Wheeling Park’s Adam Carman earns back points in his 138-pound match against Indian Creek Wednesday afternoon inside Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena. Carman won by technical fall and the Patriots topped the Redskins, 48-30, during the 33rd annual Wheeling Park Duals.

WHEELING – Wheeling Park is looking to go back-to-back at the prestigious Wheeling Park Duals wrestling tournament. After going 5-0 on the first day of the 33rd annual event inside WesBanco Arena, the battle-tested Patriots are headed in the right direction.

In a battle of two of the premier programs on each side of the Ohio River Wednesday, Wheeling Park, the defending W.Va. Class AAA state champions, five pins, a technical fall, a major decision, a decision and a forfeit to outscore Indian Creek, 48-30, in the Patriots’ fifth match of the day.

“Bonus points are our motto. We always preach that,” Wheeling Park head coach Brian Leggett said. “Indian Creek is a really good, solid team. To come out here with a couple of guys out of our lineup and beat them, that’s a pretty good win for us.”

The teams were knotted at 12 after Brandon Pendleton (106, 14 seconds) and Aidan Hendricks (120, 1:08) recorded pins for Indian Creek and Mason Charlton (113, 50 seconds) and Noah White (120, 41 seconds) had falls for the Patriots.

However, Wheeling Park won the next four bouts to take a commanding 30-12 lead that Indian Creek couldn’t recover from. The Redskins finished inside the Top 10 in Division II last winter at the state tournament in Columbus.

Capping the string of victories was a 7-5 decision in overtime by the Patriots’ Quinton Velas (150) over C.J. Spencer. In a battle of returning state-placers, Velas strung together three consecutive takedowns to overcome a 5-0 third-period deficit. The final two-pointer came early in the extra session.

“Velas has a gas tank on him. We always tell him he can win a match in the third period, and he did today against a really solid wrestler in the Spencer kid,” Leggett praised. “That’s what we expect out of him. In his three years before, we’ve told him he can win matches. Now he is believing in himself.”

Sophomore Jack Lowe (132) got the Patriots started with a 57-second pin. Adam Carman followed with a 16-0 technical fall and returning state champion Bradyn Lucas (144) collected a 14-1 major decision.

The Redskins’ Dom Paterra (157) stopped the run with a second-period pin, and the teams alternated wins to close out the dual. Paterra is a returning OVAC champion.

“Dom does what Dom does,” Pendleton said of his returning state runner up. “He goes out and is pretty consistent.”

Wheeling Park’s Jerome Maynard (165) and Gavin Washington (195) charted pins in 1:54 and 52 seconds, while Hunter Means (285) was awarded a forfeit.

Indian Creek got pins from Ethan Lewellyn (175, 31 seconds) and Elijah Lewellyn (215, 24 seconds).

“Park is always going to have a good squad. I thought my kids wrestled hard,” Indian Creek head coach Brandon Pendleton said. “We lost a tough overtime match there at 150, but I think we will see a rematch in about a month.”

The Redskins did get a boost with Elijah Lewellyn back in the lineup after missing last season with a knee injury.

“He’s starting to get back to where he needs to be. It’s hard to sit out an entire season and be where you were. He’s starting to get his conditioning back.

While the Redskins got their 215-pounder back in the lineup, the same couldn’t be said for Wheeling Park as three-time Mountain State titleist Erick Brothers Jr. had to watch from the sidelines due to a medical condition.

“Erick has been a staple in our lineup for three years. It’s a big void to fill, but the guys that have stepped in there are having fun,” Leggett noted.

Brothers Jr. wasn’t able to compete this week due to coming in contact last week with a wrestler who had herpes, according to reports.

“The rule is he must sit out eight days. He wasn’t able to weigh in today (Wednesday) so he can’t wrestle tomorrow (Thursday),” Leggett noted. “It was more out of precaution. He is not affected and will be ready to go next week.”

The Patriots host their last home dual of the season on Wednesday when Barnesville visits the ‘Palace on the Hill.’

Wheeling Park, which is competing in the Red Pool ‘A’ division, also defeated Loveland (53-21), John Glenn (49-27), Hurricane (56-18) and Herbert Hoover (54-24).

Carrollton (5-0) topped the Red ‘B’ division, with University (5-0) leading the Blue ‘C’ and Canfield (5-0) the Blue ‘D.’

Locally, John Marshall (4-1) and Steubenville (4-1) had good days, while Indian Creek was 3-2 and Buckeye Local 1-4.

Action begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, with the championship match to start at 4:15 p.m.