Photo by Kim North Cameron’s Gunnar Bryan, right, grapples during Thursday’s opening night of the West Virginia State Wrestling Tournament in Huntington.

HUNTINGTON — When Cameron came up just a half-point shy of tying Moorefield for the West Virginia Class A state wrestling title last season, it left a bad taste in the Dragons’ mouths.

Thursday night Cameron came out to make a statement, and did so by winning six of seven matches during the first round of the 75th annual Class A/AA state tournament inside Mountain Health Arena.

Included in those victories were five falls and a technical fall that gave the Dragons 23.5 points and the lead among Class A schools. Greenbrier West is second with 18.

“It was a pretty good first round … pretty much what we expected,” Cameron head coach Tim Jones said. “We lost one that I thought we should’ve won, but that’s the way it goes.

“Pretty much as soon as we walked out the doors here last year the kids made it a goal to come back here this year and leave no doubt about it,” Jones noted.

“They did pretty good tonight.”

Slaton Pettit (106) had a 23-second pin to lead the way.

Peyton Neely (138, 0:44), Ashton Hoge (126, 0:58), Ian Bush (182, 1:12) and Gunnar Bryan (285, 3:53) also won by falls.

Adam Angel (170) recorded a technical fall.

Oak Glen had four advancers in Logan Davis (106, 1:43); Hayden Lamb (113, 0:43); Clayton Lamb (120, 1:48) and Braxton Dlugopolski (152, 0:23).

The Golden Bears are seventh in Class AA with 16 points.

Tyler Consolidated also had a trio of winners in Kaden Huffman (113, 2:52); Trenton Huffman (160, 3:14) and Sean Winfrey (182, 2:15).

The Silver Knights have 12 points.

Action resumes today at 11:30 a.m. with quarterfinal championship bouts and first-round consolation matches. The championship semifinals begin at 7:30 p.m.

“There were no upsets. We wrestled pretty much as expected,” Oak Glen head coach Patrick McGillian said. “The kids that lost today are set up pretty well to have a chance to get on the podium.”