By Carl Holcomb
From staredowns to throwdowns, the Keyser Kiwanis Wrestling Tournament was a dance short of having a hoedown as the Golden Tornado corralled the title side stepping the ten team field with some boot scoot and boogie last Saturday.
Keyser’s dance card was full with country line dancing shaking off the rest of the completion and toppling Morgantown for the final bow.
Moorefield joined the shenanigans with more than just a waltz to gather third place in the Keyser Kiwanis Wrestling Tournament, followed by the swinging sensation of Southern Garrett and the Lord of the Riverdance mat stepping East Hardy Cougars.
The Keyser Kiwanis Tournament dance card also featured Petersburg, Pendleton County, Hampshire, University and the X-Team.
“We fought to the very end and came home with some hardware: 3rd place at the Keyser Kiwanis Tournament,” Moorefield Wrestling coach Larry Schoonover stated on Facebook.
Moorefield’s Daltan Ault and Alex Rodriguez finished undefeated at the Keyser Kiwanis Tournament with 5-nil records.
Moorefield edged Southern Garrett (MD) with a 40-39 score.
The Yellow Jackets earned five pins, a major decision and a forfeit to tally the 40 markers.
Moorefield notched four first period pins against the Rams by Annie Barr (0:27), Javier Acosta (1:31), Alex Rodriguez (1:28) and Axel Rodriguez (0:48), a second period pin by Daltan Ault (2:41), a major decision by LeeAnne Coon 10-2 and a forfeit given to Teagan Eversole.
Keyser dominated the Cougars 66-18 garnering six first period pins and a second period pin, in addition to four forfeits.
The Golden Tornado first period pins were completed by Lane Metcalf over Brice Toulomelis, Ross Hicks over Carter Myers, Ryan Swingle over Khriz Guerrero, Owen Rodrick over Hunter Nelson, Liam Gould over Conner Henderson and second period pin by Jackson Swingle over Brinn Childers.
The Cougars collected three pins against Keyser with wins coming from Ryan Harman over Daniel Jones (0:27), Cooper Eckard over Jelani Bruny (0:38) and Aaron Barb over Alex Mangold (2:23).
Petersburg snatched the tiebreaker to elude the Cougars 43-42 (42-all).
The Cougars were given a quartet of forfeits to Conner Henderson, Khriz Guerrero, Brinn Childers and Aaron Barb.
East Hardy’s Carter Myers recorded a third period pin (4:35) over Petersburg’s Ty Porcella.
East Hardy’s Cooper Eckard pinned Petersburg’s Garrett Dolly in the first period at 1:56.
The Cougars’ Ryan Harman grabbed a first period pin at 0:16 over Petersburg’s Landon Wratchford.
The Cougars defeated Hampshire 42-33 with three first period pins and four forfeits.
East Hardy’s Barb pinned Hampshire’s Kaylee Walters at 0:14, Childers pinned Kamdyn Phares at 0:46 and Eckard pinned Sean King at 1:04, while the forfeits were made by Harman, Henderson, Guerrero and Nelson.
Southern Garrett rammed past East Hardy 54-30 with the help of five pins and four forfeits.
The Cougars collected four pins by Barb (0:48) over Rae Smith-Pritt, Jaedyn Funk (0:44) over Lena Hernandez, Guerrero over Zeke Tasker (1:04), Eckard over Arden Gaudot (0:10) and Harman over Luke Seib (5:05).
East Hardy earned 36 points against Pendleton County with three pins and three forfeits.
The forfeits went to the Cougars’ Morganne Miller, Barb and Guerrero.
East Hardy’s pins against the Wildcats were made by Childers over Cain Nulph (0:40), Eckard over Liam Simmons (0:19) and Henderson (first TNA).
The final match was East Hardy’s Jaedyn Funk finishing with a 9-all decision against Pendleton County.
“We have some upperclassman who have vast experience wrestling and we are looking for them to help train the underclassmen and the new wrestlers. We will continue to work hard on the mat and in the weight room and we’re looking for another great season ahead of us,” East Hardy Wrestling coach Steven Miller remarked.
Moorefield defeated the X-Team without Wolverine 53-28.
The Yellow Jackets snatched five pins against the X-Team with no Storm in sight: William Atkins (0:19) over teammate Braedyn Toney, Blake Robinette (0:17) over Geese, Daltan Ault (2:58) over Brody, Jordan Fields (1:16) over Chase, Javier Acosta over Brandon (0:48).
Moorefield’s Alex Rodriguez earned a 22-5 technical fall over teammate David Stonestreet.
The Yellow Jackets took forfeits for Ledziel Matos and Jhon Paul.
Morgantown beat the Yellow Jackets 46-31.
Moorefield’s LeeAnne Coon got a forfeit, Javier Acosta gathered a 7-2 decision, Jordan Fields and Alex Rodriguez garnered technical falls, Alex Rodriguez created a second period at 3:57 and Ault grabbed a first period pin at 1:35 against the Mohigans.
Moorefield defeated Petersburg 48-36 with four pins and four forfeits.
The Yellow Jackets pins over the Vikings came by Eversole in the second period at 3:53 against Kaitlyn Booth, Alex Rodriguez pinned Ty Porcella at 1:29, Axel Rodriguez pinned Aiden Coakley at 0:19 and Daltan Ault notched a pin at 3:55 over Logan Bachman.
Moorefield forfeits were snatched by Atkins, Paul, Acosta and Coon in the Vikings match.
University bested Moorefield 53-30 in the Keyser Kiwanis Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets points were accumulated by Paul with a first period pin (1:55), Alex Rodriguez with a first period pin at 1:05, Axel Rodriguez with a first period pin at 1:46 and Ault with a first period pin at 1:24.
Hardy County grapplers showed their determination testing the completion in Keyser and look to develop this experience into further success this year.
All scoring information was provided by Keyser Wrestling coach Colin Rotruck.
Photos were provided by WV News/Mineral News and Tribune sports reporter Chapin Jewell and Moorefield parent Stephanie Simmons.
