Park Duals 2012

Wheeling Park Duals 2012, wall to wall mats

The 2012 edition of the Wheeling Park Duals was held December 28th & 29 at the Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling, WV.  The event was tougher than ever and had 36 teams from PA, OH, WV, MD and GA.  The number of state champions and state place winner competing were too numerous to count.  We knew in advance we would be challenged and we were not disappointed.

Austin Shaffer vs. Cuyahoga Falls.  He remains unbeaten on the season

We started with Cuyahoga Falls, OH, a team that placed 5th at the Park Duals last year.  This tough, experienced team was as talented as advertised and won the dual meet 54-21.  The top match was at 113 where our defending state champion, Austin Shaffer was up against a kid who had a 24-1 record last season.  Austin wrestled hard and came away with a 6-5 victory.  Other winners for the Rams were Devan Hamrick by forfeit and Tanner Massey and Stephen Collins by pin.

Devan Hamrick pins vs. Maple Heights and moves to 17-1 on the season.

It didn't get any easier for Southern in Round 2.  We faced Maple Height, OH who placed in the top five at this tournament each of the last three years.  Maple Heights also showed their strength, defeating the Rams 54-22.  The dual started with a wild match at 106.  Undefeated Devan Hamrick was put to his back early and found himself in a hole, trailing 7-1 early in the match.  No worries though, Devan kept wrestling and ended up earning a pin in the second period.  In another crazy, wild match, Cooper McCauley was leading 19-10 in the third period when he got a big pin as well.  Shaffer kept winning with a major decision and Dalton Cooper pick up a pin for the Rams.

Dalton Cooper pinning his Maple Heights opponent.

Round three was even tougher.  Harrison, OH was the opponent and the outcome was the same.  Harrison made it all the way to the tournament finals, finishing the weekend in 2nd place overall.  Harrison won our dual meet 66-9.  There were not many highlights in this match except for a 3-1 win for Devan Hamrick against a pretty tough kid.  Shaffer got a pin for our only other points.

All smiles after a big win vs. John Marshall

Our final match of day 1 was against John Marshall, WV.  The result was the same, a 54-20 loss.  The top match of the dual was a 6-4 victory for Cooper McCauley against one of JM's better wrestlers.  It was a tight match throughout but Cooper scored a takedown at the end to secure his win.  Hamrick earned a pin, Shaffer picked up a tech fall and John Zimmerman received a forfeit for the Rams.

Johnny Lascaris pick up a win in this match vs. Glenoak

We knew day two would be a little easier and we were thankful for that.  Our first match was against Glenoak, OH and we wrestled well but we took another loss, 42-30.  Austin Shaffer had another tough opponent and came away with a 6-2 decision to keep his undefeated season alive.  Hamrick did the same with a pin and senior Johnny Lascaris earned a 9-2 decision while Tanner Massey won by pin.  Keith Chapman and Brian Rinker also picked up forfeit wins.

Tanner Massey is a pinning machine

At noon, we faced our first PA school of the tournament, Trinity.  Again, we wrestled well, but fell short, losing by the final score of 39-29.  The match started with Devan Hamrick putting his undefeated season on the line against the tough PA kid.  Devan was taken down but quickly got the reversal and had his opponent on his back in a cradle, but could not get the ref to call the pin.  Devan was up 5-2 but the rest of the match went the PA kids favor.  Devan took his first loss of the season but fought very hard to the end.  Next up was Austin Shaffer also wrestling a very tough kid.  Shaffer was able to dominate, winning a 7-0 decision.  Stephen Collins and Seth Kisner both won decisions and Rinker and Chapman won by forfeit.

Stephen Collins vs. Cuyahoga Falls, he would pick up a win by pin.

In our 7th match of the weekend, we got our first win, a 49-24 victory over Indian Creek, OH.  Devan Hamrick and Austin Shaffer started out with tech falls and Cooper McCauley won a 1-0 decision to give our team a lead we would not give up.  Tanner Massey, Stephen Collins and Dalton Cooper picked up wins by pin and Seth Kisner and Marcus Tichinel were winners by forfeit to close out our win.

Ethan Bittinger vs. Maple Heights

For our final match of the weekend, we faced Buckeye Local, OH.  In this match, six of our wrestlers won by pin.  Austin Shaffer, Cooper McCauley, Stephen Collins, Seth Kisner, Brian Rinker and Keith Chapman stuck their Buckeye Local opponents.  Tanner Massey added a tech fall and Devan Hamrick and Marcus Tichinel were winners by forfeit.

Team Summary

Cuyahoga Falls, OH 54 - Southern Garrett 21
Maple Heights, OH 54 - Southern Garrett 22
Harrison, OH 66 - Southern Garrett 9
John Marshall, WV 54 - Southern Garrett 20
Glenoak, OH 42 - Southern Garrett 30
Trinity, PA 39 - Southern Garrett 29
Southern Garrett 49 - Indian Creek, OH 24
Southern Garrett 53 - Buckeye Local, OH 27

Individual Summary

8-0  Austin Shaffer (113,120)
7-1  Devan Hamrick (106)
4-3  Tanner Massey (145)
3-2  Seth Kisner (170)
1-0  John Zimmerman (220)
4-4  Cooper McCauley (126, 132)
4-4  Stephen Collins (152, 160)
4-4  Brian Rinker (195)
3-4  Keith Chapman (220)
2-5  Dalton Cooper (182)
1-3  Johnny Lascaris (152, 160)
2-6  Marcus Tichinel (285)
1-7  Ethan Bittinger (113, 120)
0-1  Jacob Zimmerman (182)
0-2  Justyce Fulmer (145, 152)
0-3  Will Foulke (160, 170)
0-3  Logan Tichinel (152, 160)
0-5  Corey Horner (138)
0-8  Zach Tichnell (132, 138)