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The Oak Mountain Eagles took down Helena in a county wrestling matchup on Dec. 8, as the Huskies also celebrated senior night. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By DAWN HARRISON | Special to the Reporter

HELENA – Two county foes squared off against one another on Dec. 8 when the Helena Huskies hosted Oak Mountain in a wrestling match on senior night.

While the Huskies celebrated their seniors for all of their accomplishments, they also came into the match forfeiting three weight classes, which put them at an 18-point deficit.

Those 18 points became key as they lost to the Eagles by a score of 39-23, a mere difference of 16 points.

But in the matches that did happen, there were several close battles with one of the teams winning by one or two points, creating an exciting night.
In the 113-pound weight class, two tough wrestlers who will be major players for their teams faced off when Camden Tipton of Oak Mountain was able to pick up a decision win of 6-3 over Levi McGrew of Helena.

In the 126 weight class, Seth McGrew of Helena and Austin Buird of Oak Mountain were the next to take the mat in another exciting match won by decision.

Buird was the only wrestler to put points on the board during the first two periods, and despite scoring more times, Buird was unable to overcome the points scored with the three takedowns by McGrew in the third period, giving him a 6-5 decision.

Oak Mountain’s Aden Miller added more points for the Eagles when he was able to escape a takedown from Luke Copeland in the first round, before then turning momentum in his favor to finish off a 6-2 decision.

In the 138 weight class, the next two wrestlers to battle it out in a decision match were Miguel McGrew of Helena and Owen Carrington of Oak Mountain.

In the first two periods, Carrington was the first to score in each, but gave up a penalty point to McGrew in the second period.

McGrew was able to take down Carrington, though not for long as he escaped to take a 5-3 lead. Carrington gave up another point through a stalling penalty, giving him the narrow decision of 5-4.

Antonio Allums added another win for the Huskies when he took down Oak Mountain’s Caleb Price. Allums put up 17 points with six takedowns, two nearfall points and one escape to pick up a 17-10 win.

Asa Ward quickly added 17 more points for the Huskies in the next match. Ward had 2 takedowns, four nearfalls for three points and an escape giving him a Tech Fall over Sam Gardner with a score of 17-0 and a fall time of 2:53.

Justin Yunke followed that with a pin of Zach Hauck in the next match, pinning his opponent with a fall time of 5:08.

In the 170-pound weight class, Landon Holcomb of Oak Mountain  and Matthew McFall of Helena were the next to battle it out in a decision match. Holcomb was able to takedown McFall three times and earn an escape, while limiting McFall to only three escapes to pick up a decision win of 7-3

The fastest fall time of the night went to Oak Mountain’s Nathan Besch in the 182-pound division. He pinned Helena’s Colin Minor in 2:20.

Not to be outdone in the 195 classification, Owen Campbell of Helena picked up the second fastest fall time of the evening despite Sam Reid of Oak Mountain being the first to put point on the board with a takedown. Cambell was able to turn Reid in the second period and pin him with a fall time of 3:21.

Andrew Lee of Oak Mountain finished out the regulation matches for the evening with another decision win over Helena’s Matthew Ray in the heavy weight division. Lee had two takedowns, a nearfall three and an escape keeping Ray to only two escapes and giving Oak Mountain him the decision win of 8-3.

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