Point Pleasant freshman George Smith, right, Parkersburg South’s Tucker Windland, middle, and PPHS head coach John Bonecutter, left, all react to Smith’s 1-0 victory in the Class AAA 106-pound championship match Saturday night at Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, W.Va.
Bryan Walters/OVP Sports
Point Pleasant junior Grant Safford, left, maintains leverage on Parkersburg South’s Hunter DeLong during the Class AAA 182-pound championship match Saturday night at Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, W.Va.
Bryan Walters/OVP Sports
Point Pleasant senior Tannor Hill battles to his feat during his Class AAA 220-pound championship match against Wheeling Park’s Isaiah Myers Saturday night at Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, W.Va.
Bryan Walters/OVP Sports
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Point Pleasant wrestling had a good Saturday night at Big Sandy Superstore Arena … at least by Meatloaf standards.
The Big Blacks won two of their three championship matches while earning an eighth place finish following the conclusion of the 2016 WVSSAC state wrestling meet in Cabell County.
Point Pleasant ended a two-year drought without an individual state title and also doubled the program’s championship history from two to four at the AAA level in the process. Junior Grant Safford and freshman George Smith joined former Point champions Alex Reed (1998) and Trevor Hill (2013) as the school’s only AAA titleholders.
Safford scored a 10-8 victory over Parkersburg South’s Hunter DeLong in the 182-pound championship, while Smith scored a 1-0 decision over Parkersburg South’s Tucker Windland in the 106-pound final.
Senior Tannor Hill came up short in his bid for the 220-pound crown after dropping a 5-2 decision to Isaiah Myers of Wheeling Park. PPHS senior Hunter White also finished third overall in the 170-pound division earlier Saturday afternoon.
The Big Blacks scored 89 points while earning their fourth consecutive top-10 finish in the Class AAA tournament. Point Pleasant returns to the Class AA-A level during the next full school year.
PSHS won the AAA team title with 198.5 points, followed by Huntington (134.5) and Cabell Midland (132) in the second and third spots. Independence won the Class AA-A title.
More details of Point Pleasant’s weekend at the 69th annual WVSSAC state wrestling championships will be available in the Tuesday sports edition of the Point Pleasant Register.
Bryan Walters can be reached at 740-446-2342, ext. 2101.
