Black Diamonds win dual, thanks to heavyweight wrestler’s pinfall victory

It came down to the heavyweight bout in Tuesday night’s Sallisaw Black Diamonds wrestling dual with Lincoln Christian at the Sallisaw Middle School gym Heavyweights for the Black Diamonds, Kash Keepes, and Lincoln Christian heavyweight Rain Ragland went toe to toe, with Keepes pinning Ragland in 2:28 to get the Black Diamonds the dual win 33-28.

“Kash only came out and wrestled for us this year,” Salisaw coach Mark Smith said. “To be honest. his effort was better than some of the guys we’ve seen for a long time. He showed up tonight. Some of our other guys have to learn from that. It was a big dual for us. they’re a good team.”

After a double forfeit at 106 pounds, Cason Craft also got a forfeited win at 113 pounds to put Sallisaw on the board at 6-0.

Lucas McAllister got a forfeit at 120 for a 12-0 lead for Sallisaw, then Morgan Duke got a pinfall victory in 1:59 to give the Black Diamonds (12-5) an 18-0 lead.

The Bulldogs (1-9) got four straight wins to take a 22-18 lead.

Cole Mayfield (a 2-1 decision winner at 165 pounds) and Bodie Adams (a pinfall win at 1:42 at 175) regained the lead for the Black Diamonds at 27-22.

Lincoln Christian’s Max Grisham pinned Keaton Brant in 3:33 in the 190-pound match to give the Bulldogs a 28-27 lead, setting up the dramatic heavyweight match.

“Some of them just needed the experience,” Smith said. “We threw three first-year wrestlers out there. We kind of trained through this match. We had a pretty good workout (Monday), and we worked out this mooing (Tuesday) The Black Diamonds will be idle until the Class 4A Dual State Tournament on Feb. 14-15.

“We found a way to win a dual here,” Smith said. “We have to have that in the first round. We haven’t been seeded yet. We’re probably going to be seeded sixth to eighth. I think we could be sixth or seventh, so we’re going to get a No. 2 or No. 3. I think we can be competitive. We’re going to have to win matches we’re not supposed to.”