The Herald-Dispatch

NITRO -- East Fairmont and host Nitro each produced four champions. So how did Huntington High, with two weight-class winners, leave the Nitro Invitational with the team title Saturday night?

"It was a true team effort," Highlanders coach Bill Archer said. "We did about as good as we can do. The kids knew what the score was. I said going in it would be close."

Huntington finished with 174.5 points to 174 for runner-up East Fairmont. Nitro, one of the pre-event favorites, settled for third with 168.5 points. Defending champion North Marion was fourth and Cabell Midland sixth.

Huntington High had eight wrestlers place. Robbie Williams, at 130, and Jason Mays, at 145, finished No. 1. Mays won his match, 17-1, and the bonus points figured in greatly in the final outcome.

Other Highlanders who placed were Steve Riner, second at 103; Jeremy Ray, fourth at 112; Baxter Fullen, third at 119; Billy Barrett, second at 125; Joey Thomas, second at 171; and Mitch Hastings, second at 215.

"We�re getting better," Archer said of his young team. "The seniors and juniors though have to carry the team."

Robbie Archer, former Huntington High standout and wrestler at Ohio State who now is assistant coach for the Highlanders, said the closing stages of Saturday�s action had all the fans and competitors on edge.

"Our kids were nervous," he said. "They all knew what the score was."

In addition, Cabell Midland heavyweight Byron Wellman defeated East Fairmont�s Chris Satterfield in the finals, again denying the Bees additional points. 

Wellman had lost to Satterfield in an earlier match. Wellman is 13-3 since joining the team. A tackle on the football team, he missed the first two matches because he did not make weight.

"It went about how I thought it would," Knights coach Ernie Sparks said.

Nitro�s wins came early -- Jacob Ferichs at 103, Matt Easter at 112, Chris Johnson at 125 and Robby Ripley at 140.

Easter was voted the tournament�s Most Valuable Wrestler. He beat Chris Morris of Calhoun County, 12-4, in the finals to improve to 23-1.

Johnson, who beat Barrett, 4-1, in the finals, is only the second wrestler in the 32-year history of the event to win four straight years. Doug Moore, who now competes for West Virginia, accomplished the feat for North Marion in the late 1980s.

East Fairmont dominated late, winning at 160, 171, 189 and 215.

"Huntington and East Fairmont get points out of everybody because they have a full team," Nitro coach Steve White said. "You have to place kids to win."

The Highlanders can now focus on Friday�s home dual against Cabell Midland. Action starts at 7 p.m. on Parent�s Night.

On Saturday, both Huntington and the Knights will travel to Herbert Hoover for a tri-match against the Huskies and John Marshall.