3 West Holmes wrestlers advance to Division II state
Three West Holmes wrestlers advanced to the Division II state tournament, and two others earned state alternate spots.
West Holmes juniors Louden Dixon, Peyton Martin and Cam McCluggage and seniors Hunter McCluggage and Cole Porter stood on the podium March 1 after two days of competition at the Division II Steubenville District.
Dixon (first at 150 pounds), Martin (120, fourth) and Cam McCluggage (190, fourth) qualified for the state tournament. Unfortunately for Hunter McCluggage (157) and Porter (175), their fifth-place finishes made each a state alternate.
The five placers helped the Knights to a sixth-place finish in the 37-team field.
“What a roller coaster districts always seems to be,” WH coach Scott Vaughn said. “Friday, we wrestled pretty well. We got all 10 (district qualifiers) into the second day, which is impressive. Then today was a different story. We had a couple rough rounds. We were in the lead as a team until everything came to a crashing halt.”
Dixon (4-0, one fall) capped off his third consecutive district championship and third state tournament berth with a 4-1 sudden victory decision over Jake Hughes of Beaver Local. Dixon and Hughes met in last week’s sectional championship match, with Dixon winning a 3-2 overtime tiebreaker decision.
Dixon sewed up a state berth in the championship semifinals with a 10-2 major decision victory. Dixon opened his tournament with a 16-0 tech fall win and a fall win at 49 seconds.
“Louden loves wrestling at districts,” Vaughn said. “He rolled his way to the finals before meeting his finals opponent (Hughes) from last week again. For Louden, his goal is to be on top of the podium (at the state tournament), and I think that is something he is extremely capable of doing.”
Earning their first trips to state were Martin (3-2, two) and Cam McCluggage (4-2).
Martin punched his ticket with an 8-1 decision win in the consolation semifinals. In the third-place match, Martin dropped a 16-6 major decision loss. He started his run to state with fall wins at 1:47 and 2:15 before dropping a 15-4 major decision loss in the championship semifinals.
“I am very excited for Peyton,” Vaughn said. “He took fifth (at districts) as a freshman, then had a rough tournament last year. He’s been waiting for this for a long time. The thing I liked the most about Peyton’s tournament is that he lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals and was able to come back and wrestle really well in the consolation semifinals.
“At the district tournament, taking a loss in the semis and coming back isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Peyton did it, and I am proud of him.”
Cam McCluggage finished last week’s sectional tournament in fifth place, earning a district alternate slot. That paid off huge for McCluggage, who was inserted into the district tournament after a withdrawal earlier in the week.
McCluggage took full advantage of the opportunity, upsetting seventh-ranked and returning state qualifier Luke McMillion of Indian Creek with a 3-2 decision victory in the consolation semifinals to sew up his state berth. McCluggage scored a late third-period reversal for the winning points.
In the third-place bout, McCluggage dropped a 3-2 decision loss. He opened his tournament with a 10-2 major decision loss, then ripped off three straight wins — an 8-0 major decision, a fall at 1:55 and a 2-1 decision — to reach the go-to state round.
“We did have a surprise ... Cam McCluggage,” Vaughn said. “We got the call on (Feb. 25) that Cam got into the tournament as an alternate. He took full advantage of that. After dropping his first match Friday, Cam battled all the way back to take fourth and qualify for the state tournament, from district alternate to state qualifier.
“In the coaching realm, this is a unicorn. We tell kids it happens, which it does, but not very often. This is why you wrestle the matches. Cam was in a very difficult sectional, and that showed as four of the top five placers here (at districts) came from the Steubenville Sectional. I am very excited for Cam.”
For Hunter McCluggage (3-2) and Porter (3-2, two), their district tournaments were bittersweet as both came up one win shy of qualifying for state. Hunter McCluggage’s state alternate status was a first after qualifying in 2023. Porter’s state alternate slot was his third straight.