MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Lewis County High swept Morgantown’s home quad-match on Senior Night, but the underdogs of the night were the ones who shined the most as Doddridge County won two of three, defeating Morgantown and Robert C. Byrd.
Though a 2 of 3 performance put them in 2nd at the end of the night, the Bulldogs dropped three straight in the last week after a line of injuries set back the surging 1A team.
“We got some good work in before we wrap it up,” longtime Doddridge County coach Chris Coffman said. “We’re not going to wrestle the last couple weeks of the season before regionals because of COVID concerns and whatnot, but for the way the season started, I’m pleased. Most of my kids are going to end up getting 25 to 30 matches by the time it’s all said and done.
Even in the team’s lone loss to the Minutemen, most of LCHS’s points came from forfeit as all Bulldogs aren’t fully recovered.
In the first bouts, Morgantown and Lewis County took the early leads over Robert C. Byrd and Doddridge County, respectively. Morgantown would keep dominating the Eagles, winning 60-4, but Doddridge broke out for three straight wins to contest the Minutemen. LCHS responded with two more wins, overcoming the Bulldogs on top of injury-induced forfeits, 51-30.
Following the short intermission, Morgantown and Doddridge squared up, initially trading victories until the Bulldogs won two-straight behind a 12-1 major decision by Caleb Lloyd over Matthew Bellisario (148-pound weight class) and a pin by Reese Burnside on Caden Lipscomb (155). Morgantown’s Broderick Washington (163) responded with a pin in the following bout, but the Bulldogs picked up another win in the next, a 19-3 major decision victory for Dylan Knight over Joshua Freeland (173). In a contentious 182-weight dual, DCHS’s Parker Todd took a 3-0 lead late in the second period over Preston Harmon, followed by six more points in the final stretch to pick up four points for the Bulldogs, a major boost to help them defeat their 3A counterparts, 37-30.
The Bulldogs finished out the quad with an easy 60-12 win over RCB, while Morgantown dropped its final match against the Minutemen, 45-25.
“It could have been worse,” Coffman said. “There are some teams we wrestled that only wrestled two to three times because of issues.”
Some Bulldogs have also faced adversity stemming from COVID-19, as two wrestlers had to quarantine based on contact tracing from school or a bus ride home. The team, however, hasn’t been fully affected.”
Moving forward, the big win over Morgantown gives Coffman hope.
“We’ve got some really good kids. We’ve got high hopes – coming fourth in the state in single-A last year, we’d like to be in the top 2 this year,” Coffman said. “It all depends on how regionals go, and hopefully, nothing happens between now and then and messes this stuff up. Especially for Reese, my senior.”
As for Morgantown coach Joe Abu, the final results don’t tell the full story. Instead, he sees many of the close matches as a testament to the dedication his team has, especially in a shortened season with many obstacles to get around.
“Overall, they did wrestle very well,” Abu said. “We have a lot of young kids on the team this year. I think this experience is going to serve them well once we get back to the regular swing of things.”
Morgantown will finish its regular season Saturday with a quad at Oak Glen against Keyser, Oak Glen and St. Marys. They then have a break before attending regionals at John Marshall after it was moved from Brooke.
“Looking at the region, hopefully, all our guys will be healthy and ready,” Abu said. “One of the problems with a short season is you run the risk of a lot of injuries. Having that break is going to be beneficial.”
The Oak Glen quad begins at noon.
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