By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
DURANT – The Wildcats needed one day to clear their minds.
After a finals loss to top-ranked Skiatook in the 2019 Class 5A Dual State tournament, the team’s first-ever appearance in the final match, coach Erik Ford wouldn’t let his kids dwell.
“We talked about it Monday and that was it,” the ninth-year coach said. “That was all we were going to talk about it, Starting Monday, we knew Regionals had to come first.”
The Cats received the message, capturing the program’s first-ever Regional championship with 11 State Tournament qualifiers, including five Regional champions Friday and Saturday. It’s the second straight year Piedmont will send 11 to State, but the first with five top seeds.
“Dual State was obviously disappointing,” Ford said. “But we competed well and had a great showing so we used that as motivation going into the Regional. We knew once we put last week in the back of our mind we could focus on the next step and they made it happen.”
Senior Josh Heindselman (285), junior Austin Cooley (182), junior Landis Scoon (152), senior Mitchell Lance (126) and freshman Alan Flores (113) all swept their brackets on rout to Regional titles and cementing a strong advantage to start the state tournament.
Heindselman, an Oklahoma-commit, heads to State as the returning Class 5A 220-pound champion while Lance makes his second appearance after qualifying his freshman season.
Cooley makes his first-ever appearance in Oklahoma after qualifying in Texas last year and Scoon makes his first-ever appearance in 5A after qualifying for Yukon in Class 6A last year.
Two Wildcats finished runner-up at Regionals, including junior Tabor McClure at 132 pounds and senior Braden Culp at 170 pounds. Culp makes his second straight appearance at state after placing fourth last year while McClure qualified for the first time.
Sophomore Jayce Jantz (106), junior Bo Hardy (145) and freshman James Maguire (220) all finished third at Regionals. All three earned their first trips to the state tournament along with junior Bryce DiGiacinto (138) who finished fifth to enter the play-in match, his second straight year to qualify.
“I think we have a shot,” Ford said of his team’s chances to take home the State title after sending 11 wrestlers for the second straight year. “That’s all you can ask for. We’ll have to have a really good tournament and then it could be within grasp.
“We talked about it a year ago. We just need a shot.”
The first rounds and consolation matches will be wrestled Friday, starting at 10 a.m. at Jim Norick Arena in Oklahoma City. The semifinals and consolation finals will be wrestled Saturday morning followed by the finals in each class on Saturday night.
