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Wheeling Park Rolls By John Marshall, 55-15

Patriots Capture 11 of 14 Matches Against Monarchs; 5 By Pins

Wheeling Park’s Carter Lucas has John Marshall’s Zander Ward stretched out during their 113-pound match Wednesday night inside the ‘Palace on the Hill.’ Lucas gained a 1-0 decision while the Patriots rolled, 55-15, in their home opener.

WHEELING – Entering the 2022-23 wrestling season, defending W.Va. Class AAA state champion Wheeling Park will have a bulls-eye on its back every time it takes the mat. However, that’s just fine with head coach Brian Leggett.

Leggett watched his top-ranked Patriots open up the home portion of their schedule Wednesday night with a 55-15 rout of visiting John Marshall inside the ‘Palace on the Hill’ at Wheeling Park High School.

“You would think there would be some pressure on the guys because of what they accomplished last year, but I’ve been telling them if they go out and perform like they are capable of, they will be the best team in the state,” Leggett stressed.

“It was a total team effort tonight. From top to bottom,” he added. “I’m even proud of the kids that lost because they battled. The guys have been working hard and we’ve got a couple of things to finalize with our lineup, but overall, I couldn’t be any happier with tonight’s performance.”

Wheeling Park won 11 of the 14 matches, which included five pins, two major decisions, a pair of decisions, one technical fall and a forfeit. John Marshall’s victories came via a major decision, forfeit and technical fall.

By winning 10 of the initial 11 bouts, the Patriots roared to a 43-4 advantage.

Mason Charlton (106) received a forfeit and Carter Lucas (113) squeaked out a 1-0 nod over Zander Ward. State runner up at 106 last winter, Noah White (120) won 5-0 for a 12-0 lead.

The Monarchs would get on the scoreboard when Ethan Cook (126) recorded two points right before the final buzzer for a 12-4 major decision that cut the deficit to 12-4.

However, that would be as close as the Marshall Countians would get as Wheeling Park ran off six straight victories that bumped the count to 43-4.

Jack Lowe (132), another state runner up at 126, started the blitz with a 10-0 major decision. Adam Carman (138) and defending state champion at 138 Bradyn Lucas (144) both scored pins. Malacki Washington (157) posted a 17-2 technical fall and Jerome Maynard (165) capped the run with a pin in 2:56.

Brooks Harrison (175) was awarded a forfeit and Klypsan Wallace (190) earned an 18-2 technical fall for the Monarchs final points.

Three-time state champion Erick Brothers, Jr. (215) and Hunter Means (285) finished things off with pins in 1:59 and 2:53, respectively. Brothers, Jr. is seeded 8th out of 37 wrestlers in his bracket at this weekend’s prestigious Ironman Tournament.

“We knew coming in that Wheeling Park was going to be really good,” John Marshall head coach Ryan Asbury said. “There were some close matches that could’ve gone either way, but they didn’t fall our way. There were some that we are capable of winning later in the season.”

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