Alumni Night

Alumni Night Celebration

Nearly thirty former Southern Ram wrestlers were recognized last evening at our first annual Alumni Night celebration.  Each wrestler was presented a Southern Wrestling shirt compliments of J. Gregory Law and Tees Me T's.  It was great seeing all the former grapplers who have all grown out of their high school weight classes and into successful members of our community.

Southern Wrestlers in attendance:
Class of 1977 - Tim Rush - Regional Qualifier @132
Class of 1979 - Dave Browning - 126 pound weight class
Class of 1984 - Rob Sebold - Regional Qualifier @ Unlimited
Class of 1985 - Wade Deckman - Regional Qualifier @ 120
Class of 1986 - Bruce Brown - 112 pound weight class
Class of 1986 - Brad King - State Qualifier @ 126
Class of 1986 - Chad King - State Qualifier @ 132
Class of 1988 - Bryan Davis - 126 pound weight class
Class of 1992 - Shane Skipper - 140 pound weight class
Class of 1997 - Paul Tepper - 135 pound weight class
Class of 1999 - Ricky Hamilton - 171 pound weight class
Class of 2002 - Justin Gregory - Regional Qualifier @ 119
Class of 2004 - Travis Sines - 152 pound weight class
Class of 2004 - Jason Weeks - State Qualifier @ 171
Class of 2005 - Jeffrey Gregory - Regional Qualifier @ 152
Class of 2006 - Jeremy Gregory - State Qaulifier @ 160
Class of 2007 - Justin Ratliff - State Champion & State Runner-up @ 160
Class of 2007 - Cory Reckart - 145 pound weight class
Class of 2008 - Sean Sisler - 3X State Placewinner @ 285
Class of 2009 - Jordan Skipper - State Champion @ 152
Class of 2011 - Ryan Bennett - 2X State Runner-up
Class of 2011 - Dale Marple - Regional Qualifier @ 160
Class of 2012 - Sean Chapman - Member of 2009 State Championship Team
Class of 2012 - Mikey Skipper - 2X State Qualifier @ 152
Class of 2015 - Dalton Cooper - Regional Qualifier @ 195
Class of 2016 - Devan Hamrick - 2X State Champion @ 138
Class of 2016 - Corey Horner - Regional Qualifier @ 152
Class of 2018 - Alec Horner - Member of 2018 State Championship Team
Class of 2019 - Michael Moon - Member of '18 & '19 State Championship Teams

Prior to the varsity match, there were several JV contests between wrestlers from Southern and University High.  Althought University had the edge, all our JVs wrestled tough.

Quentin with a cradle locked up

The main event of the evening featured the Southern Rams taking on the visiting University Hawks from Morgantown.  The match started at the 220 pound weight class which featured Southern's Chris Mersing against Josh Sanders from UHS.  Sanders, having earned his 100th career win earlier in the season, scored the first takedown and on to the lead throughout the bout.  After the 6-5 victory, University lead 3-0.  University added six more points at 285 with a pin and lead 9-0 heading into the lower weight classes.

Jay Miller with a big win

At 106, newcomer Jay Miller ground out an impressive victory to put the first points on the board for the Rams.  After receiving a forfeit at 113, Aiden Schwab earned his team-leading 22nd pin of the season to give Southern the lead 15-9.  Unfortunately, that lead would not last.  University would go on to win the next six bouts with 3 decisions, 2 major decisions and 1 pin and build a lead of 32-15 with only three bouts remaining.

Aiden Schwab with another pin

To win the dual, Southern would need pins in all three of the final bouts.  At 170, Declan McCann dominated his opponent, but was never able to turn him and would come away with a 7-2 decision.  At 182, Hunter Sanders won by pin and at 195, Justin Richter lost a wild 9-8 decision.  In the end, University out wrestled Southern and prevailed 35-24.

The Southern Rams are back in action at home on Thursday evening against the Mountain Ridge Miners.  Our 4 seniors will be recognized at just prior to 7pm.

Our Seniors will be recognized on Thursday evening

University 35 - Southern 24

106 - Jay Miller (SG) dec Will Angelozzi (U) 8-3
113 - Tanner Edwards (SG) via forfeit
120 - Aiden Schwab (SG) pins Timmy Cargill (U) 3:00
126 - Jace Stockett (U) dec Brogan Kealy (SG) 3-2
132 - Dom Parker (U) pins Kolton Lee (SG) 1:37
138 - Mason Pauley (U) m dec Colum McCann (SG) 11-2
145 - Joey Gidley (U) dec Elisha Skipper (SG) 5-1
152 - Dakota Hagerdorn (U) dec Jake Sweitzer (SG) 4-1
160 - Elisha Welling-Osha (U) m dec Zach Schoch (SG) 13-4
170 - Declan McCann (SG) dec Ben Tower (U) 7-2
182 - Hunter Sanders (SG) pins Isaac Wong (U) 2:23
195 - Sean Murray (U) dec Justin Richter (SG) 9-8
220 - Josh Sanders (U) dec Chris Mersing (SG) 6-5
285 - Corbin Turney (U) pins Trenton Tasker (SG) 3:32