McClain travels to Bellefontaine Saturday for Jimmy Mac Duals; finish 4-1

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Bellefontaine High School was the host school to the annual Jimmy Mac Duals. This is a ten team tournament with each team wrestling five matches. The Tigers saw their first dual meet action of the year, and came ready to wrestle. MHS finished the tournament at 4-1, giving themselves a great start to the season.

In round one, the Tigers faced St. Paris Graham Local Black. Graham is no stranger to successful wrestling, as their team has won the last 17 state titles in division 2. McClain jumped out to a 45-0 lead and it was enough to hold off the hard charging Falcons and secure a 45-30 victory.

In round two, the host Bellefontaine Chieftains and the Tigers battled all the way to the end. The fourteenth and final match was the deciding match. Sophomore Thomas Retherford (145), coming off of his first ever varsity victory against St. Paris Graham, continued his winning ways and won by pin to overtake the Chieftains and give the Tigers a five point victory, 39-34. A pin is worth six points.

Now at 2-0 on the season and for the tournament, MHS faced their second consecutive division one opponent, this time, the team from Canal Winchester. Last year, CWHS beat McClain on a tie breaker criteria. The Tigers never let the match get close enough this year for that to happen. The Tigers secured the victory with four matches remaining when Quinton Smith (132) won by pin. CWHS would win the final three matches, but it was too little too late. MHS won 42-36.

To secure their fourth win to start the season, the Tigers would have to defeat Southeastern Local High School from South Charleston. This is the first time these two schools have ever competed against one another. Greenfield ran away with this match after splitting the first two matches. The final was McClain 51-24.

Urbana would be the team that stopped the winning streak. McClain won the first three matches, but the Hilltoppers kept fighting back. After match number 8, UHS took the lead and kept it for the remainder of the match. Urbana won the match 43-30. A highlight for McClain in the match was Keegan Rawlins (152) winning a decision over returning District Placer Damion Williams.

Urbana and New Lexington both went 5-0 on the day. The tournament director decided New Lexington should receive the first place trophy as he thought NLHS was the better team. Urbana took home the second place trophy.

Individually for McClain, five wrestlers went 4-1 on the day: Lucas Jansen (106), Thomas Retherford, Keegan Rawlins (152), Ethan Taylor (195), and Kade Rawlins (220). Lucas and Kade also joined Retherford in winning their first ever varsity matches.

Four of their wrestlers went 3-2: Dawson Jansen (126), Nathan Franz (160), Kyler Trefz (182), and Kai Borrelli (285). Winning two of five matches was Quinton Smith and Phil Waters (170). Winning one match was Jake Krafthefer (138). Every wrestler in the lineup got their hand raised in victory.

Up next for McClain is a home match starting at 6pm on Thursday, December 14th. Chillicothe and Frankfort Adena will bring both their varsity and junior high teams. This will be the first ever Frontier Athletic Conference action to be seen in the McClain gymnasium.

Submitted by Shane Paul is the head wrestling coach for McClain High School.

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