Wrestling Little Bucs off to a strong start to 2021-22 season

Duane Carpenter
December 18, 2021

TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School wrestling team is off to a solid start to the season with two tournaments under their belt. They opened their season on Dec. 4 at home in the “Buc Brawl 2021” then visited Sutton last Saturday for the Braxton County Duals.

At the Buc Brawl, the team went a perfect 5-0. They beat Mountaineer Harrison (54-34), Taylor County (66-12), Trap Hill (66-18), North Marion (78-6) and Buckhannon-Upshur “JV” (68-6.).

The Little Bucs had five wrestlers go a perfect 5-0 – Jeremy Jett (90 pounds), Riel Figueroa (110 pounds), Brianna Howes (116 pounds), Trenton Ward (123 pounds), and Preston Harris (145 pounds).

Finishing with 4-1 marks were Will Kennedy (84 pounds), Tucker Mason (102 pounds), Maya Garcia (128 pounds), Hunter Cowger (135 pounds), Eli Watkins (155 pounds) and Alex Hawkins (171 pounds) while going 3-1 was Josh Thomas (95 pounds). Chance Morgan (190) ended the tournament at 3-2 while heavyweight Matthew Hawkins went 2-3.

The junior varsity Little Bucs posted a 3-2 record. They downed North Marion (54-18), Trap Hill (42-41) and Taylor County (60-24) while dropping matches to Mountaineer Harrison (41-24) and the Little Buc varsity team (68-6).

At the Braxton County Duals, the Little Bucs took fourth out of 12 teams. Hurricane won the team title while Shady Spring was second, West Fairmont third and the Little Bucs fourth. They beat Logan (75-6), an all-stars team (65-24), Hurricane-JV (70-12) and Park (60-29) for a 4-1 record.

Jeremy Jett (90 pounds), Riel Figueroa (110) and Preston Harris (145 pounds) all went a perfect 5-0 at Braxton. JJ Harris (84 pounds), Josh Thomas (95 pounds), Maya Garcia (123 pounds), Trenton Ward (128 pounds), Eli Watkins (155 pounds), and Chance Morgan (heavyweight) all went 4-1.

Rounding out the line-up was Alex Wamsley (102 pounds) going 3-1, Brianna Howes (116 pounds), Hunter Cowger (135 pounds), and Cale Collier (190 pounds) all finishing at 3-2, Alex Hawkins (171 pounds) going 2-3 and Tucker Mason (102 pounds) finishing 1-0.

The Little Bucs were slated to have a home meet this past Tuesday. They will compete again Tuesday at South Morgantown in a tri with East Fairmont and South Morgantown.