Fallen Heroes notebook: Woodrow's Johnson off to strong start (With Gallery)

Dec. 22—Woodrow Wilson sophomore Garrett Johnson started his career last season with a 46-8 record, a regional championship and a fourth-place finish at the state tournament.

But it's the first match that he seems to remember most.

Johnson is 11-0 on the season after winning all five of his matches — all via pinfall — on the first day of the inaugural Fallen Heroes Wrestling Tournament.

"It's pretty cool, especially since last year I started with a loss," Johnson said. "So this year, starting off 11-0, pretty cool."

It wasn't just that first match that motivates Johnson. Fourth place in the state was good, but not good enough.

"I don't want to be in the same spot I was last year," he said. "I want to be on top of the podium."

Johnson started the season winning the 106-pound title at the Bruce Niday Classic at Spring Valley, then went to the Indian Classic in Kingsport, Tenn., and wasn't challenged in claiming that title. He won via pin in the quarterfinals, 16-1 technical fall in the semis and 14-1 major decision in the championship.

He elected to wrestle up this weekend to challenge himself.

"I just bumped up to 113 for a little bit better competition," Johnson said. "Our 113 who is usually there (Jackson Woods), he's light so I gave him a chance to go 106 this year, too."

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One of the 113-pounders Johnson wanted to wrestle is Independence junior Dillon Perdue, the two-time reigning state champion at 106 pounds. That match never materialized after Perdue had to be taken to the hospital with an undisclosed illness.

Perdue won both matches he wrestled before the injury.

The early part of the season has not been kind to the Patriots on the injury front. Colten Caron, last year's state champ at 170, is being held out as a precaution after getting hit in the head last weekend during a match at the Indian Classic. Colton Miller is wrestling with a protective mask after suffering a broken nose.

"Wrestling is tough, you know what I mean?" Patriots coach Cliff Warden said. "You just hope you treat these injuries with some respect and make sure guys are healthy before they get back."

"Heck, all that strain — he's (Perdue) on his way down to 106 pounds and you wrestle 113-pounders that's cut down from 18 and 19, 10 pounds on a 100-pound kid means something," he added.

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Greenbrier West has gotten off to a solid start, including a pool victory and fourth place finish at last week's Jason Eades Memorial hosted by four-time reigning state champion Point Pleasant.

But, as always, there's still plenty of teaching to be done.

"It's like every (early) season, you've got to go back and revisit a lot of things you assume the kids should know, until they get out and start wrestling and you're like, 'Aah! We need to work on that. Aah! We need to work on that,'" Cavaliers coach Jeremy Tincher said. "So it's a process. It is a process.

"Now, Christmas break is always good because you're not in school, you've got more time, you're not in a hurry. You can really slow down and teach this week. I've got a list of things (to teach) and I've got about five things that I still need to put in and then we'll have it all in, and then you just drill it from there. Every day, every day, every day, every day."

An event like the Fallen Heroes helps to that end.

"Especially your freshmen," Tincher said. "It really exploits their bad habits. You throw freshmen out here against experienced kids, it doesn't take very long to figure out there's some things they need to work on. You just make notes of it and try to get back in the room and fix it."

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The start time for Friday's second day has been delayed to 2 p.m. from the original plan of 10 a.m. because of predicted weather that could leave many roads impassable.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for Friday for all 55 counties late Thursday morning. He later gave the OK for the tournament to resume but at four hours later than had been planned.

"With the weather coming in and the Governor making the call he made, just thank goodness our athletic director (John H. Lilly) and our superintendent (David Price) realize what a big event it is and let us at least do some of it with the late start," Warden said.

The change in schedule will of course force a change in format.

"The main thing it does is, before we were dealing with 18 kids (in each weight class) and now we're taking the bottom six out," Warden said. "So we'll only have 12 kids per weight wrestling, as opposed to 18."

High school and middle school matches will be wrestled simultaneously on eight mats.

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Thursday's middle school matches were still in progress at press time.

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In addition to Woods and Johnson from Woodrow, wrestlers who went 5-0 and 4-0 on Thursday were:

Zac Scott (Johnson Central, Ky., 106), Ben McComas (George Washington, 113), Tucker Lilly (Greenbrier West, 120), Ryan Smith (Johnson Central, 120), Josh Sergent (Riverside, 120), Jacob Meadows (Woodrow Wilson, 126), Tyler Roark (Woodrow Wilson, 126), Sailor McKinney (Nicholas County, 126), Breyden Whorton (Larue County, Ky., 132), J.J. Bailes (Woodrow Wilson, 132), Brogan Chambers (Nitro, 132), Levi Petty (Riverside, 138), Sameer Clanton (Nitro, 138), Dylan Bryant (Woodrow Wilson, 138), Moses Gray (Greenbrier West, 144), Caleyb Nichols (Independence, 144), Troy Harris (Woodrow Wilson, 144), Judah Price (Independence, 150), Evan Vandall (Greenbrier West, 150), Jim Green (Man, 150), Ethan Osborne (Woodrow Wilson, 157), Jacob Bowling (Ravenswood, 157), Logan Castle (Johnson Central, 165), Jesse Adams (Independence, 165), Cruz Tompkins (Midland Trail, 165), Mason Wills (Oak Hill, 165), Dalton Matney (Johnson Central, 175), Jay Jones (Woodrow Wilson, 175), Levon Brown (Riverside, 175), Zack McCoart (Johnson Central, 190), Conner Lambert (Larue County, 190), Josh Hart (Independence, 190), Gabe Truman (Oak Hill, 215), Cole Vandall (Greenbrier West, 215), Logan Isom (Independence, 285), Colton Naylor (Oak Hill, 285) and Brady Adkins (Johnson Central, 285).

