DAY TWO: December 30, 2006 – VANDALIA
In Saturday's action, Matt Breisch (112 lbs) squared off against Jake Sage of Fairmont in the third consolation round. Breisch was quickly in on the legs of his opponent but they went out of bounds before he could secure the takedown. Sage shot in on the restart and took Matt down. Then, as Breisch attempted a reversal, he got caught on his back and pinned. Breisch concluded the tournament having scored a couple of nice victories and gaining valuable experience as a freshman wrestling on a big stage.

Justin McMillion followed in the 145 lb consolations against another Fairmont wrestler - Tyler Smith. Smith earned the only takedown in the first period, but McMillion began the second period with a reversal and three-point near fall. Before the period ended, however, Smith earned his own reversal and near fall as McMillion trailed 6-7 heading into the third period. The pair traded takedowns and escapes before Justin hit a nice throw, putting his opponent to the back and earning a pin for the Buccs.

In his next match - against returning placer Jared Wright of Indian Lake - McMillion had a difficult time stopping his opponent's arsenal of moves. Trailing by nine entering the third period, McMillion gave up another takedown before earning an escape. Then, on his feet, Justin hit another great throw, putting Wright straight to his back, earning a takedown and near fall points. Still trailing, with seconds ticking off the clock, McMillion worked to get both his opponents shoulders to the mat. He came within a fraction of an inch from pulling off the upset, but was unable to secure the pin. A win in this match would have assured Justin of placing at the prestigious tournament.

After the final round of action, Covington finished in 38th place overall (out of 46 teams) with 36 points and gained a great amount of experience for their young team. The Buccs travel to the Troy Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 5th and 6th.

DAY 1: December 29, 2006 - VANDALIA
The Buccs returned to the mat on Friday at the GMVWA Holiday Tournament - a monster tournament with roughly 45 teams participating. Covington's relative youth and inexperience showed as they struggled when wrestling a number of elite wrestlers throughout the day.

Despite their team struggles, five of the eleven competing wrestlers recorded victories on the day, putting Covington in 36th place with 32 team points. Two of those wrestlers - Matt Breisch (112 lbs) and Justin McMillion (145 lbs) - are still alive for Saturday's action, while the other three - Jake Jennings (140 lbs), Ryan White (152 lbs) and Jake Wise (215 lbs) were eliminated in the final round of the day. At 171 lbs, Logan Hall was forced to withdraw from the tournament after aggravating an injury in his first match.

The brackets are set for 32-men, but when there are more than 32 participants in any given weight class, they run what are called "rat-tails" before the first round of action. Jake Jennings (140) was the first Buccaneer wrester to chalk up a win in the rat-tails with a 15-0 technical fall over Matt Dickey of Brookville. He followed that victory with a pin over Vandalia Butler's Corey Adams, before losing by technical fall to the top seed, Tucker Guy of Miamisburg. Jennings then lost his final bout to Tyler Sharp of Lebanon.

The Buccs recorded their second win of the day in first round action at the 112 lb weight class when Matt Breisch pinned Emmanuel Osei of Trotwood Madison. In his next bout, Matt hung tough against the 5th seed, Sam Scheuer of Ryle, only to fall in the second period. In his final match of the day, Breisch had a back-and-forth match against Troy's Riley McCormick. Matt scored the initial takedown, only to be reversed, but then Matt re-reversed Riley, pinning him with a headlock in the second period to advance to Saturday's action.

Justin McMillion followed Breisch's lead, despite dropping his first match, 16-4, to Matt Prater of Tecumseh. In the first round of the consolations, Justin McMillion (145) tech-falled Steven Herick of Milton Union in the second period. In his next match, Justin defeated Charles Mason of Princeton by the score of 11-2, to stay alive in the tournament.

Ryan White (152 lbs) and Jake Wise (215 lbs) were each a single point from joining their teammates on Saturday. Initially, White dropped a 5-0 decision to Rob Holt of Miami Trace - a wrestler who would go on to upset the no. 4 seed. But in the rat-tail consolation round, Ryan defeated Indian Lake's Bruce Lamb by a pin in the second period. He followed that up with a exciting victory over Rick Kairn of Lebanon. In come-from-behind fashion, Ryan White (152) executed a standing reverse-half-hip-trip to put Rick Kairn of Lebanon straight to his back, resulting in a pin in 1:16.

In his final match against Centerville's Francois Hagenimana. Ryan looked to be in control with a takedown and back points in the first period, however the ruling on the mat was that time ran out before the back points were awarded. Ryan continued to wrestle solid throughout the match, but found himself down by one point with time running out. The final score was 6-7, with Hagenimana winning this close match.

At 215 lbs, Jake Wise started off strongly as used a "stack" to record a pin over Miami Trace's Glenn Keaton. He took the mat next against the 8th seed Cortlen Banks of Edgewood. Jake came up on the short end of a hard fought match with a score of 1-5. In his final bout, Wise controlled most of the action against the 7th seed, Tony Pelligrino of Tecumseh, but gave up a sudden takedown with seconds left to fall 3-2.

Also participating in the tournament were Sam Herron (103), Dylan Gustin (119), Josh McMillion (125), Quentin Layman (130), Aaron Devenport (135), and Travis Wamer (160).