After missing out last winter, Dalton George wasn't going to be denied a second title at the 66th annual West Virginia state wrestling tournament inside Huntington's Big Sandy Super Store Arena Saturday night.
Williamstown's 126-pound junior, who gave heavy praise to his older brother Tyler for his success on the mat, defeated Calhoun County freshman Casey Ritchie for the third time this season. Ritchie, who finished 50-3, registered the first takedown, but found himself trailing 6-2 late in the fourth before getting a penalty point and then a reversal with 10 seconds left, but it wasn't enough in the 6-5 setback.
"I've been ready for this state tournament since last year Saturday night in February after losing that one," said George, who watched 145-pound teammate Jake Tracewell fall 9-3 to Anthony Alvaro of Fairmont Senior.
Article Photos
Photo courtesy of Jessica Zimmer
Waterford’s Austin Lang goes for the pin during District III wrestling action at Philo Saturday. Lang finished third in the 126-pound weight class to qualify for this week’s state meet in Columbus.
"I've worked my butt of and I'm proud of myself. I really got to give a special thanks to my brother, man. He's always there for me."
Yellowjacket 170-pounder David Hastings also placed fifth in the tournament.
Greenbrier West won the Class AA/A team title against Independence (131.5-119.5) while East Fairmont (106.5), North Marion (91) and Clay County (89) comprised the top five.
Fact Box
2013 C/E/SE District III Tournament
Philo Junior High School
February 22-23
Place Team Score
1. Amanda-Clearcreek 147.50
2. Northridge 91.50
3. Shadyside 85.50
4. Martins Ferry 83.00
5. West Jefferson 82.50
6. Caldwell 81.00
7. Northmor 74.00
8. Bloom-Carroll 72.00
9. Sandy Valley 70.00
10. Tuscarawas Val. 64.00
11. Newark Cath. 57.00
12. Nelsonville-York 53.50
13. St. Clairsville 50.50
14. Ready 49.00
15. Hartley 44.50
16. Madison Plains 35.00
(tie) Monroe Central 35.00
18. Belpre 33.50
19. Grandview Hts. 33.00
20. Heath 31.00
(tie) Paint Valley 31.00
22. Garaway 29.50
23. Johnstown-Monroe 27.50
24. Coshocton 27.00
25. Crooksville 24.50
26. Danville 21.00
(tie) River 21.00
28. Liberty Union 19.00
29. Pleasant 18.00
(tie) Southeastern 18.00
31. Centerburg 17.50
32. Col. Academy 17.00
33. Barnesville 14.00
(tie) Waterford 14.00
35. Harvest Preparatory 13.00
36. Mount Gilead 12.00
(tie) Toronto 12.00
38. Cath. Central 11.50
39. Beallsville 11.00
(tie) Zane Trace 11.00
41. Cardington-Lincoln 10.50
42. North Union 9.50
43. Bellaire 8.00
44. Westfall 7.00
45. Meigs 5.00
(tie) Newcomerstown 5.00
47. Ridgewood 4.00
(tie) Shenandoah 4.00
(tie) Wellston 4.00
50. Malvern 3.00
51. Adena 2.00
(tie) River Valley 2.00
(tie) Union Local 2.00
54. Fredericktown 1.00
55. Africentric 0.00
(tie) Alexander 0.00
(tie) Bridgeport 0.00
(tie) Chesapeake 0.00
(tie) Delaware Christian 0.00
(tie) East Knox 0.00
(tie) Trimble 0.00
(tie) Tuscarawas C.C. 0.00
(tie) West Muskingum 0.00
Weight Class: 106
Jordan Burkholder (Crooksville) Defeated Gavin Stalnaker (Belpre) Dec 9-3
Jake Adkins (Northridge) Defeated Theodore Zoumpolidis (Martins Ferry) Dec 6-0
Weight Class: 113
Caleb Ohl (Newark Cath.) Defeated Rodney Richter (Monroe Central) M-Dec 18-10
Weight Class: 126
Tyler Wiley (Caldwell) Defeated Josh Wilson (Zane Trace) Fall 3:34
Austin Lang (Waterford) Defeated Nick Hoffman (Amanda-Clearcreek) Dec 4-3
