MOUNDSVILLE — With the W.Va. Class AAA Team Duals Saturday in Lewisburg, Wheeling Park tuned up by repeating as Class 5A champions as the OVAC Bill Hinegardner Dual Meet Championships were held Thursday night.

The top-seeded Patriots displayed why they were worthy of that tag by rolling past No. 4 Brooke, 71-11, in the semifinals before rallying past No. 2 Steubenville, 53-21.

Trailing 21-11 after Steubenville’s Cal Beadling (138) earned a 4-2 overtime nod, Wheeling Park captured the last eight bouts of the match, with the final five coming by pins.

“We got behind the 8-ball there a little bit at the start, but our middleweights got us going and gave us some momentum. Once we got the momentum going it was over,” Wheeling Park head coach Brian Leggett said. “Our older guys stepped up and it all looked good after that.

“We wrestled well.”

Big Red led 12-0 after a pin and forfeit at 106 and 113, respectively, but Wheeling Park’s Noah White (120) recorded a pin to slice the margin in half, 12-6. Steubenville’s Charlie Abbott (126) got another pin to bump the count to 18-6, but Jack Lowe (132) earned a 19-4 technical fall to make it 18-11.

“It was good to get Jack back in the lineup,” Leggett said of Lowe, who missed the OVAC Ron Mauck Tournament due to an illness.

“We haven’t seen him wrestle in a while, so getting him back in the lineup to get some matches in before the regionals and state tournament is big for us.”

Following Beadling’s overtime win, defending W.Va. Class AAA returning champion Bradyn Lucas (144) jump-started the Patriots onslaught with a pin in 3:11. Quinton Velas (150) earned a hard-fought decision to make it a 21-20 deficit, and Malaki Washington (157) put Wheeling Park ahead for good with a 9-6 decision.

Jameson Maynard (165), Zac Lydick (175), Gavin Washington (190), Erick Brothers Jr. (215) and Hunter Means (285) all followed with pins. Brothers Jr. used just 55 ticks, two more than Means.

“We’ve got a big weekend ahead of us with the W.Va. Class AAA State Duals,” Leggett said of the day-long Saturday event at the W.Va. State Fairgrounds. “We’re excited about going down there and, hopefully, we come home with our first state dual meet championship.”

Steubenville head coach Lucas Huffman couldn’t fault his team.

“Going into the JM match, we knew they were wrestling well. It didn’t start our way but we told our kids to keep battling and our heavier weights pulled us through,” Steubenville head coach Lucas Huffman said of the 37-34 comeback win over the Monarchs in the semifinals. “We were wrestling without (D-II state runnerup) Brody Saccoccia and Spenser Ostivich, but we had some kids step up. It’s that next-man-up mentality.

As far as the finals, Huffman was quick and to the point.

“Park is Park. Coach Leggett and his staff do an outstanding job. Their kids are physical and they battle. But hats off to my kids because they went out and battled.”

Steubenville hosts the Ohio D-II team duals Saturday at the Crimson Center. Sixth-seeded Big Red meets No. 11 Philo, with the winner taking on No. 3 Carrollton.

John Marshall took third with a 72-12 decision over Brooke.