By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

FAIRHOPE – A strong performance at the Fairhope quad match on Monday, Jan. 21, may have given the Oak Mountain wrestling team the boost it has been searching for throughout the season.

While the Eagles dropped a 49-20 match to Gulf Shores High School, they were able to take down Foley 42-39 in a thrilling matchup and Fairhope 55-22 in a more dominant matchup, to pick up two confidence-boosting victories out of three matches.

Starting with the tightly-contested matchup against Foley, both teams traded off strong runs, but thanks to a consistent effort from four weight classes in between the 120-pound weight class and 138-pound weight class, the Eagles were able to come out on top.

After dropping the 113-pound division in a 10-5 decision, Oak Mountain had given up three points, but in the next four divisions, the Eagles picked up a combined 24 points.

Patrick Neal, Sullivan Tipton, Cole Thomas and Cole Burrough were all responsible for the points thanks to each one picking up a pin for the Eagles.

Despite Oak Mountain having to forfeit three weight classes the rest of the way to Foley only forfeiting one, giving the Lions 12 free points, the Eagles were able to get several big wins.

Oak Mountain lost both the 152 and 160 pound weight classes to give Foley 12 more points, but the match came down to two matches.

Kirk Smitherman, in the 106-pound weight class, and Jacob Gagnon, in the 170-pound weight class, were both able to pick up pins for 12 Oak Mountain points.

While the Eagles lost the 285-pound division, those two weight classes were part of the difference. Had Oak Mountain picked up three less points, or lost any of the weight classes they won, Foley would have come out on top.

Against Fairhope, however, Oak Mountain didn’t have to bite its nails quite as much thanks to a dominant effort.

In the first six weight classes, the Eagles were able to pick up a combined 34 points thanks to five pins and one 15-2 major decision.

The pins came from Smitherman, Myles Kendrick, Camden Tipton, Thomas and Burrough, while Neal picked up the decision.

The rest of the way, Fairhope was only able to win one match via major decision in the 160-pound weight class, while Oak Mountain forfeited the other three weight classes to give the Pirates their 22 points.

Landon Holcomb and Jacob Goldfon added two more pins for Oak Mountain, while William Ford got a forfeit victory for 18 more combined points. Gagnon was the last to add points for the Eagles with a decision victory.

In the loss to Gulf Shores, Kendrick, Neal and Sullivan Tipton were the highlights. Kendrick was the lone wrestler to pick up a pin in the 113-pound weight class, while Neal grabbed a win via technical fall and Tipton picked up a 9-2 decision.