MORGANTOWN – Finding out the best team in any sport doesn’t happen any simpler than pitting the top-ranked programs against each other head-to-head.
That’s what happened on Friday night on Baker’s Ridge as the No. 1 University wrestling team welcomed No. 2 Parkersburg for a dual to kick off the wintery weekend.
The Hawks defeated Parkersburg 41-30, winning eight of 14 matches in the dual after dropping the first three.
“Tonight was important for us because it was number one and number two,” UHS head coach Ken Maisel said. “I know they (Parkersburg) came in thinking they would get a win, so it was important for us to deny them that.”
Parkersburg took the 106, 113, and 120-pound bouts by pinfall and two major decisions.
Then, in the 126-pound match, UHS’ Jacob Hensley earned a massive 9-5 victory over the third-ranked wrestler in the weight class in the state from PHS, CJ Carrodus.
Maisel says Hensley’s win didn’t surprise him one bit.
“We are very fortunate to have almost 50 wrestlers on our team, so that gives us some depth,” he said. “We can credit this to our youth program and Coach Donnie Jones, and to our middle school program (Mountaineer Middle) and Coach Joey Mayle. We have some JV kids who can really wrestle, too. Two weeks ago, we sent our JV team to the St. Mary’s varsity tournament, and they won it as a team.”
Hensley’s win sparked the Hawks, who won three of the next four bouts (132, 144, 150) to take control of the dual.
“Jacob is a great wrestler who just could not find his way into the lineup,” Maisel said. “He got his chance and made the most of it. I was not surprised at all when he won that match. He had a lot of success in middle school, and it is translating to this level.”
With the state dual championships on the horizon and the WSAZ tournament next week, Maisel and the Hawks can use Friday’s result as some big motivation in the coming weeks with their toughest matches in front of them.
“We always say, live is live, meaning, don’t make it special,” Maisel said. “The goal of the season is not to beat Parkersburg; the goal is to perform our best at the State tournament in March, so that is how we move forward with our training.”
