Wendy's Brooke Classic
Date: 12/08/2007
Location: Brooke High School

Team Scores
Oak Glen 303.5
Howland 236
East Fairmont 227
John Marshall 216
Wheeling Park 215
Brooke 186
McGuffey 185.5
Edison 115
Washington High 81

103 Championship: Alex Dunaway (McG) p. Jeremy VanGilder (EF)
112 Championship: Hunter Wood (EF) d. Pat Gouin (Wash)
119 Championship: Brad Battison (How) d. Troy Eckleberry (OG)
125 Championship: Nick Whipkey (McG) d. Nick Taylor (WP)
130 Championship: Drew Jenkins (EF) d. Kyle Leek (How)
135 Championship: Andy Stine (Ed) d. Jim McFarland (Brk)
140 Championship: Chris Brancker (Ed) d. Ben Giles (Brk)
145 Championship: Greg Ryan (How) d. Nick Stine (Ed)
152 Championship: Cody Miller (OG) d. Eric Morris (EF)
160 Championship: Kason Melchiori (JM) default Zach Six (OG)
171 Championship: Pat Murphy (EF) d. Josh Sizemore (Brk)
189 Championship: Morgan Murphy (EF) d. Nick Shuman (McG)
215 Championship: Taylor Potts (JM) d. Allen Earnest (WP)
285 Championship: Seth Miller (Wash) d. Drake Kowcheck (Brk)

103 Third Place: Eric Beck (JM) def. Dominick Burchett (OG)
112 Third Place: David Mahan (OG) def. Aaron Majetich (WP)
119 Third Place: Josh Longworth (JM) default Deven Tyler (Wash)
125 Third Place: Ryan Asbury (OG) p. Kai Yancey (How)
130 Third Place: Tyler Mayer (McG) def. Ethan Dray (OG)
135 Third Place: Bryce Rush (WP) d. Joe Paolo (OG)
140 Third Place: Ben Pockl (JM) p. Paden Potts (OG)
145 Third Place: Nick McAvoy (OG) tf. Corey Edgell (EF)
152 Third Place: Frank Bavaro (McG) def. Tre Jones (How)
160 Third Place: Adam Rubesich (How) def. Seth Bumgardner (WP)
171 Third Place: Danny Doyle (WP) default Joe Grech (How)
189 Third Place: Tyler Druschel (JM) def. Tucker Goodwin (WP)
215 Third Place: Sam Viola (McG) def. Justin Greathouse (OG)
285 Third Place: Doug Murray (OG) def. Dutch Fisher (WP)

Comments: Edison's Andy Stine (135) was named the outstanding wrestler.

 

FOLLANSBEE — Opponents should take notice.

Oak Glen, gunning for its 12th straight state title, is off to a fast start.

The Bears dominated action at the 2007 Brooke Classic, capturing first place over Howland by almost 70 points.

“This is a good confidence builder for us,” Oak Glen coach Larry Shaw said. “It definitely gives us some momentum. It was a good team effort. This is a good tournament with some quality teams.”

Oak Glen tallied 303.5 points in the two-day tournament besting Howland (236), East Fairmont (227), John Marshall (216), Wheeling Park (215), Brooke (186), McGuffey (185.5), Edison (115) and Washington High (81).

Last year, Oak Glen finished third behind East Fairmont and Howland.

“We still have to work on our conditioning and skills,” Shaw said. “There is room to improve. We just have to keep working. It’s a long season and this was a good way to kick it off.”

Oak Glen’s only individual champion was Cody Miller, who defeated East Fairmont’s Eric Morris in a 3-0 decision for the 152-pound crown.

“It was nice that Cody got an individual championship for us,” Shaw said. “He beat two good wrestlers. I’m proud of him.”

Edison’s Andy Stine was selected as the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler after decisioning Brooke’s Jim McFarland, 5-2, at 135 pounds.

Chris Brancker (140) also took first place for the Wildcats with a 6-1 decision over Brooke’s Ben Giles.

Nick Stine finished fourth at 145, losing a 3-2 decision to Howland’s Greg Ryan.

For Oak Glen, Zach Six (160) and Troy Eckleberry (119) both finished second in their weight class.

Six lost by default to John Marshall’s Kason Melchiori and Eckleberry dropped a 7-4 decision to Howland’s Brad Battison.

David Mahan (112), Ryan Asbury (125), Nick McAvoy (145) and Doug Murray (285) all finished third for the Bears.

Dominick Burchette (103), Joel Paolo (135), Paden Potts (140), Ethan Dray (130) and Justin Greathouse (215) all took home fourth place finishes for Oak Glen.

