Career victory milestones were reached at the Viking Smash with plenty of grappling among twelve teams on four mats last weekend with Moorefield and East Hardy capping off the final session in Petersburg.
Petersburg hosted the following teams for the annual Viking Smash: East Hardy, Moorefield, Frankfort, Keyser, Berkeley Springs, Hedgesville, Philip Barbour, Elkins, Grafton and Hampshire. A special team comprised of wrestlers from each school competed as the X-Team.
Moorefield junior captains Isaac Van Meter (170-lb.) and Kevin Wetzel (160-lb.) garnered special career win milestones during the Viking Smash and both held special signs recognizing the achievements.
Van Meter (158-8) pinned a Keyser opponent early in the first period to obtain his 150th career victory on Friday afternoon and two matches later set the school record becoming the Moorefield Wrestling program’s all-time wins leader surpassing alum Wil Schoonover.
“It is a good thing I got this close to home, so everybody could come see it and celebrate. I am glad to get this milestone over with now. It doesn’t mean a whole lot, since I wrestle so many matches and my only concern is winning a state championship,” Moorefield junior Isaac Van Meter remarked.
Wetzel earned his 100th career win coming against East Hardy’s Phillip D’Amico with a pin at the first period buzzer on Saturday afternoon.
“It means a lot, especially being a junior. In my fourth year wrestling getting 100 wins in my high school career is a really big moment for me. We’re growing in Moorefield and we have a really good team this year and we will keep growing. I had some of my family and friends from school here to watch me, so this was a big moment,” Moorefield junior Kevin Wetzel noted.
Joining the milestone club, Frankfort’s Noah Kiszka notched his 150th career victory.
Van Meter won the Viking Smash Quickest Pin award coming in just five seconds.
There were some other notable fast pins during the Viking Smash by East Hardy’s Dayton Miller in eight seconds against Philip Barbour, East Hardy’s Miles Kidwell garnered a pin in nine seconds, Moorefield’s Layne Spitzer pinned East Hardy’s Shane Riggle in 11 seconds and East Hardy’s Cole Pusl pinned Hedgesville in 13 seconds.
“I never really question this group’s effort. They give me their best every time out on the mat. Execution is getting better. We’re definitely better now, than we were in November. As far as success goes, we have had some individual success, but we’re missing three starters from our lineup this weekend so that makes it tough to win dual matches,” Moorefield Wrestling coach T.J. Van Meter stated.
Berkeley Springs went undefeated winning the Viking Smash team championship and the Potomac Valley Conference Wrestling title with coach of the year honors for Derek Hovermale.
The All-Potomac Valley Conference Wrestling champions were: 106-lb. Ethan Van Meter, Petersburg (Viking Smash champion); 113-lb. Isaac Harris, Berkeley Springs (Viking Smash champion); 120-lb. Jones, Frankfort (Viking Smash runner-up); 126-lb. Thomas Ours, Petersburg (Viking Smash champion); 132-lb. Gabe Clark, Berkeley Springs (Vikings Smash champion); 138-lb. Cole Morris, Berkeley Springs (Viking Smash champion); 145-lb. Noah Kiszka, Frankfort (Viking Smash Outstanding Wrestler and champion); 152-lb. Ty Clayton, Moorefield (Viking Smash champion); 160-lb. Peyton Thompson, Berkeley Springs (Viking Smash champion); 170-lb. Isaac Van Meter, Moorefield (Viking Smash champion and Quickest Pin award winner); 182-lb. Jacob Ruff, Berkeley Springs (Viking Smash runner-up); 195-lb. Tristan Fox, Keyser (Viking Smash champion); 220-lb. Adam Kephart, Keyser (Viking Smash runner-up); 285-lb. Dale Hockman (Viking Smash runner-up).
Hardy County grapplers finishing in the Top-4 for the Viking Smash were: 106-lb. runner-up – Lane Spitzer, Moorefield; 113-lb. 3rd place – SierraMarie Miller, East Hardy; 145-lb. 4th place – Dominick Davis, Moorefield; 152-lb. champion – Ty Clayton, Moorefield; 152-lb. runner-up – Mason Miller, East Hardy; 160-lb. 4th place – Kevin Wetzel, Moorefield; 170-lb. champion – Isaac Van Meter, Moorefield; 195-lb. 4th place – Dayton Miller, East Hardy; 285-lb. runner-up – Dale Hockman, East Hardy.
The Yellow Jackets battled against Elkins, Keyser, Frankfort, Grafton, X-Team, Berkeley Springs, Petersburg, Hedgesville and East Hardy.
East Hardy fought against Philip Barbour, Hampshire, Petersburg, Hedgesville, Berkeley Springs, Frankfort, Keyser, X-Team and Moorefield.
The Hardy County grapplers battled in the last round of the Viking Smash with East Hardy defeating the Yellow Jackets 48-30.
Starting the match there were four forfeits awarded to East Hardy going to Madison Heishman (113-lb.), SIerraMarie Miller (120-lb.), Victoria Ames (132-lb.) and Damian Iman (138-lb.).
