Bridgeport’s wrestling team hopes to continue its success as the 2018 portion of their season gets underway Saturday. The Indians will compete at the West Virginia Army National Guard Duals Tournament.

 

The event will be held in Summersville. Action begins at 10 a.m.

 

Bridgeport is coming off a pair of a pair of solid showing, the most recent on Dec. 28. At that time, the Indians won their division in the Landmark Forestry Wrestling Duals at Lewis County High School.

 

The Indians won Pool 2 of the competition. The wins came against Nicholas County by a 33-27 score, Clay-Battelle by a count of 60-0, the Huntington junior varsity at 40-21, Lincoln by a count of 40-16 and then wrapped things up with a win against Clay County by a score of 33-30.

 

The win against Clay Count wrapped up a 5-0 day for the Tribe. Kavaughn Summers helped BHS rally in the final match by pinning his foe to give the Indians the three-point win.

 

“The team wrestled very well. We were down two wrestlers during the tournament, yet we had kids fill their spots and win some key matches for us,” said BHS Assistant Coach Ryan Courtney. “We are very proud of, John Rush, who just started wrestling this season and collected his first wins of the season.”

 

The Indians also managed to go 3-0 on Dec. 21 in a rare home match. The Tribe went 3-0 to sweep a quad match against Grafton, Weir and Lincoln.

 

“The team wrestled well enough to collect all three wins. We are very proud of their effort, but as always we have a lot of work to do, to accomplish the goals we have set,” said Courtney. “The team is progressing well and working hard every day to achieve their goals. We have great leadership in our wrestling room, and this is helping to improve the quality of every wrestler in it.”

 

The Red Riders were strong in the event with a 2-1 mark, while Grafton finished 1-2. The Cougars closed the quad at 0-3.

 

Bridgeport beat Lincoln 57-6 and Grafton 49-24. BHS was even more impressive against the eventual runner-up with a 49-18 victory against Weir.

 

The Indians weren’t the only winners during their home meet. All proceeds helped benefit the “Shop with a Cop” holiday program with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

 

“Shop (with) a Cop was a success. This is an event we want to continue to grow and have our wrestlers more engaged with the community,” Courtney said.

 

Editor's Note: Team photo at the top after the Lewis County win courtesy of Jason Wojciechowicz. Bottom two photos were taken by Matthe S. DeMaria of www.benqueenphotography.com.