By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
SHAWNEE – All eyes fell on the Class 5A mat as No. 3 Piedmont and top-ranked Skiatook’s state championship dual came down to the wire Saturday night at Firelake Arena.
With the stands packed and a wall of wrestlers and coaches surrounding the benches following the finals in Classes 3A, 4A and 6A, senior Mitchell Lance and Skiatook’s Josh Taylor squared off for what boiled down to the Class 5A Dual State title match at 126 pounds, following a 25-25 deadlock through 13 weights.
Lance, 2-0 on the weekend, fell just short however, losing a gritty 5-0 decision to the returning state champion and ceding the state title to Skiatook after the Wildcats had reached the finals for the first time in program history.
Taylor jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and all but sealed the match after riding out Lance for the full three minutes of the second. Taylor tacked on a three-point near fall in the third to close out his team’s championship run.
Freshman Alan Flores set up the final showdown with an 8-4 decision over Jacob Myers at 120 pounds. Flores scored his eight points in the first two periods, but Myers scored three points in the first and added an escape in the third to avoid a major decision loss that could have decided the dual for Piedmont.
Rhythm either way was hard to come by throughout the dual as the team’s exchanged the lead six times and tied it four times. And just seven points were scored during the first three matches.
Junior Tabor McClure lost a 2-0 decision to Cody Francis in the first match of the dual at 132 pounds. Junior Bryce DiGiacinto followed with a 2-0 win over B.K. Seago to tie the dual 3-3. Returning state runner-up, junior Bo Hardy gave Piedmont its first lead with a 2-1 decision over Tony Johnson at 145, but Skiatook tied the score again, 6-6 after junior Landis Scoon lost a 5-3 decision to returning state champion Cougar Andersen.
Junior Thomas Jenkins avoided a major decision, falling 10-3 to Richie Lee at 160 pounds before Piedmont re-gained the lead, 10-9 following a 15-7 win by senior Braden Culp at 170. Junior Austin Cooley picked up the first fall of the dual, pinning Alex Johnson in the first period to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 16-9.
Two matches later, the lead was again exchanged.
Freshman James Maguire lost a thin, 1-0 decision to Korbin McLaughlin at 195 pounds to cut the lead to 16-12. The Bulldogs re-gained the lead, 18-16 after a default by Piedmont at 220. Then, again the lead was turned around.
Senior Oklahoma-commit Josh Heindselman picked up a first-period fall at 285 pounds for a 22-18 lead, but after a major decision loss by sophomore Jace Jantz to Kyle Bowman at 106, the scored was deadlocked at 22-22. Flores followed with his win to tie the dual, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.
Piedmont finished as the Class 5A runner-up for the first time ever, following their first semifinals run a year ago.
The dual season is now complete, but the Wildcats still have work to do. Piedmont has just five days to prepare for the 2019 Class 5A West Regional at Duncan next weekend.
The Cats will battle it out individually with wrestlers from 15 other schools, including No. 4 Duncan, No. 5 Altus, No. 6 Lawton Mac, No. 8 Durant, No. 11 El Reno and No. 15 Guthrie for spots in the 2019 Class 5A State Tournament.
