ON THE MAT — Oak Glen’s Wes Molish goes after Beaver Local’s Isaac Prescott in a 215-pound match on Wednesday at Beaver Local High School. Molish won by pin in 1:38. - Matt Morrison

CALCUTTA — It is early in the wrestling season and teams are always finding ways to prepare for tournament time and it is always good to defeat rivals along the way.

The Oak Glen wrestling team did exactly that as it won the final two matches to edge rival Beaver Local 39-35 on Wednesday.

“It’s going pretty well, some ups and downs,” Oak Glen coach Josh Cornell said. “We have lost a couple of close duels, so to get a big win here against a rival in a close duel, it feels pretty good.”

Duels are a key factor for teams to better prepare for the big tournaments.

“I think they mean a lot especially against Beaver Local because you get a lot of fans in the place,” Cornell said. “As you can tell at the end there it came down to the last match and the atmosphere sets you up a good for the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament and things like that when you get bigger crowds.”

“Any time you go and compete you want to win,” Beaver Local coach Johnny McComas. “It is definitely not our main focus. Our main focus is at the end of the year when we want to be in Columbus winning in the state tournament.”

Oak Glen (16-6) had a key win in the second to last match when Wesley Molish pinned Isaac Prescott in 1:38 at 215 pounds.

Molish has been injured since football season and was a last second fill-in for the Golden Bears.

“I broke my back about three and a half months ago and I’m still recovering,” Molish said. “I’m still not 100 percent, but our regular 215 weighed in at about 187, so that’s light.”

Molish’s victory was followed by Oak Glen’s Noah Schmidt pin of Brady Smith to close things out.

Beaver Local (1-2) had a good start to the season, but injuries — including one to Gabe Morgan have made an impact on outcomes.

“We started the season pretty strong win two tournament victories in the Cambridge and Hoppel tournament, but it has been tough for us to win a duel lately because we have some guys banged up tight now,” McComas said. “He (Morgan) got a little banged up at Brecksville, so we are sitting him out a couple weeks making sure everything is good and that he is healthy for the postseason.”

Beaver had a couple of key match wins, including when Robert Buchheit pinning Oak Glen’s Hayden Lamb at 138.

Buchheit will be a key factor for the Beavers in the bigger tournament matches ahead, including the OVAC tournament.

“Things have been going good for me personally and our team has been doing decent we have been placing high at all of the tournaments that we have been to,” Buchheit said. “I am just prepping for states and OVACs is just a step along my way and the team will prep the same way they do for every tournament.”

“We have a little bit of time off, so we are just going to make sure guys are healthy and ready to go for that,” McComas said.”

Oak Glen will prepare for two big duels next week.

“We are at Wheeling Park on Wednesday and then we are at Steubenville on Thursday,” Cornell said. “Two big OVAC teams, so that’s another big test tight before OVACs.”

Beaver Local will host Louisville on Wednesday.