Jan 21, 2015 3 min read

CLAYSVILLE – The last time the wrestling teams at McGuffey and Jefferson-Morgan met, it came down to the final bout before the Highlanders defeated the Rockets.

With a section championship on the line Wednesday night, McGuffey didn’t need to wait quite as long for the outcome.

McGuffey captured the Section 2-AA championship by defeating Jefferson-Morgan, 42-27.

The win brought the Highlanders their first section title since 2003 and their first in Class AA since the 1980s. McGuffey dropped down from Triple-A this season.

“It certainly means we are close to being back,” said McGuffey head coach Mark Caffrey. “I was the coach the last time we won a section title, so it’s nice to get one back where it belongs.”

McGuffey heavyweight Ryan Steinstraw got the finals started with a convincing 7-0 decision over Ian Wolfe.

Each team exchanged pins as the Rocket’ Gavin Teasdale (106) got J-M on the scoreboard before the Highlanders’ Gage Nicolella (113) pinned Josh Agnew to put McGuffey back in front.

Trailing 12-9, the Highlanders grabbed the momentum for good, getting back-to-back pins from Teague Nicolella (126) and Aaron Harris (132) to take a 21-12 lead. The consecutive pins started a streak in which the Highlanders won five straight bouts to take a commanding 33-12 edge.

“I thought if we traded out with them at the bottom, then we could do some damage in the middle,” Caffrey said. “I think they thought they could win some of those in the middle, but we came to wrestle. I keep telling them that we have to make it a focus to wrestle as a team. We did that tonight.”

J-M broke the McGuffey run when Trevor Kniha (160) won a decision over Luke Shingle, but McGuffey’s Connor Thompson (170) won a 7-2 decision over Parker Woodring to clinch the section title for the Highlanders.

The Rockets got pins from Brendan Howard (120), Bill Bowlen (182) and Anthony Patterson (195) in the finals.

“Once we got a lot of falls early on, we got a big enough lead to where they weren’t coming back,” Caffrey said.

J-M advanced to the finals by easily taking care of Mt. Pleasant, 48-23.

Teasdale (106), Howard (120), Kniha (170), Patterson (220) and Wolfe (285) each recorded pins for the Rockets.

The Highlanders had a much more difficult time advancing to the finals, barely defeating Southmoreland 36-27 in a match that was a lot closer than the final score indicates.

McGuffey trailed halfway through the match until back-to-back pins by Shingle (152) and Dillon Richey (160) gave the Highlanders a 27-21 lead. The Highlanders held a six-point lead going into the final bout, but James Duchi (195) won an 8-1 decision over Kyler Brosius for the victory.

Brandon Degarmo (120) also recorded a pin for the Highlanders.

“We wrestled a pair of tough matches,” said Caffrey. “It certainly wasn’t easy. We really came together tonight. Encouraged each other and outhustled their opponent. We stayed the distance and got some great wins.”

Southmoreland took third place by defeating Mt. Pleasant, 40-36.