Also advancing to Friday's championship pools are:

106: Levi Blackhurst, Ravenswood; Kasey Ramos, Greenbrier West; Wayton Barniak, Williamstown; J.J. Scarafino, Independence; Ethan Pack, Riverside

113: Luke Kelly, Nicholas County; Elisha Kinzel, Liberty; William Massie, Greenbrier West; Will Godby, Greenbrier East

120: Jordan Varney, Ravenswood; Parker Hale, Greenbrier East; Jacob Ricucci, Williamstown; Trenton Clay, Liberty; Ricky Vest, Independence; Cayden Blankenship, Williamstown; Walker Furrow, Shady Spring; Mason Bailes, Nicholas County; Ethan Garrett, Johnson Central

126: J.D. Morris, Johnson Central; Michael Kinzel, Liberty; Josh Dudley, Richwood; Aiden Fleshman, Greenbrier East; Peyton Rikard, Greenbrier West; Chase Cantrell, PikeView; Braylon Dewire, Johnson Central; Daniel Patton, Ravenswood; Conner Treadway, Liberty

132: Alec Palmer, Midland Trail; Christian Barnes, Johnson Central; Hunter Whittaker, Independence; Jonathan Painter, Greenbrier West; Max Newman, Liberty; Colton Tolliver, Liberty; Grant Jarvis, Nicholas County; Joseph Marcum, George Washington; Dylan Pucella, Williamstown; Colton Willard, Oak Hill

138: Dylan Bryant, Woodrow Wilson; Matthew Phelps, Ravenswood; Talon Cantley, Liberty; Kaden Boone, Greenbrier East; Jeremiah Allen, Woodrow Wilson; Andrew Franco, Shady Spring; Tyson McGinnis, Independence; Jovan Robinson, Greenbrier West; Zack Mantismontry, Greenbrier West; Karlie Osborne, Liberty

144: Vance Neal, Woodrow Wilson; Caleb Barnes, Johnson Central; Jake Pate, Greenbrier East; Clayton Robinson, Greenbrier West; Kaden Hamel, Ravenswood; David Pomeroy, Riverside; Kipp Freed, Williamstown; Mike Wines, Nitro; Christian Smith, Shady Spring

150: Thomas Marcinkowski, Greenbrier East; Nick Dvorak, Woodrow Wilson; Blake Lyons, Riverside; Avery Totten, George Washington; Logan Borkowski, Williamstown; Christopher Hale, Oak Hill; Tucker Ransom, Shady Spring; Nathaniel Maze, Ravenswood; Gavin Price, Ravenswood

157: Craig Barnhouse, Greenbrier East; King McCray, George Washington; Colton Miller, Independence; Brady Daniel, Johnson Central; Mason Castle, Nicholas County; Colton Sites, Williamstown; Braden Blenden, Greenbrier West; Andrew Easter, Riverside; Alonzo Dillon, Oak Hill; Kaiden Helmer, Shady Spring

165: Jacob Reeves, Woodrow Wilson; Evan Turner, Williamstown; Thad Trent, Williamstown; Noah Franklin, Riverside; Wyatt Milhoan, Ravenswood; Matt Sykes, Greenbrier West; Austin Roberts, Greenbrier East; Noah Green, George Washington

175: Lodan Hess, Ravenswood; Braelen Holstein, Shady Spring; Seth Davis, Johnson Central; Jayden Roop, Midland Trail; Benji Frampton, Nitro; Hunter Cantley, Liberty; Rex Anderson, Williamstown; Carter Hamilton, Greenbrier East; Blake Dauch, Ravenswood

190: Hunter Howard, Johnson Central; Brayden Buckley, Williamstown; Dalton Heath, Greenbrier West; Gabe Knoblet, Shady Spring; Caleb Bailey, Independence; Dow Adkins, Riverside; Wyatt Burnette, Liberty; Landon Jones, Woodrow Wilson; Hinkley Carter, Woodrow Wilson; Luke Boggs, Nitro

215: Chase Price, Johnson Central; Thomas Mullins, Greenbrier East; John Bowman, Midland Trail; Scott Worstell, Nitro; Jackson Fannin, Johnson Central; Peyton Lyons, Johnson Central; Lincoln Miller, Larue County; Remington Rose, Riverside; Jonathan Legg, Nicholas County; Braydn Cox, Independence

285: Jensen Burge, Williamstown; Logan Lemaster, Johnson Central; Lakota Grace, Richwood; Calvin Roberts, Greenbrier East; Reilly Davis, Richwood; Marcus Matney, PikeView; Kordell Brown, Midland Trail; Connor Acord, Liberty; Trey Franklin, Greenbrier West