McClain wins tri-match vs. Hillsboro, Paint Valley

GREENFIELD — It was an exciting night of wrestling in the McClain gymnasium on Thursday, Jan. 23 when the Tiger grapplers hosted a tri-match against Hillsboro and Paint Valley.

Unfortunately for the McClain Lady Tigers wrestlers, who are having an outstanding season, they were not able to compete due to the fact that the Lady Indians and Lady Bearcats were not able to fill any weight class.

But on the boys side of the night, every match was decided by pins or forfeits.

McClain and Hillsboro ended the night tied for first with 36 points each, but the Tigers were awarded the win by criteria rules that came down to the number of forfeits.

Paint Valley, despite finishing in third place, still had several outstanding performances by the wrestlers they had competing, but low numbers hurt their ability to field weight classes, too.

The McClain vs. Hillsboro match at the end the evening was exciting and very competitive throughout, and came down to a rule book decision (or technicality) that decided and broke the 36-36 tie, giving the Tigers the win.

Both coaches were very pleased with their team’s competitiveness and effort in the matches that they wrestled in.

“In both matches tonight, I thought my kids wrestled really tough,” Hillsboro head coach Ben Pence said. “Obviously forfeits hurt everyone, but that’s just part of wrestling, and honestly as a team I thought we competed very well tonight.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be difficult because we’ve had a lot of wrestlers out with the flu and missing practices due to the weather, but overall I thought we came out and did what we needed to do.

“To lose by criteria in a tie to McClain, I’ll take that.”

Coach Pence also praised senior Ryan Burns, who got his 100th career win and is one of his wrestlers who can possibly make it to the state tournament this year.

Another Hillsboro senior wrestler, Carl Carter who has been out for most of the season, competed well and got a quick pin in one of his matches.

McClain head coach Caleb Cooper also spoke after the match about his team's overall effort on the night.

“I’m super pleased with my team's overall effort,” he said. “I had to move some kids around and bump some people up in weight classes, but if we weren’t able to do that tonight, this match would have probably went the other way.

“I had to move Carlos Gonzalez up a weight class to fill that spot, and he wrestled well and came out with a pin.

“Dalton Rowland had a super tough match in the 144-pound class against Burns from Hillsboro, who was a district qualifier last year. Even though he lost, I was still pleased and really proud of him.”

Copper also spoke about the Paint Valley matches. 

“I thought Paint Valley also had some kids that wrestled well despite struggling with low numbers too, he said. “We’ve got a couple of tournaments to compete in over the next couple of weeks before the FAC tournament in Chillicothe on Saturday, Feb. 15.”

Results listed below: 

McClain vs. Paint Valley 
Weight classes
120 Knisley of McClain pinned Coffey of Paint Valley
132 Sherman-Morgan of McClain received forfeit
138 Mick of McClain received forfeit
144 Blazer of Paint Valley pinned Douglas of McClain
150 Rowland of McClain received forfeit
157 Rapp of McClain received forfeit
165 Hamlin of Paint Valley pinned Gonzalez of McClain
175 Tyree of Paint Valley received a forfeit
215 Brown of McClain received forfeit
HWT Cowman of Paint Valley received a forfeit 
Final Score was McClain 36 Paint Valley 24

McClain vs. Hillsboro
Weight Classes
113 Frazier of Hillsboro received a forfeit
120 Knisley of McClain received a forfeit
126 Brown of Hillsboro received a forfeit
132 Sherman-Morgan of McClain received a forfeit
138 Mick of McClain pinned Hunt of Hillsboro
144 Burns of Hillsboro pinned Rowland of McClain 
150 Carter of Hillsboro pinned Douglas of McClain
157 Rapp of McClain received a forfeit
165 Gonzalez of McClain pinned Castellanos of Hillsboro
175 Snyder of McClain received a forfeit
215 Yochum of Hillsboro pinned Brown of McClain 
Hwt Greiner of Hillsboro received a forfeit
Final Score McClain 36 Hillsboro 36. After reviewing tiebreaker criteria, McClain was the winner.