The meteoric rise of the Beckley wrestling program under fifth year head coach Matt Osborne has been nothing short of impressive.
After finishing ninth at the state tournament in 2021, the Flying Eagles have moved their way up the ladder with a sixth place finish two years ago and a fourth place finish back in March.
The current streak is the first time since the run back in 1987-89 that Beckley has finished inside the top-10 over three straight trips to Huntington.
Add in back-to-back Region 3 AAA championship titles for a team who had not won a regional crown since 1989 and its easy to see why Beckley wrestling is viewed in a new light these days.
“I was talking a little while back to a really good wrestler that wrestled for Huntington and later wrestled at Nebraska,” Osborne recalled “He said when he was at the state tournament and he saw someone from Beckley in his bracket, he was more worried about cutting weight. That is not true now.”
Prior to 2022, the last time that Beckley had a wrestler at the top of the podium was 1999 when Matt Callahan won the title in the 140 pound weight class.
J.J. Bailes ended that drought in 2022 when he won the title at 113 pounds.
A year later, the Flying Eagles crowned three more individual state champions, including Garrett Johnson (106), Tyler Roark (120) and Ethan Osborne (157).
Bailes had another strong tournament with a runner-up finish at 132 pounds, while Troy Harris (138) and Jay Jones (175) finished fourth and Vance Neal (144) was fifth.
Each place winner (top-6) also earned all-state honors.
Ethan Osborne was named the Class AAA Most Outstanding Wrestler and Matt Osborne, Ethan’s dad, was honored with the Rod Oldham Award given to the AAA Coach of the Year.
Now, heading into the 2023-24 wrestling season, hopes for a good season have been replaced with expectations of success.
“Instead of flying under the radar and hunting the competition, we are the ones being hunted a little bit,” Osborne said. “That’s nice for respect, but we are also going to get everybody’s toughest match and we have already this year.”
After missing a runner-up finish by just three points, the Flying Eagles return enough firepower to make the jump to the top spot this year.
“I expect a regional championship from this team and they expect it too,” Osborne said. “The state tournament is tough and I don’t want to make any type of prediction on that. We feel like we can win it, but if we are not peaking at the right time and not ready, we will get busted.”
Beckley will have three returning state champions to lead the way this year in Johnson, Roark and Bailes.
“J.J., Tyler and Garrett have not stopped wrestling. They wrestled all summer and even into the fall going to all of the national tournaments. They are competing at a high level,” Osborne said. “J.J. just wrestled Bo Bassett who won the Ironman and (the 2023) Super 32 (Challenge). He really gave him a good match right up until the cardio caught up with him. J.J. is as strong and as fast as anybody.”
Bassett is from Pennsylvania and is the No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2026.
With the loss of his son and Jay Jones to graduation, Osborne likes how his state champion trio has taken control of the team.
“All three are now juniors and the have gained a lot of maturity wrestling all of this time.,” Osborne explained. “They are now taking a leadership role which is nice.”
Harris is the only senior on the team this year, while Neal will be bouncing back from an injury that has sidelined him to start the season.
“Troy looks great. Technically, he is one of the best wrestlers I have seen in person. He is really solid,” Osborne said. “Vance has wrestled all summer and was getting really good before he had a setback with a slight tear in his meniscus. He has had it surgically repaired and it looks like he may get released around the beginning of January or maybe a little sooner. He has responded well to therapy and he looks great.”
Landon Jones is coming of a strong junior season on the gridiron and should carry that momentum over to the mat.
“Landon is wrestling at 215 and he has put on about 30 pounds. Last year he wrestled 190 and at the beginning of the year was weighing 174-175. He has filled out and he may have grown a couple of inches,” Osborne said. “I think his athleticism is catching up with all of that growing. We saw that on the football field.”
Sophomore Jackson Woods and freshman Zamier Jones provides Beckley a strong duo at 106 and they will be joined by a big freshman class that has already shown some promise in the early going.
“Landon Osborne is getting his weight right, so it will be the middle of January before we really see where he is going to be. Khelon Eneje and Jamarcus Harbison are both looking good,” Osborne said. “Ben King, Ian Webb, Tripp Stiffler and Damari Swafford are all just a few of the freshman, but those are likely the ones that can make an immediate impact on the roster. We will be able to move them around and play with our lineup which is really nice for dual tournaments.”
Although the Flying Eagles have plenty of veterans, the young guns could be the difference makers in the state title quest.
“I feel like the three returning champions can get back to the championship match, but winning it is tough and takes a lot of preparation,” Osborne said. “Vance and Troy could make the finals as well. We also have several guys that can make all-state, but I feel like we need 10 guys on the podium to win it all.”
Currently the Flying Eagles are No. 3 in the latest West Virginia Coaches Association Team Poll.
