Blackwell Maroons 13-4 after rumble with Owasso Rams

by Mike Monahan

The Blackwell Maroons had a very busy wrestling week and when all the dust settled, they had earned another trip to the Class 3A Dual State Meet in Enid on February 11-12 and finished in fourth place at the Owasso Ram Dual meet on Jan. 21-22. The Maroons are now 13-4 on the season.

They wrestled Newkirk last night and travel to Ark City on Thursday night before hosting the Big 4 tournament this weekend. In the district dual meet on Jan. 19 at Cascia Hall in Tulsa, the Maroons beat Cascia Hall 54-18, Prague 84- 0, Morrison 71-6, Chandler 66-6, and Victory Christian 84-0 to win the district.

The Maroons are currently ranked third in Class 3A and will join #1 Jay, #2 Marlow, #4 Vinita, #6 Bridge Creek, and #10 Pawnee/Hominy in Enid. District 3A-5 with Comanche, Sulphur and Plainview, and District 3A-6 with Inola, and Salina still have dual meets to finish up to determine who is going to Enid.

The Maroons then traveled to Owasso on Jan. 21-22 for the Ram Duals where they wrestled six matches in the two days and while they finished 3-3 on the weekend for fourth place, they took on some tough talented teams that will prep them for the post season.

The Maroons started with a 64-15 over Claremore in a dual that saw the Maroons post wins in 11 of 14 weights. Senior Christian Mora had a 50-second fall to lead the way as the Maroons posted falls in eight of their 11 matches.

The next match was against Class 5A Carl Albert. The Maroons got two early forfeits and falls at 113 and 126 to jump out to a 24-0 lead. Kaiden Ailey (132 pounds then posted a 5-4 decision and the lead was up to 27-0. Carl Albert would close the gap winning 138,145, and 152 pounds on decisions and a major decision at 160 pounds at 160 pounds to cut the lead to 27-13.

Mora would pin Isiah Matanane at 3:58 to get the Maroons out in front 37-13. Kruz Goff would get the Maroons final points on a fall at 195 points as Carl Albert got falls at 182, and 285 for their final points.

Friday’s third match of the day was against Bixby, the #5 ranked dual meet team in Class 6A and the Maroons would fall 52-22 to end their day.

The Maroons would jump out to a quick 18-0 lead with a Loden Wolfe fall at 106 pounds, a forfeit at 113 pounds, and an Aiden O’Dell fall in 1:42 at 20 pounds.

Bixby would then get falls at the next six weights to take a 36-18 lead. Mora would lose a sudden victory 6-4 decision at 170 pounds and a Maroons forfeit made the score 45-18. Goff would get the Maroons final points with a 13-4 major decision to make the score 45-22. Kolby Looper would lose a 3-1 decision on a tiebreaker-1 and J.D.

McCleary would lose a major decision for the final Bixby points and a 52-22 loss. The Maroons would beat Salina 41-26 in the quarterfinals of the bracket round Saturday morning. The match would start at 126 pounds with Salina getting a fall and an early 6-0 lead. Kaiden Ailey would score a major decision at 132 pounds to get the score to 6-4. Salina would then win,138 pounds (tech Fall), 145 pounds (decision).

152 pounds (fall), and 152 pounds (fall) and the Maroons found themselves in a 20-4 hole after five matches.

Jason Osgood would get a fall at 160 pounds to get the score to 20-10 and Salina would get what would turn out to be their final points of the match on a fall at 170 pounds to make the score 26-10.

The Maroons would pick-up forfeits at 106 and 195 pounds, a fall at 120 pounds, a major decision at 285 pounds and decisions at 182 and 113 pounds to post the 41-26 win. The Maroons would run into the juggernaut from Allen, Texas (enrollment around 5,000 students) in the semifinals and lose 55-10. Goff, Wolfe, and Aiden O’Dell (major decision) were the only winners for the ten points.

The Maroons gave up five falls, a tech fall, a forfeit, two major decisions, and two decisions in surrendering a season-high 55 points. The Maroons would then drop the third-place match to defending Class 6A champion Mustang (3,100 students) 47-29 to finish off their weekend. Wolfe got the Maroons going with a fall at 106 pounds and an early 6-0 lead. Mustang falls at 113 and 120 pounds gave them a 12-6 lead.

Aidan O’Dell would then score a 10-0 major decision to cut the deficit to 12-10. Mustang would then get two tech falls and a fall at 132,138, and 138 pounds to take 28-10 lead. Osgood would get a major decision at 152 pounds to cut the deficit to 28- 14.

The teams would trade forfeits at 160 and 170 pounds to get the score to 34-20 in favor of Mustang. The teams would trade falls at 182 and 195 pounds as Goff would get his fall in 1:17 to make the score 40- 26.

Kolby Looper would win a 6-5 decision at 220 pounds to make the score 40-30, but the Maroons would lose a team point in the final score as Mustang got a fall at 285 pounds to make the score 47-29.