By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
The fourth-ranked Wildcats returned to form Tuesday night, dominating from 160 pounds and up to secure a 45-24 win over Class 6A No. 6 Edmond Memorial.
Landis Scoon (Sr.), Bryce DiGiacinto (Sr.), Bo Hardy (Sr.), Makaveli Ramirez (So.), Austin Cooley (Sr.) and Dylan Hampton (Sr.) scored 30 straight points to close out the dual and turn a 24-15 deficit into a 21-point win.
Scoon started the run with a 6-3 decision over Eli Cordy at 160 pounds followed by a 20-4 tech fall by DiGiacinto over Ben Mower at 170 to cut Memorial’s lead to 24-23. Hardy won a 17-4 major decision over Cole Carrol at 182 before three straight wins by fall by Ramirez over Noah Kenney at 195, by Cooley over Hudson Hallander at 220 and by Hampton over Gavin Eleck at 285.
Freshman Trevor Tewell and junior Tyler Tewell built a 12-0 advantage, benefiting from forfeit wins at 106 and 113 pounds to start the dual. Sophomore Alan Flores lost by fall to Cruz Aguilar at 120 followed by a 9-3 loss by junior Jayce Jantz to Garrett Johnson at 126 to cut the lead to 12-9. Junior Levi Buckridge defeated Brock Harris 6-4 at 132 to make it 15-9 before three straight wins by Memorial at 138, 145 and 152. Senior Colby Matlock lost by fall to Jake McCain and senior Tabor McClure lost a 6-1 decision to Jackson Oplonic at 152. The Cats forfeited at 145.
The win marks the second for Piedmont over a 6A team this season. The Wildcats defeated No. 13 Yukon to open the season on Dec. 5. They lost to No. 2 Mustang on Dec. 12. It’s the fourth overall victory for Erik Ford’s squad this season and second straight following a win over Shawnee before Christmas break.
Piedmont heads to Geary this weekend for one of the top-ranked tournaments in the country – the 76th edition of the Geary Invitational. Action kicks off at 10 a.m. Friday followed by bracket stages Saturday. The Cats finished 13th last year and will be joined this year by 23 opposing teams from across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas and Missouri.
