MARCUS GRIFFIN, wrestling off the bottom against Point Pleasant’s Rusty Mannes in the 130-pound, semi-final-round match-up during last weekend’s West Virginia High School Wrestling Tournament held in Huntington, wound up in sixth place. (This photo is a courtesy of Bruce Short of Philippi.)

GRAFTON -- Coach Rod Auvil took four Grafton High School Bearcats to Huntington last Thursday to compete in the three-day activities of the West Virginia High School Wrestling Tournament.

Eli Poston won the Class A-AA 285-Pound State Wrestling Championship with a perfect 4-0 record...Markus Griffin recorded a sixth-place finish in the 130-pound weight class with a 2-3 record...Nathan Streets finished with a 1-2 record in the 119-pound bracket...And Jess Twyman went 0-2 in the 135-pound division.

As a team, the Bearcats finished 17th out of the 40 squads that entered wrestlers into this event, chalking up a total of 39 points. Meanwhile, the Point Pleasant Black Diamonds ended a run of 16 consecutive state championships by the Oak Glen Golden Bears.

The final team scoring looked like this: 1. Point Pleasant 170.5; 2. Calhoun County 152.5; 3. Berkeley Springs 143.5; 4. Oak Glen 142.5; 5. Roane County 102.5; 6. 97.5; 6. Wirt County 97.5; 7. Cameron 84; 8. Williamstown 77.5; 9. Clay County 64; 10. Braxton County 63; 11. Herbert Hoover 56; 12. Greenbrier West & St. Marys tied with 53; 14. Weirton Madonna 51; 15. Liberty-Raleigh 46.5; 16. Independnce 40; 17. GRAFTON 39; 18. Region II Champion Keyser 38; 19. Shady Spring & Clarksburg Liberty tied with 36; 21. Sissonville 35.5; 22. Weir 35; 23. Meadow Bridge 16; 24. McMechen Bishop Donahue 14; 25. Bluefield 13; 26. Clay-Battelle 11; 27. Poca 8; 28. Tyler Consolidated 7; 29. Oak Hill 6; 30. Petersburg, Richwood & South Harrison tied with 5; 33. Lincoln 3; 34. Webster County 2; 35. Fayetteville, Frankfort & Philip Barbour 1; and 38. Parkersburg Catholic, Ritchie County & Wyoming East tied with 0.

The Bearcats defeated 23 teams and lost to 16 during the state tournament to finish the season with a 38-34 tournament record, as well as a 10-16 dual-match record.

“I would have to say that we had a good ending to a bad season,” Coach Rod Auvil said. “When you have had the success that we have had in the past, it’s a hard thing to lose so many matches...But, individually, our kids kept working hard, and all four kids that we took to Huntington wrestled well.”

Poston began his title run with a first-round, pin-fall victory over Point Pleasant’s Jerrod Long, and he needed just 47 seconds to complete that task. Next, the Bearcat junior pinned Oak Glen’s Curtis VanDyke in three minutes and 51 seconds, winning in the second period of that match-up.

During the semi-final-round, Poston recorded a third-period pin against Greenbrier West’s Anthony Trout, in five minutes and 14 seconds, and then he decisioned Hobert Delph of Berkley Springs, 7-4, in the championship match of the 285-pound weight class to wind up the long weekend with his 4-0 record.

Delph finished the season at 46-3, while Poston wound up 32-7.

“Eli was a man on a mission last weekend,” Coach Auvil said. “He recorded three straight pins, including one of them when he was trailing by a wide margin in points at the time. Then, he defeated Delph in a tight match during the finals.”

Poston (2010) gave Grafton High School its 11th individual state championship, including one during each of the last four years. He joined three-time winner Cameron Gallaher (2007-2008-2009), two-time winners Buddy McKeen (1996 & 1997) and Anthony Kennedy (1994 & 1995), along with Tim Mayle (1993), Adam Leach (2002) and Mike Curry (1985) with one crown apiece.

Auvil just coached his tenth state champion, with Curry being the only exception.

“As the head coach, it seems that I always get the credit when we have a state champion,” Coach Auvil said. “However, this time, I want everyone to know that our assistant coach, Keith Zebley, deserves most of the credit for this one, because he worked with Eli most of the time.”

Griffin decisioned Sissonville’s Ronnie Burdette, 7-5, in the opening round, and then he decisioned Shady Spring’s Zack Ranson, 7-3, in the second round. Next, Griffin lost on a second-period pin-fall to Point Pleasant’s Rusty Mannes two minutes and 47 seconds into their semi-final-round bout.

Once slipping into the loser’s brackett the Bearcat senior lost on a first-period pin-fall during a rematch with Burdette in the spin-off round, and then Griffin lost on a second-period pin-fall to Wirt County’s Justin Cline in the fifth/sixth-place competition of the final round of the tournament to finish with his 2-3 record.

Streets pinned Cameron’s Ivan Hall in the first period of their first-round match-up. In second-round action, Streets lost on a first-period pin-fall to Herbert Hoover’s Austin Whittington to fall into the loser’s bracket, where he lost on a first-period pin-fall to Clay-Battelle’s Shayne Hinkle, winding up with his 1-2 record.

Twyman lost on a first-period pin-fall to Weir’s Jess Bennett, and then he lost on a second-period pin-fall to Clay County’s Mitchell Schoolcraft in a first-round contest of the loser’s bracket to wind up with his 0-2 record.