The Ponca City wrestlers Tuesday earned a spot in the 2021 Oklahoma Dual State Tournament. They did so by swamping Muskogee 70-3 and then holding off Sand Springs to win 37-33 in District Duals at Robson Field House.

The Muskogee dual was no contest from start to finish. But the dual with Sand Springs to determine which team would earn a Dual State spot was in doubt until almost the very end.

The Wildcats led 34-30 with two matches remaining. Chris Kiser at 106 pounds secured the Wildcat victory with a 6-2 decision over his Sand Springs opponent. With only one match left, there was no way that Sand Springs could score enough points to win. As it turned out, the Sandite wrestler did win a decision at 112 pounds, but Kiser’s points had already put the Wildcats over the top.

“It was a great team win,” Ponca City Head Coach Justin Roland said. “The kids wrestled hard and persevered to overcome some difficulties.”

Among the difficulties was the fact that the Wildcats had to compete minus four wrestlers who normally would have seen action.

At one point, it appeared that the Wildcats would have an easy victory. They led 34-12. But then Sand Springs would reel off 18 consecutive points with falls at 195, 220 and 285 to pull within four at 34-30. That brought up Kiser, who was able to seal the victory for his team.

Wrestling for Ponca City were Cam Kiser at 120, Jack Swenson at 126, Preston Lee at 132, Ethan Kemble at 138, Cam Jackson at 145, Joe Leavitt at 152, Tanner Greenfield at 160, Gabe Roland at 170, Landon Newlin at 182, Parker Manning at 195, Chase Mehl at 220, Trycten Boyer at 285, Chris Kiser at 106 and Jimmy Swenson at 113.

The Wildcats are scheduled to participate in the Perry Tournament at Perry on Friday. The Dual State will be in March. The last time Ponca City was represented was in 2018.