Damon Outward (Martins Ferry) Defeated Joe Newman (Sandy Valley) Dec 5-1
Weight Class: 138
Evan Hansel (Newark Cath.) Defeated Brett Kahl (Shadyside) Fall 0:15
Dalton Scott (Ready) Defeated Justin Callarik (St. Clairsville) Dec 8-6
Jared Dilley (Amanda-Clearcreek) Defeated Kameron Rayner (Caldwell) Dec 3-1
Weight Class: 170
Kale Rayner (Caldwell) Defeated Dom Johns (Coshocton) Fall 5:46
Weight Class: 182
Sam Groff (Sandy Valley) Defeated Jared Leasure (Caldwell) Dec 1-0
2013 Goshen Division II District Scores
***************************************
Third Place
106: Brandon Carter(Hillsboro) dec. Levi Congleton(Warren) 6-2
1. Graham Local 231.5
2. Ross 160.0
3. Sheridan 103.5
4. Athens 86.0
5. Miami Trace 79.0
6. Kenton Ridge 73.5
7. Eaton 70.5
8. Washington 68.0
9. Indian Lake 60.0
10. New Richmond 58.5
11. Bellbrook 56.5
12. Urbana 53.0
13. Hillsboro 49.0
14. Wilmington 44.5
15. Cham. Julienne 43.5
16. Northwestern 41.0
17. Bethel-Tate 39.5
18. Trot.-Madison 35.0
19. Clinton-Massie 34.5
20. Warren 31.0
21. McClain 29.0
22. New Lexington 29.0
23. Western Brown 28.0
24. Gallia Academy 24.0
25. Fairfield Union 23.0
26. Circleville 22.0
27. Shawnee 19.5
28. Batavia 15.0
29. Thur. Marshall 15.0
30. Norwood 11.0
31. Goshen 9.0
32. Marietta 9.0
33. Wyoming 8.0
34. Chillicothe 7.0
35. Logan Elm 6.0
36. Greenon 5.0
37. Taylor 4.0
Wirt County was sixth with 87.5 points while Williamstown (9th, 74) and Wahama (10th, 67) cracked the top 10.
Across the river in Ohio district tournament action Saturday, seven Mid-Ohio Valley grapplers qualified for this week's Division III OHSAA State Wrestling Championship at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.
Warren sophomore Levi Congleton was the area's lone D2 placer at Goshen, finishing fourth in the 106-pound weight division. The school's single-season record holder in pins, he will be coached by Mike Pahl.
Congleton, who owns a 45-3 record, is scheduled to wrestle Napoleon freshman and Bowling Green district champion Seth Beard (41-4) in an opening bout at state.
Warren's Cory Parsons, a two-time state qualifier, was one district placement shy of qualifying for state a third time. The senior Warrior, who is the school's career leader in wins and pins, finished fifth in the 113-pound weight class at Goshen.
In the D3 mat tourney at Philo Junior High, three Caldwell Redskins punched their tickets to state. Junior Kameron Rayner (42-6) was a district runner-up, while older brother and senior Kale Rayner (39-4) finished third.
CHS senior Jared Leasure (41-5) suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 setback to Sandy Valley's Sam Groff in the 182-pound district final to finish second and advance to state.
Waterford junior Austin Lang (48-8) edged Amanda-Clearcreek's Nick Hoffman, 4-3, to place third in the 126-pound class. He is coached by Scott Zimmer.
"Austin wrestled outstanding this weekend," Zimmer said.
Belpre's lone state qualifier is freshman Gavin Stalnaker 32-7), a fourth-place finisher at Philo. He is coached by Scott Adams.
Monroe Central sophomore Rodney Richter (20-3) was dealt an 18-10 major decision setback by Newark Catholic's Caleb Ohi to finish second in the 113-pound class at district.
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Jay W. Bennett contributed to this wrestling report.
