Uk, Houser fill mat slots

Two weeks ago, Madison County’s wrestling team welcomed sophomore Thang Uk to its lineup. A native of Myanmar (the country formerly called Burma), Uk filled the vacancy at 103 pounds, which left just the heavyweight position to fill.

And Mountaineer coach Mike Sacra proved that perseverance really does pay off.

Jacob Houser, a football and baseball player, decided to try wrestling for the first time in his life.

“Coach Sacra asked me many times to come out,” said the Mountaineer big man, whose motivation is selfless.

“My biggest motivation is to help the team win the (Bull Run) District,” he said.

That takes place this Saturday at Manassas Park High School.

With Uk and Houser on the team, the Mountaineers have all 14 weight classes filled.

Whether they pick up any team points cannot be predicted.

In Houser’s baptism of fire this past Saturday in Covington, he lost all four matches in which he wrestled and all by fall. Yet, in each, he showed a little more confidence and knowledge.

Uk started well in a couple of his matches, but inexperience left him out of position and took him to his back in two of his matches.

While Uk and Houser continue to work on learning a new sport, Madison’s regulars once again showed their mat prowess when the team claimed the runner-up trophy at last Saturday’s War of the Wrestlers Tournament at Covington High School where the Mountaineers crowned three individual champions en route to finishing with 80 team points, 52 behind first-place Salem, which tallied 132 points.

Martinsville (55) finished in third place followed by host Covington (53), Buffalo Gap (43), William Fleming (39), Patrick Henry-Roanoke (38) and North Cross (35).

Individual honors went to Jarrett Brumett (135), Tyler Atwell (140) and Anthony Jewett (152) who all stood atop the awards podium to receive their first-place medals.

Teammates Hunter Welch (112) and Brandon Utz (215) came in second, Ethan O’Connell (130) and Baxter Helmick (145) came in third and Dylan Basta (119) finished in fourth.

Brumett and Jewett both went 5-0 on the day and Atwell was 3-0.

Three of Brumett’s wins came by fall, one by technical fall and a win by close decision for first place. The senior ran his season record to 47-2 and increased his school record of wins by fall to 117.

Jewett, a promising freshman and younger brother of James Jewett who was an accomplished wrestler at Madison and graduated last summer, defeated Covington’s Logan Paxton by decision, 6-3, to claim first place. Jewett trailed his opponent, 3-2, but with just 0:50 remaining scored a reversal and two back points to prevail 6-3, and then received the hearty congratulations from his appreciative teammates.

Jewett improved his season record to 32-15.

Welch, who made the drop to 112 a couple of weeks ago, battled Martinsville’s Ralph Price with first place on the line. The Bulldog won a hard-fought decision, 8-6.

Welch is now 24-15 on the year.

O’Connell pinned Buffalo Gap’s Zac Richey (3:46) to finish in third place. The Mountaineer sophomore hoped for another crack at the tournament’s eventual champion, Chad Sizemore, who defeated O’Connell by technical fall at last week’s “Mountaineer Duals.” Instead, O’Connell lost to Salem’s Owen Marshall by decision, 16-9, which left him in competition with Richey for third place.

O’Connell is now 39-8 on the year.

Sizemore, Group A’s No. 1 ranked wrestler at 130 pounds and last year’s state champion at 125, entered the tournament unbeaten at 30-0 and easily dispatched Marshall for first place with a win by technical fall.

Utz pinned his first two opponents in lightning fashion but lost by fall to Salem’s Jack Semones and had to settle for second place.

The Mountaineer senior, who is now 42-5 on the year, recorded the tournament’s fastest fall when he executed his signature head-lock and throw of William Fleming’s Marcus Firebaugh who succumbed to Utz in just 0:11.

Basta wrestled Ryan Pyles of Buffalo Gap with third place on the line. Pyles won by major decision, 11-0, and Basta settled for fourth place. The Mountaineer sophomore is now 34-14 on the year.

Older brother Bobby was officially out of the lineup when he did not make weight at 125 pounds but was allowed to compete and went 4-0 on the day to run his season record to 41-7. At the district duals on Jan. 17 he upset Strasburg’s Sean Hall with a win by decision to earn a No. 1 seed at this week’s district tournament.

John Heller (189) went 2-2 and improved to 26-14 this season. In his fourth and final match at Covington he overcame a 9-0 deficit to North Cross’ Jamie Willis and stuck the Red Raider at the 2:31 mark.

Teammates Justin Farry (160) and Kyle Rowe (171) went winless and Uk (103) claimed a forfeit and went 1-4 on the day. In his match against Buffalo Gap’s JR Warrington, Uk scored a takedown and put Warrington on his back for two points and led 4-0 until the Bison grappler caught Uk out of position and pinned him at the 1:28 mark.

Madison’s trip to Covington signaled the end of the regular season, which witnessed the team setting a new school record for most wins in a season, 32, which eclipsed last year’s record-setting season of 31 wins. The Mountaineers took first place at both the Mountaineer Classic and Mountaineer Duals, finished second at both The War of the Wrestlers in Covington and at the season’s debut in Orange, fourth at the Broadway Invitational and sixth at the Harrisonburg Invitational.

They also went 4-1 at the district duals where their only loss was by three points to Strasburg.

On Feb. 7, Manassas Park, the defending Bull Run District, Region B and Group A champions, will host the district tournament where the top four wrestlers advance to the Region B Tournament on Feb. 14 at Cumberland High School.