Coming to face each other on the mat in the 145-lb. weight division was Moorefield’s Dominick Davis and East Hardy’s Cole Pusl.
Davis made a single-leg takedown in the first period, then Pusl evened the match with a lift and takedown.
Davis took a 4-2 edge on a reversal to end the first period.
Pusl executed reversal in the second period to tie the match, but Davis managed to flip around and garner the pin with ten seconds remaining in the frame (3:50) giving the Yellow Jackets their first six points of the match, 24-6.
Moorefield’s Ty Clayton faced East Hardy’s Mason Miller in the 152-lb. weight class.
Miller tried to shoot for the legs, but Clayton spread away and moved back toward the outer circle.
Miller managed to grab one leg and they shifted out of bounds.
Clayton made a reversal, then were was a brief break checking on the wrestlers.
Clayton was on top and Miller spin around with a head lock for an escape point.
It took one minute for Clayton to get the right move with a power-half to pin Miller in the second period (3:00).
Moorefield’s Kevin Wetzel pinned East Hardy’s Phillip D’Amico at the end of the first period to garner his 100th career victory and started the match with a takedown.
Moorefield’s Isaac Van Meter utilized a quick takedown against East Hardy’s Conner White and wrapped around for back points before allowing an escape and finished with a pin at the 1:09 mark.
The Cougars earned a dozen more points on forfeits given to Miles Kidwell and Dayton Miller 36-24 lead.
Moorefield’s Matthew Delawder won six points with a forfeit.
East Hardy’s Dale Hockman wrestled against Moorefield’s Levi Howard with a takedown and power-half pin in 21 seconds.
The last match was quick as Moorefield’s Shayne Spitzer (106-lb.) grabbed the neck of East Hardy’s Shane Riggle slamming him to the mat and shifted on top using his body as a leverage for the pin in [private]11 seconds.
East Hardy garnered several wins in grueling matches against the Trojans as Iman earned a 7-1 decision against Hampshire’s Levi Richmond, then Pusl notched a pin with seven seconds left in the first period over Hampshire’s Travis Buckley and Mason Miller garnered a 9-3 decision over Grant Landis and SierraMarie Miller took a forfeit.
The longest match went into overtime with East Hardy’s Dayton Miller (195-lb.) losing 9-7 to Hampshire’s Jacob Staub on a reversal.
The Trojans won the overall match 45-18 over East Hardy as Hampshire’s Ben Lambert pinned the Cougars’ Dale Hockman at the 1:33 mark.
Moorefield defeated Elkins early in the Viking Smash by a score of 36-16 picking up forfeit wins for Davis, Clayton, Spitzer, Wetzel, Van Meter and Howard before they competed in exhibition matches.
Davis edged East Hardy’s Sky Spell in a 9-6 decision during the exhibition, Berkeley Springs pinned Wetzel, Van Meter executed a 20-3 tech fall against East Hardy’s J.B. Shipe and East Hardy’s Braden Orndorff pinned Howard at the 0:45 mark.
Delawder lost to Elkins’ Barrickman in an 11-3 decision.
East Hardy had a five-point difference against Hedgesville, 41-36 with Mason Miller earning a 12-0 decision and SierraMarie Miller getting a forfeit.
East Hardy lost to Berkeley Springs, but did earn points on forfeits for Heishman, Dayton and SierraMarie Miller and Hockman as Mason Miller garnered a pin in the first period.
The Yellow Jackets picked up some quality individual wins against Keyser as Van Meter reached his 150th career win with a first period pin, Davis (0:17) and Clayton (0:24) also earned first period pins.
Moorefield’s Van Meter and Clayton finished undefeated at 10-0 and Layne Spitzer was 9-1.
East Hardy’s SierraMarie won by a 5-0 decision against Keyser and had a huge hold around the neck simultaneously wrapping legs around the torso of E.J. Guy, but the Cougars lost 51-24.
East Hardy’s Dale Hockman and Mason Miller both posted records of 9-1 in the Viking Smash, while Dayton Miller and SierraMarie Miller were 8-2.
“I am pleased, we wrestled hard all the way through all five duals [Friday]. We have some things to work on but the effort is there. Some of our wrestlers executed well, while others are new to the sport and are still learning. I hope to see the same effort tomorrow,” East Hardy Wrestling coach Stevie Miller commented.
“We wrestled a lot better on our second day. We are getting better on our feet and better across the board. We obviously have numbers on our side, but Moorefield has quality talent and we wrestled well against them. Wrestling in our area is getting better.”
The Golden Tornado finished as the Viking Smash runner-up overall behind champion Berkeley Springs and Hedgesville took third place as a team.[/private]
The Yellow Jackets and Cougars had great matches gaining more experience for the future.
Moorefield hosted East Hardy yesterday for the last regular season preparation match for the Region II Tournament in Braxton County on February 14-15. The state tournament in Huntington begins on February 27.