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Huntington coach Gene Strogen knew exactly what his team needed to collect its first Northwest Louisiana Regional Wrestling Championship.
With one match left, the Raiders needed a pinfall victory by heavyweight Reggie Markray to slip past Byrd in the team standings.
Markray delivered, pinning Evangel's Logan Williams 33 seconds into the second round of their match to lift Huntington to the team title. "(Strogen) told me right before I got on the mat," Markray said. "I was real nervous, because I felt like it was all on me. I think it helped me get through the match."
Markray's victory gave the Raiders a final one-point edge against city rival Byrd, 123.5-122.5. It was Byrd's second straight close call in the regionals. A season ago, Byrd was runner-up to Bossier. "That's a heartbreaker," Byrd coach Scott Martin said. "We had four in the finals. We lost one by three points and one in overtime in the finals. We had five in the semifinals, and the one we lost there was by one point. My 145 wasn't able to make it (Saturday). All he had to do was show up, win one match and we win the championship. It's a heartbreaker."
One of Byrd's losses in the finals had a more direct result on the team championship, as Huntington's The'Anthony Taylor defeated Byrd's Stephen Martin, 7-5, in overtime. Taylor rallied from a 5-1 deficit before delivering the decisive takedown in overtime. "He's our most-improved wrestler," Strogen said of Taylor. "He turned the corner at our Christmas tournament and really came around." |
Showing the parity that has crept into local wrestling this year, the first five places were separated by just 4.5 points. Evangel (121.5), Bossier (121) and Benton (119) rounded out the top five teams. Benton had the most individual champions with three -- Jeff Lewis (132 pounds), Andre Dean (145) and Jordan White (160). Bossier, meanwhile, tallied the most top-four finishes, placing seven wrestlers in that category of their respective weight classes. "We've got basically six to seven true varsity wrestlers, and we ended up with six of them placing out of the eight kids I thought had a chance to place," Benton coach Jamey Wainscott said. "I'm not going to complain about it."
Outstanding wrestler awards went to Haughton's 106-pound Dylan Holiday (106-132), Benton's Dean (138-160) and Bossier's Jalen Oliver (170 and above). Holiday and Parkway's Alex Simmaly started the finals with back-to-back pins. After a run of eight matches that lasted at least three rounds -- two went to overtime -- Oliver started a run of four straight pins to end the two-day tournament. "It's been a really good week," said Oliver, who won an individual and a team city championship Thursday night at Bossier High School. "I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of the whole team." Twitter: @JasonSPugh