By DAVID WALSH - The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Huntington High School and Point Pleasant are expected to battle it out for the title today in the West Virginia Class AAA Region III wrestling tournament at George Washington High School in Charleston.
Huntington, with only three seniors in its lineup, is having a productive season and enters the regional ranked No. 5 in the latest state coaches association poll. The Highlanders have won five tournaments and lost only four dual matches. They have been off since last Saturday when they won the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship, beating Parkersburg in the final match.
With Bill Archer as coach, the old and new Huntington High has won 23 regional titles, the last in 1999. Cabell Midland prevailed in 2000.
"We�ve got to get back on track," Archer said. "We lost last year."
Mitch Hastings, who competes at 215 pounds, said this match is big for him and fellow seniors Joey Thomas and Billy Barrett.
"We�d like to go out with the title," Hastings said. "It was tough last year to watch Cabell Midland walk out with it."
Other teams in the Region III tournament are Cabell Midland, Nitro, St. Albans, Capital, Logan, Spring Valley, Riverside, Hurricane and host GW. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the State Tournament scheduled next Thursday through Saturday at the Huntington Civic Arena.
Hastings said having the younger wrestlers come through quick and often has been a big boost for the Highlanders.
"The seniors try to lead, but they�ve stepped it up. They grew up in a hurry," he said. "This is the last one, so it�s time to go all out."
Last Saturday, Point Pleasant won the team title in the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League tournament held at Gallipolis. The Big Blacks had 164.5 points to 154.5 for runner-up Warren Local.
Point Pleasant wrestlers who won individual titles were Jason McCoy at 119, Jesse Nott at 130, D.J. DeWeese at 145 and Jason Carr at 189. Jack Cullen, coach of the Big Blacks, was voted the league�s coach of the year.
Clay County
High is the host school for the Class AA/A Region III tournament. Local
schools entered are Winfield and Wahama. Wirt County, Calhoun County, Ravenswood,
Sissonville, Richwood, Ritchie County and Webster County round out the
field.