MORGANTOWN — Early January is traditionally considered to be New Year’s resolution season, and during Thursday night’s boys wrestling match between host Morgantown and defending state champs University, both teams might actually have similar goals for the year.
Keep it going.
The No. 1-ranked Hawks certainly took care of their business against their crosstown rivals, winning 74-6, yet the vastly improved Mohigans continued on their upward trajectory with several competitive matches. UHS took the 106 and 138 lbs. matches by forfeit, tacked on technical falls from Nico Maisel (132), Rider Ludrosky (157), Brody Kehler (165), and Emerson Murphy (175), plus pins from Pepper Martin (113), Colton Gilliespie (126), Timofey Husk (144), Carter Pauley (150), Rider Hastings (190), Jackson Pate (215), and Brock Kehler (285). MHS’s 120, Jameson Hare, won his match 8-0.
After finishing as runners-up in 2022 and 2023, University finally captured their first State title since 1956 last year, but veteran coach Ken Maisel has been preaching to his powerful group all season that it’s often much easier to be the hunter than the hunted.
“There’s no doubt that repeating is always a big challenge,” he insisted after the match. “I believe that success can breed complacency, and complacency prevents success. So, it’s our job this year to always work hard to improve and get a little better with everything we do.
“We recently competed in the Powerade tournament that included seven of the top ten high school programs in the country, and we got exposed,” he continued, a small coach’s grin lifting the corners of his mouth. “It gave us a great look at just what it takes to be a nationally-ranked program, the level of detail and sharpness required. It also helped us recognize that, for us to have a chance to repeat at States, we will need contributions in every weight class – not necessarily individual State champions, but all our guys will need to wrestle to their best potential. Like we did tonight.”
For MHS coach Joe Abu and his 13-5 squad, the progress from last year to this was far more obvious than the final tally.
“We knew that last season’s hard learning had a chance to set us up for success this year,” he explained. “This year, we’ve already beaten Brooke and Buckhannon-Upshur in our region, and the maturity and confidence we showed tonight far exceeded where we were against UHS last year. All the parts are in place, and we continue to grow as a team.”
Abu credits a senior mentor program installed this year as one of the catalysts.
“I’ve always believed that looking for advice from those with experience is a smart path to success,” he said, so we’ve asked our seniors like Jameson and Carton Jones and Dominick Smith to help the younger guys. Their leadership has been a huge gift and been instrumental in setting the tone for the program.
“As we continue our season,” he concluded, “we’ll be trying to build and refine our successes for individual wrestlers, finding the best strategies and techniques that fit their skills and comfort levels. And ultimately, we want to continue to build and establish Morgantown as another strong program year in and year out.”