The Bears had two injury defaults with Six and Dray.

WELLSBURG — For several of the nine schools that that took part in the 2007 Brooke Classic, the tournament held Friday and Saturday was the first taste of competition outside of their own wrestling rooms.

Oak Glen won the tournament with a final total of 303.5 points. The lone tournament champion for the perennial power was Cody Miller in the 152-pound weight division.

Miller defeated Eric Morris of East Fairmont 3-0 to claim the championship.

In the end, though, 12 of Oak Glen’s 14 wrestlers claimed spots on the podium.

Taking second place for Oak Glen was 119-pounder Troy Eckleberry and 160-pounder Zach Six, who had to default the championship match due to injury.

David Mahan (112), Ryan Asbury (125), Nick McAvoy (145), and Doug Murray (285) all took third place for the Golden Bears.

Coming in fourth for Oak Glen was Dominick Bchrchett (103), Ethan Dray (130), Joel Paolo (135), Paden Potts (140), and Justin Greathouse (215).

Oak Glen head coach Larry Shaw was pleased with his team.

“For us it was a really solid team effort. We placed in 12 out of the 14 weight classes,” Shaw said.

“Individually, Cody Miller winning a championship was pretty neat for us. He had a great tournament.

“We showed pretty good balance this weekend. We have a lot of work to do. We have kind of a young team, although we do have some experienced guys in our lineup. We are also going to have to overcome some injuries. We have a few guys a little banged up this weekend, so we will have to work through that.

“The key is to just keep moving forward.”

Also moving forward was first year Wheeling Park head coach Sean Doyle, who led his team to a fifth place finish.

While it had no champions in the tournament, Wheeling Park had eight placers. Nick Taylor (125) and Alen Earnest (215) both took second place.

Bryce Rush (135) and Danny Doyle (171) had third place finishes.

Andrew Majetich (112), Seth Baumgardner (160), Tucker Goodwin (189), and Dutch Fisher (285) all finished fourth in their respective weight classes.

“Overall, it was a pretty encouraging weekend,” Doyle said. “Being that it is my first year here, a lot of things are different. It requires these guys to make some changes. Any time you have changes, there are going to be some mistakes.

“But, we had a pretty good effort as a team. We had a couple of guys who had leads on Friday night, made mistakes and got pinned. That cost them to place.”

Doyle also acknowledged the absence of standout 103-pounder Dirk Bauer.

“He is one of the best in the country and he did not make weight. We were minus him, so that is 30 or 40 team points. That puts things into perspective for us,” Doyle explained.

“Also, we have two very good kids that haven’t wrestled a varsity match in over a year.

“So, when you take all of that into account, our effort was pretty encouraging. We’ll go from here and work on our mistakes.”

Doyle explained that the different styles brought together in the Brooke Classic is what makes it a special tournament.

“With having teams here from three different states, you have to adjust to all different kinds of styles. The McGuffey kids come in and are really on good on top. The Ohio kids come in and are better on their feet. We just have to adjust to all of these different styles,” Doyle explained.

“This was our first tournament. Some schools have had dual meets. So, it was a good weekend for us.”

Perhaps the match of the night pitted two of the top wrestlers in the OVAC conference when Edison’s Andy Stine defeated Brooke’s Jim McFarland 5-2 to claim the 135 pound crown.

Edison’s Chris Brancker also took home the crown in the 140 pound division. Nick Stine (145) claimed second place for the Wildcats.

“We’re definitely happy with the way Andy, Chris, and Nick wrestled,” Edison head coach Bill Koehnlein said. “They did very well.

“As far as the rest of the team goes, we are looking to improve and make some adjustments. This is our first competition this season, so we are just going to go from here and keep working.

“We are a little bit behind schedule. But, overall, we should be good to go.”

Other than McFarland’s second place finish at 135 pounds, Brooke had three other wrestlers take runner-up honors. They were Ben Giles (140), Josh Sizemore (171), and Drake Kowcheck (285).

“Overall, I thought our team faired pretty well,” Brooke head coach Joe Erlewine said. “We have some experience, but we are also young. I think that the kids did well, considering the experience that we have.

“We saw some things that we know we have to work on. But, they have been doing really well. We are still working.”

Erlewine explained what his team needs to do to improve.

“The young ones need to get tougher. The older ones have to decide that this is their last year and they are going to make a statement.”

Brooke finished in sixth place.

Erlewine explained that the Brooke Classic was down in numbers but not in talent in 2007.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t have the teams that we usually do. The Classic has traditionally been a strong tournament with really good teams,” Erlewine said.

“We were missing some of our main attractions that the other teams like to come and see. But, what we had here was definitely some premiere teams.”