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The Spain Park Jaguars recently picked up a big wrestling victory against rival Oak Mountain on Jan. 4. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By DAWN HARRISON | Special to the Reporter

NORTH SHELBY – The Spain Park and Oak Mountain wrestling teams faced off on Monday, Jan. 4 at Oak Mountain High School with plenty on the line in the rivalry.

With a spot in the State Duals Championship on the line, Spain Park was able to pull off a big win with a score of 42-23 over the Eagles, winning nine of the 14 weight classes with five falls and four decisions.

Spain Park went into the match six points down because of one wrestler missing weight. The Jags knew they had to pick up the points somewhere else.

In the most exciting match of the night, Brad Williams of Spain Park and Camden Tipton of Oak Mountain faced off in the 106-pound weight class.

It seemed early on like Williams was outmatched by the older wrestler, but he pulled out some jaw-dropping reversals and was able to chin whip Tipton late in the second period and pin him with a fall time of 3:33.

In the 113-pound weight class, Kirk Smitherman of Oak Mountain was able to pull off a major decision win of 14-1 over Nathan Philman of Spain Park after controlling the match.

Ryley Do-Bui of Oak Mountain put six points on the board for the Eagles in the 120-pound classification thanks to a forfeit from the Jags, putting the Eagles up 10-6.

The lead was extended when Austin Buird added six more points for the Eagles in the 126 weight class by pinning Granger Scarborough with a fall time of 3:34.

The next two weight classes, however, were all Spain Park as John Robert Thompson pinned Aden Miller of Oak Mountain in the 132 weight class with a fall time of 3:23 and Max Millazo picked up another pin in the 138 weight class over Owen Carrington with a fall time of 1:18.

That put the Jaguars in front 18-16.

Oak Mountain senior Cole Burrough wasn’t going to let them pull ahead that easily though.

Burrough and Thomas Hardy of Spain Park went the full six minutes but Burrough only gave up four points to Hardy and was able to win with a major decision score of 13-4 to put the Eagles right back in front.

In the 152 weight class, Jackson Mitchell stepped up for Spain Park pinning Oak Mountain’s Caleb Price with a fall time of 1:36.

Zack Hauck of Oak Mountain added a decision win for the Eagles in the 160-pound classification, but his points became the last for the Eagles, as Spain Park pulled away over the final weight classes.

With just one point separating the two teams in a 24-23 lead for Spain Park, the Jags went on to win the remaining five weight classes.

In the 170 weight class, Will Conlon of Spain Park and Landon Holcomb of Oak Mountain went all three periods with Conlon picking up the decision win for Spain Park thanks to a score of 5-1.

Carson Ray of Spain Park added another decision win in the 195-pound weight class with a 9-5 win over Nathan Besch.

Gage Hughes of Spain Park won with a decision over Oak Mountain’s Luke Oswalt with a score of 7-0 in the next weight class, before Brandon Fortenberry of Spain Park pinned Hudson Youngblood with a fall time of 1:06.

Then, to close out the night, Rayshod Burts finished strong for Spain Park with a decision win of 5-2.

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