Photo by Kim North John Marshall’s Anthony Carman controls Steubenville’s David Tuttle in their 182-pound championship bout Saturday during the 66th annual Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Ron Mauck Wrestling Championships. Carman won his second consecutive championship with a 9-1 major decision.

WHEELING — To earn the coveted Bierkortte Award, symbolic of the Most Outstanding Wrestler during the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Ron Mauck Wrestling Championships, an individual must have just that — an outstanding tournament.

Steubenville’s Peyton Blasko did that over the last three days. He capped his run through the 126-pound bracket with a stunning, 6-5, ultimate-tiebreaker victory over Beaver Local’s two-time defending champion, Cole McComas on Saturday as the 66th annual event came to a close inside WesBanco Arena.

For his hard-earned triumph, the second-seeded Blasko (24-2), who had lost three times by decision to McComas during the 2017-18 season — including in last season’s 120-pound OVAC finals — was voted by tournament coaches the Bierkortte Award winner.

“This feels really good,” Blasko said while clutching the prestigious award. “Really good.”

McComas, the top-seeded junior who is also a two-time Ohio Division II state runnerup, dropped to 23-5.

“I knew I just had to keep doing what I do in the (wrestling) room and that’s finish the match,” Blasko said of hanging on at the end. “I knew he was gassing in the third, so I just kept trying to push the pace.

“I through the boot in and then added my power-half and got his hand across his head. That’s when I knew I had the match won.”

Steubenville coach Mike Blackburn couldn’t have been happier for his senior veteran and leader.

“He’s the kind of kid that you always hope something like this happens to him. He’s not only a great teammate, but a great person and unbelievable in the classroom,” Blackburn said. “He’s one of those kids that you hate to see lose because he’s such a great kid.

“He’s been confident all year long and he felt he could do it.”

Beaver Local, by virtue of four individual titlists, ran away with the overall and Class 4A team championships.

The Beavers damned up an impressive 303 points to 243 for second place Parkersburg South, which had won five straight crowns and 8 of 9 since joining the conference. The Wood County Patriots, however, did pocket the Class 5A title. Steubenville, the Class 4A runnerup, was third overall with 214.5 points. Wheeling Park, with 171, and John Marshall, with 154, rounded out the top 5.

“Our kids came ready to compete,” Beaver Local coach Jordan Williams said as the Beavers won 9 of 10 semifinal matches. “They wrestled great and showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness.

“They wanted this (tournament championship) and they went out and took it.”

Winning titles for the champions were Jaymin Salsberry (106), Logan Ours (120), Brenden Severs (160) and Beau Smith (170). All but Smith, who’s committed to NCAA D-I Edinboro, are freshmen. Ours was also named the Hercules Award winner with the most pins in the least amount of time in the championship bracket. He pinned his way to his title.

John Marshall’s Anthony Carman (182) and Steubenville’s Anthony Rice (152) defended their titles, and both did so in dominating fashion. Carman, who has signed with WVU, moved to 34-2 on the season with a 9-1 major decision over Steubenville’s David Tuttle.

“He’s probably the seventh or eighth two-time OVAC champion,” John Marshall coach Ted Zervos said. “We’ve had a pretty good tradition and Anthony is continuing that. He’s been a three-time finalist. His sophomore year he lost in the last five seconds. He learned from that and it shows with two championships.”

Rice, 29-2, won his second straight title with a 9-4 nod over Beaver Local’s Logan Krulik. He is ranked No. 1 in Division II in the Buckeye State.

“Anthony is Anthony,” Blackburn said. “He just loves life and has fun. He’s a great wrestler who is just starting to tap all that ability. He was confident coming in and wrestled as he should.”

Other repeat winners were East Liverpool’s Howard Williams (113) and Parkersburg South’s Brayden Roberts (145) and nationally ranked Braxton Amos (220). Amos is ranked No. 1.

Oak Glen’s Peyton Hall (138) re-joined the winners circle as he won a championship as a freshman before finishing second last year. He won the Bierkortte Award two years ago.

University’s Jacob Simpson (132), Madonna’s Garrett Cook (195) and Parkersburg South’s Louden Haga (285) rounded out the individual titlists.

Cook’s 2-1 decision came against former teammate Donavan Kirby, who transferred to Weir after last season. It marked the first time that two ex-mates had met in the tournament finals. Cook is signed with West Liberty while Kirby is mulling over football offers as a standout tailback.

In addition to Parkersburg South winning the Class 5A title and Beaver Local the 4A crown, Barnesville and Bridgeport woke up some memories with championships that were long in coming.

The Shamrocks, with two third-place finishers, won the Class 3A crown with 80 points, which was 25 more than runnerup Shenandoah. Barnesville won the Class 2A title in 2007. It’s their 10th overall, including an overall title in 1985.

The Bulldogs, who edged out Caldwell, 62-58, for the Class 1A/2A championship last won a mat title in 1988 when they were Class AAA champs. They also won the Class 2A crown in 1987 and were overall champions in the one-class format from 1954-60.

St. Clairsville finished second in Class 4A with 120 points.