Late Season Showdowns: Inside the Tri-Dual with OCS, Hinton, and Pawnee Wrestling Teams

I haven’t had the opportunity to catch much 3A action so far this year, but excited when OCS coach Robinson invited us out for some late season action. OCS hosted two top 10 teams with Hinton Comets as well as Pawnee Blackbears, which was sure to be their toughest home dual matchups of the year. Hinton has been slowly climbing the ranks throughout the year and have some tough kids who love to scrap. Pawnee has put together a great season so far, winning district duals and qualifying for dual state in a couple of weeks. OCS is still a new program compared to many others (established in 2019), but have continued to progress year over year and for the first time, find themselves ranked in the top 15.

I was able to catch up with a couple of the kids after the dual. See interviews below:

Interviews:

Probably my favorite part of the night took place before action even started. OCS paid tribute to fallen officer Jeremy McCain who was a resource officer at OCS and fellow wrestler for Choctaw. Officer McCain was given a seat on the bench with an American flag left in his honor. The tribute they gave for him felt very genuine and it was great to see.

With the event being a tri-dual, wrestling started a bit earlier, so I was not able to catch the entire Pawnee vs Hinton dual. As I walked into the gym Pawnee had a pretty comfortable lead, however Hinton appeared to be getting some momentum and making a comeback. But unfortunately a forfeit at 215 hurt the Comets chances. At 285 Derrick Pratt (Hinton) had himself a pretty good night, he gets the OT takedown over #8 ranked Stewart of Pawnee. Bummed I missed it, but a nice win for Kolby Novonty (Pawnee) as he takes out #2 ranked Dahlenburg of Hinton. Pawnee gets the win over Hinton, which is a nice win to help boost their resume for rankings at dual state.

Final Score: Pawnee 40 Hinton 31

Round 2 OCS gets in on the action as they take on Pawnee. Forfeits at 106 and 120 for OCS but them a bit behind to start out the dual. At 113 Britt (Pawnee) bumps up to take on Nelson (OCS) who has quite a bit of a size advantage on him. Nelson has…