Red Devils look to build on, learn from 2020
Nov. 17—Last season had a bit of a good news, bad news feel to it for Oak Hill's wrestling team.
It started with the good news. On the strength of nine state qualifiers, the Red Devils claimed runner-up honors at the Class AAA Region 3 meet. That's an easy point from which to start for this year's team, especially in what looks to be a competitive region.
"We're really excited about that. Coming in second place, that's something we didn't see (coming)," Oak Hill coach Dave Vincent said. "I feel like the kids could be right there in the mix. We know St. Albans is a tough opponent, but in the mix of that there's some other tough opponents, too, in our region. None of them can be taken lightly. We came at it and I told our kids before we left (for regionals) that if they all work hard and show up then we could finish right there in the top two, and they bought into what I was selling.
"We're excited to build off of that and hopefully we'll carry that into the postseason more than we did last year."
And, thus, the bad news. Of those nine qualifiers, eight lost their first-round matches at the state tournament.
There was no gentle way for Vincent to explain it.
"We laid an egg," he said. "It was a tough showing. Don't think that we can have another tough showing like that, so we're looking to build. There's nowhere to go but up in regards to our state tournament showing."
A promising prelude to the state tournament ended with no place winners. A different type of season and maybe being a bit overwhelmed on the big stage were factors, Vincent said.
"Just the Covid year in general. Things were different. We didn't have our normal routine or our normal schedule. (We were) just getting through it last year," he said.
"Part of it, too, I think the merger with Fayetteville (wrestlers) coming over to Oak Hill probably didn't see a lot of triple-A competition. Not saying that there's not tough double-A competition. Bigger schools, bigger teams. I think some of them were kind of a little wide-eyed going into it. We've got to get them in that competition on a regular basis throughout the year to prepare them for the state tournament."
That's the plan. The focus is not so much on getting there, but rather doing something with it.
The Red Devils will hit the road plenty this season, including trips to tournaments such as the WSAZ Invitational in Huntington and the Winner's Choice in Fairmont, as well as the Musselman Duals and tri matches at Morgantown and Parkersburg.
Oak Hill also earned the right to compete against St. Albans in a dual Jan. 5 that will determine the Region 3 representative at the West Virginia Dual Team State Championships set for Feb. 5 at The Greenbrier. St. Albans won the Region 3 title last season.
Seniors graduating include regional champion Eli Sedlock (145) and fourth place Case Bryant (138). Scott Wilshire was fifth at 170.
That means seven state qualifiers are back, two of whom — seniors Domonique Johnson (182) and Max Underwood (195) — advanced to the blood round at the state tournament.
And sophomore heavyweight Colton Naylor earned All-America status at the Virginia Beach Nationals a week later, so the ending wasn't all bad.
Sophomores Aaron Higganbotham (126), Mason Wills (152) and Mike Cole (220) were state qualifiers, giving Oak Hill a mix of young and experienced wrestlers. Senior Sam Evans qualified fourth at 160, while sophomore Hayden Keffer and junior Colton Martin were just short at 120 and 132, respectively.
A positive for the program is the facility the Red Devils inside the old Rosedale Elementary School. They started using it last year, but now the practice room has wall-to-wall mats and there is an updated weight room.
"The kids come in and they're, 'Wow!'" Vincent said. "This is nice. This is not what we've been used to in the past. It's one of the nicest facilities that I've personally been into."
Oak Hill will start the season Dec. 3-4 at Liberty's Raider Rumble.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @GaryFauber
