KINGWOOD — A pair of Class AAA area wrestling teams met on the mat Wednesday night as the Morgantown High wrestling team crossed the county line to visit the Preston High Knights in Kingwood for their annual duel match.
The Knights bested the Mohigans 47-27 after a tightly contested matchup that saw momentum swung to each team multiple times. Preston jumped out to an early lead but MHS fought back with some consecutive favorable results to make the score as close as 29-27. But the Knights closed the match with three straight pinfalls to grow the lead at the very end.
“We like to treat this match as a slight rivalry, so it’s always a great duel,” PHS coach Brad Reed said. “We always go back and forth, so it’s nice to get them in here this late in the season. We are winding down the duels of the season and will be moving into more of our individual tournaments and matches so this gives our wrestlers a good boost of confidence going into next week.”
The duel began even at 6-6 after MHS earned a forfeit in the 106-pound match and Preston earned a pinfall victory at 113 by Lucas Lilly.
The next four matches (120, 126, 132, 138) all went in favor of the Knights as they saw their lead grow to 26-6.
Then MHS got some momentum in its favor, beginning with a pinfall result at 144 by Carter Jones, earning six points for his team and cutting the PHS lead to 26-12.
He was followed at 150 by Zach Estep, who also earned six points via pinfall to make the score 25-18 (Preston was penalized one point for excessive celebration). Three more points came from Remington Hawkins at the 157 mark as he took a 9-2 decision over Sam Klimas of PHS.
“Win or lose, a duel like that is only going to make us better and build some grit,” MHS coach Joseph Abu-Ghannam said. “This is one of my favorite duels all year and the competitive matches late in the season are huge for us as a team. I’m proud of the will we showed to bring the score back close in the end, but credit to Preston and their staff, we have all the respect in the world for those guys.”
Cole Turner helped extend the Preston lead to 29-21 with an 11-1 decision victory at 165 but Mason Haney from MHS came back strong for his team at 175 with a quick pin in the first period. That brought MHS within two points of the Knights, who led 29-27 going into the final three bouts.
Owen Klimas (190), Blake Jennings (215), and Greyson Kuhn (285) each earned a pinfall in their match to earn six points toward the total and help the Knights finish off MHS 47-27.
Each team will aim to continue tuning up with the regional tournament right around the corner.
