Last MC home mat event Saturday

This Saturday’s “Mountaineer Classic” is a last chance in more ways than one.

It’s the last event of the regular season and it’s the last time the Mountaineer wrestlers compete at home, which means it’s the last time the folks of Madison County can rally to their support at home.

Should the fans come out for the event, what will they see?

A team that found a fork in the road that first looked like a one-way street.

Madison Head Wrestling Coach Mike Sacra quickly identified the point where the road no longer dead ended.

“We started turning the corner at East Rockingham [High School],” he said, referring to the team duals at that location on Dec. 21 where the Mountaineers went 2-3.

Before East Rockingham, the Mountaineers were winless after 10 matches.

Since then the team is 12-8 and of those eight losses, two -- to James River of Buchanan and Clarke County -- were decided on criteria. In total, the Mountaineers are 0-3 in matches that went to the rule book. Back on Dec. 3 at the season opener at Orange County High School, Madison lost on criteria to Courtland.

Sacra sums up this year’s unit like this:

“We’re an inexperienced group that turned the corner a little bit. If we could just keep a lineup together.”

The Mountaineers enter this final week of the regular season after a rare idle week of competition.

They last competed on Jan. 14 at Strasburg where the team was without the services of both Matt Beeler (106) and Justin Farry (195), who were each out with an illness. Defending state champion Anthony Jewett (160) went 5-0 in Strasburg but wasn’t feeling his best.

“I think the week off was beneficial,” said Sacra.  “Hopefully we’re healthier coming back in this week.  Beeler and Jewett have both looked good in practice and we may have an additional weight class filled.”

That’s welcome news for a team that customarily has three forfeits per match, which translates to the concession of 18 team points.

After last week’s break in the action, the Mountaineers began this week with a tri-match Wednesday at Charlottesville High School, where Western Albemarle makes it a three-some.

This Saturday, it’s the “Mountaineer Classic,” where a total of 12 teams will assemble.

The Mountaineers will welcome Group AAA’s Brooke Point, Group AA’s Chancellor, the defending Battlefield District champions, Blacksburg, Western Albemarle, second-year Tuscarora and Harrisonburg.  Group A’s Washington and Lee (Region A) and Cumberland and Nottoway (Region B) will be there and two private schools, Fork Union Military Academy and Covenant School will be there as well.

Next weekend, Madison joins its seven district foes at Strasburg for the Bull Run District Tournament where, this year, the top six wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the two-day Region B Tournament hosted by Strasburg. From there, the top four wrestlers in each weight class will move on to the Group A state meet on Feb. 17-18 at the Salem Civic Center.

This Saturday’s “Mountaineer Classic” is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

(Mark O’Connell serves as an Eagle sports correspondent and lives in the Madison County section of Reva [Haywood] with his children, Ethan and Bekah. Contact him at takedownnews@aol.com.)