will take on #4 seed River Pilots tonight at the John Marshall Fieldhouse. The winner will move on to take on either #2 seed Linsly Cadets or #3 seed Barnesville, with the two winning teams colliding for first in the OVAC Class-AAA division. The two losing teams will wrestle for third place.