By Allen Hamrick
The mats were so hot Wednesday evening at the Braxton Quad meet that a wrestling fan could smell the rubber burning a mile off. The Clay High Panther wrestling team, with a tough core of wrestlers and some new to the mats, was in the house delivering pain and taking names. Anytime the Panthers come into a match most every team represented wants to beat them, and as they found out, it’s not easy and never will be. Bottom line is, Clay may not have taken first place, but for a wrestler skilled enough to beat one of the Panthers, they do so by taking a considerable beating. There were plenty of Kleenex to go around for those that got beat. With the team in a rebuild season, the boys did pretty well. In a duals meet, it is tough to win as a team when your team doesn’t have all the weight classes filled. Teams will have to bring all they got to the mat to beat the Panthers no matter the odds. The teams participating at this event were Braxton, Clay Lewis and Roane.
The Panthers took on Roane first and beat them like a rug. Up next was Lewis County and due to a lack of wrestlers, the Panthers had to forfeit weight classes and needed a pin to win the match. They just couldn’t get it and lost by three. Braxton was up next, and to beat them a team better bring a lunch because they are stacked with talent. The Panthers gave it a whirl but came up short on the win. However, in the match Zane Minger recorded his 100th career Panther win and will no doubt be a contender for the state title. He knows what he is doing around a mat; congratulations to Zane on his 100th win. The Panthers will hit the mats once again this weekend in Huntington at the WSAZ tournament, so come out in support. This county may have lost much, but these youth give one hundred percent to their sport and haven’t lost their zeal to win.