Four senior grapplers return for Pirates

Four senior wrestlers return this season for Gore head coach Eric Douthit and those grapplers will have the chance to compete for a state championship at Oklahoma City in late February.

Gore restarted its program last season but because of a limited schedule its high school wrestlers did not compete in a Class 3A regional tournament.

“ This year we’ve got a full schedule starting in January,” said second-year head coach Eric Douthit. “We had to cancel a couple of meets because of the football playoffs.

“We had eight kids last year and we were hoping that we’d have the same eight kids but four of them have decided that wrestling’s not for them.

“ The four kids we’ve got returning are Liam Edwards, Christian O’Connor, Cas Moore and Garrett Douthit. All four of those kids finished last year with winning records. Garrett finished 9-2, I think Cas finished 6-4, Liam finished 6-4 and I think Skelly (O’Connor) finished 5-4.

“ Those four guys had some success and posted winning records last year. Every one of those guys came back the second day at the Maverick (tournament). Because they got to come back the second day of the Maverick they had some success. They had a lot of success last year.

“Of those kids Garrett’s had a lot of experience when he was in youth league and junior high when he was wrestling at Stilwell, Jay and Poteau. Skelly wrestled his whole life until last year and he placed third at a youth league state tournament when he was in the sixth or seventh grade.” Assistant Coach

Josh Napier will assist Douthit this season.

Team Leadership

“Garrett’s a good kid and a positive role model, and all of the guys like him,” Eric Douthit said. “Christian is a good leader too. He’s done this and so all of the kids look up to him as far as his experience. When those two guys came in they had a lot of experience with it and they hit the ground running so those boys look up to them. They’ll be my two leaders out there. Garrett’s real serious with it. Skelly’s kind of more laid-back so we’ve got two different contrasting styles, which is good.

“ They did a good job leading last year and I thought it went well. I would say it was a success because we just started the program. Those two individuals are super excited and can’t wait for this year.

“All of those seniors are great kids. They’re just good kids and it’s a pleasure getting to coach them.” Seniors

Gore’s seniors are Liam Edwards, Christian O’Conner, Cas Moore and Garrett Douthit.

“Liam was my 152-pounder last year and he’s probably going to wrestle at 165 this year,” said Douthit. “He’s bulked up a lot and he might even wrestle at 175. He’s close to a 170 pounds right now. He’s a tremendous athlete that has just developed nicely in the last couple of years. Last year he came out and wrestled because he’s best friends with Christian. He showed a level of toughness and explosiveness that you just didn’t think he was going to have and I think that helped him tremendously in football this year. I attribute that season of wrestling in creating that hard-nosed toughness that he kind of developed. I’m excited about him because he’s strong, physical and athletic and that’s a good combination.

“Christian can be explosive and he’s a very technical wrestler. He’s got a lot of skill and he’s got a ton of moves in his toolbox; he’s got a lot of tools to work with. He’s got a lot of counters and he’s able to counter pretty much what most people throw at him. I really envision him being one of our leaders with his experience. He wrestled at 145 last year and he’ll probably be at 150 or 157 this year. “Cas is probably one of our most enthusiastic wrestlers. He really loves the sports. Athletic for a big guy. He’s going to try to cut down to 215. He’s strong, athletic and he wants to be a technician. Last year he was big with leg riding and he’s always bringing me new things that he wants to try. He really works his butt off. We really want him to cut down on some weight to be our 215-pound wrestler for the simple fact that we’ve got two heavyweights that are pretty good. “Garrett’s only losses last year came at the Maverick Tournament. He’s a very strong, aggressive heavyweight. He likes to get the big guys off their feet and he’s athletic for being as big as he is. He placed third in that 275-pound weight class last year in powerlifting. He’s a 600-pound squatter and lifts 350 in bench press and that’s always a factor whenever you tie up with another heavyweight so he’ll probably be one of the strongest cats out there.” Sophomore

The Pirates only sophomore is Duane Hunt.