By DAVID WALSH -- The Herald-Dispatch
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Randy Snyder/The Herald-Dispatch  Huntington High 152-pound wrestler Robert Chaney nearly has his face rearranged by Herbert Hoover’s Seth Moales on Saturday during a consolation match at the WSAZ Invitational wrestling tournament. Chaney lost by decision, 5-1.

HUNTINGTON -- Robbie Williams cut it kind of close. So did his teammates. In the end, though, the Huntington High wrestlers had enough left in the tank to repeat as Class AAA champion in the 23rd annual WSAZ Invitational at Veterans Memorial Field House.

Williams, a senior and one of four Highlanders vying for titles in the championship round Saturday night, beat Neal Lakia of Riverside, Ohio, in overtime at 130 pounds. The two were tied 4-4 after the third period and first one-minute overtime. In the second overtime, Williams chose to be on top, and he held his foe down for 30 seconds to secure the win by criteria.

When Jason Mays, Huntington’s other senior, won by pin at 160, the Highlanders locked up the team title with 213 points. Nitro, which went 4-for-5 in the finals, placed second with 209.

"In the overtime, I wanted to keep the pressure on," Williams said. "I chose top because I knew I could hold him in."

Lakia appeared he might get free in the closing seconds, but Williams held on.

"We were rolling," he said. "It looked like it, but I knew where he was at."

Williamstown, top-ranked in Class AA/A in the first West Virginia Coaches Association poll, went 1-for-4 in the finals, but it didn’t matter. The Yellowjackets had secured a repeat as Class AA/A winner when the consolation round ended. They finished with 190.5 points to 141 for runner-up Wirt County.

Huntington coach Bill Archer said his seniors delivered in the clutch.

"We have two real good seniors. What they did made the difference," he said.

Huntington, which has won all five tournaments it’s been in so far this season, had 11 wrestlers place compared to nine for Nitro. Last Saturday, John Marshall handed the Highlanders their first dual loss in a match at Cabell Midland.

"This is real big. It does more for our confidence," Williams said. "We had a bad bout against John Marshall. We made mistakes, and we learned from them."
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Huntington’s other champion was Steve Riner at 112.

Nitro’s champions were Anthony Easter at 103, Matt Easter at 119, Jacob Frerichs at 125 and Robbie Ripley at 140. At 152, Mitch Casto lost to Eric Greig of Riverside, Ohio, 5-3 in overtime.

Anthony Easter, a freshman, attracted a lot of attention because he met senior Erica Dye of Wirt County, who had won three matches earlier to bring her record to 23-3. Easter was all business when the whistle sounded, winning by technical fall (19-4).

"He got after her. He cut her no breaks," Nitro coach Steve White said.

At 140, Ripley won 6-4 over Cabell Midland’s Chris Gibbs. At 135, Point Pleasant’s Nick Duncan won in overtime.

Williamstown’s individual title came at 145 where Shane Smith edged Ben Wood of Independence, 5-4.

In the junior high division, Shady Spring denied Blennerhassett a three-peat. The Tigers amassed 246 points to 241.5 for the runner-up Bobcats.

Shady Spring had one individual champion and two runners-up. Blennerhassett went 3-2 in the finals.

Point Pleasant captured the middle school division with 172.5 points. Milton was second with 146.

In the freshman division, Cabell Midland racked up 102 points to claim the title. Riverside was second with 65.