BDT - G-Men seek 9th title at own invitational

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Graham seeks ninth straight title at own invitational

 

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

BLUEFIELD, Va. — Eight isn’t enough for the Graham G-Men.

 

The Graham Invitational will be held on Saturday at Graham High School. In eight previous years, the G-Men have come out on top.

 

Graham wants that streak to have nine lives.

 

“We always look forward to it because it’s in front of our home crowd,†Graham junior Tanner Howell said. “We’ve won this invitational as many years as we have hosted it, and we’re intent on winning it again.

 

“We’re working hard out here to win it.â€

 

The G-Men, who are 21-6 on the season, will be joined by 10 other teams, including Mercer County foes PikeView, Princeton and Bluefield, along with Lonesome Pine District representatives Powell Valley, Appalachia and J.J. Kelly.

 

Others include Coeburn, Holston, St. Paul and Fort Chiswell.

 

Woodward said the team title should come down to Graham, Kelly, Powell Valley, Coeburn and possibly even first-year program Bluefield.

 

“This may be the toughest field we’ve had in this tournament as far as parity and everyone being pretty equal,†Graham coach Tim Woodward said.

 

Even though Graham has won the previous eight meets, they haven’t been easy. It took a Josh Gross pin on the final match last year to beat Lebanon by three points, and it took a near miracle to squeak past Galax in 2005.

 

In past years, Graham has won twice apiece over Lebanon, Galax, Grayson County and Patrick Henry.

 

“We got behind Galax 36-0, they won the first six matches and then we came back and won the next eight to defeat them,†Woodward said. “They had a really good team that year and they had already beaten us earlier in the year by 30 points. The kids just really wrestled well that day.â€

 

“I think all the championship matches we’ve had have been very entertaining.â€

 

Six G-Men will compete in their last home match, including Casey Barreras, who is 33-3 this year at 215 pounds, and has won 120 matches in his career. While Charlie Holbrook’s all-time mark of 145 appears safe, Barreras has an outside shot of moving into second ahead of Travis Walk and Andy Henderson, both of whom won 132.

 

Despite a recent illness, Barreras has had a solid senior campaign, and still hopes to make the trip to Salem next month for the state meet.

 

“I’ve been pretty pleased, but I thought I could do better,†said Barreras, about this season. “I’ve been sick here for the last couple of weeks, that has stopped me from winning a couple.

 

“If I can get better by Saturday, I should be pretty good for districts. I’m just trying to get better. My goal is to make it to state.â€

 

One regular season meet remains for Graham next Wednesday in Abingdon. That will be followed by the Southwest District meet at Grundy (Feb. 7), Region IV at Magna Vista (Feb. 13-14) and the Group AA in Salem (Feb. 20-21). Two weeks were trimmed off the schedule this season.

 

Woodward hopes the G-Men can continue their trend of doing their best wrestling as the season winds down to a close.

 

“We’ve always managed to be doing our best wrestling for our tournament in the last weeks of the season,†Woodward said. “The kids look forward to it all year and it gives them a chance to finish the season on a high note if we win.â€

 

Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. with Bluefield taking on J.J. Kelly. Grappling will continue until the late afternoon. The cost is $6, and concessions and t-shirts will be available for purchase. The top four wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes will receive medals.

 

It’s a long day for everyone, but Woodward said it’s definitely worth the effort.

 

“There is always four teams on the mat, there are no actual breaks,†Woodward said. “The action moves pretty fast, it’s a pretty long day for the kids.

 

“Each wrestler will get five matches in one day which is by rule the maximum amount...I just would like for as many people that can to come down and see a day of good, competitive high school wrestling.â€

 

Howell, who is 34-4 this season in the 145-pound weight class, is also a standout on the Graham football team. He’s likes to be asked why he chooses to wrestle.

 

“I love when people ask that question, the reason I do wrestling is because it is an individual sport,†Howell said. “If you lose it’s your own fault because you didn’t get into condition, if you win, it’s all on you, you won.

 

“It’s not like other sports like baseball or football. They can blame you if you missed a catch or you missed a tackle, but if you lose a match, it’s all on you, there is no running away.â€

 

Barreras, in his fourth season with the Graham wrestling team, always looks forward to the G-Men’s own shot to grapple in front of the home folks, especially as a senior in final final home match.

 

“I’ve won it for three years now and I would like to win it again,†Barreras said. “It’s our home place and we have won it every year so you want to go out there and try to win it again.

 

“I’ve been with a lot of these guys for four years so it means a lot.â€

 

While Barreras also played football at Graham, much like three of his brothers, wrestling holds a special place in his heart.

 

“It’s been great, I wasn’t really going to wrestle my senior year, but my grandpa told me to come out here and try it, it’s a lot harder than football,†Barreras said. “I like it because there is nobody out there you can rely on, you’re by yourself basically. It’s very challenging, but it’s a lot of fun too.â€

 

Other Graham seniors include Josh Gross, Andrew Froy, Mike Garland, Chad Stasheen and Chase Stasheen.

 

Junior Austin Bokish will try to improve on his 31-6 mark on the season.

 

 

Life has many choices---eternity has two