Wylie’s Kaylan Wara grabs the head of his opponent and turns him onto his back at the Wylie Invitational. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media

By David Wolman

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For the second consecutive weekend, the Wylie and Wylie East wrestling teams didn’t have to leave town.

The Pirates and Raiders competed in last Saturday’s Wylie Invitational at the Montgomery Center, and it was a successful outing for both squads in many ways. The crosstown rivals combined for nine top four finishes, including two first-place finishes.

Wylie’s Payton Maier wrestled to first place at 126 pounds, while Wylie East’s Jacob West captured top honors at 157 pounds.

West entered the tournament as the top seed at 157 pounds, and he backed it up by going 3-0 while winning each match by at least four points.

After a first-round bye, West cruised to a 14-5 major decision over McKinney Boyd’s Eddie Robles in the second round of the championship bracket. West later needed just 61 seconds to pin Gunter’s Cadyn Myers during their semifinal match. In the first-place match, West fell behind 3-0 in the first period but then proceeded to outscore Frisco’s Marcus Sabet 8-1 the rest of the way to rally for an 8-4 decision.

Maier also showed a lot of resiliency.

After a first-round bye, Maier pinned Frisco’s Nicholas Ford in the semifinals before completing an unbeaten showing on his team’s home mat with a pin over Richardson’s Hunter Haynes in the first-place match. Trailing 4-3 after the first period, Maier scored a reversal to retake a 5-4 lead against Haynes with 1:14 left in the second period before pinning him at the 4:57 mark of the match.

Maier was one of five Pirates to place in the top four.

Tristan Yoder wrestled to third place at 215 pounds. He lost by a 14-4 major decision but rebounded to defeat JJ Pearce’s Christian Gallo by a 9-6 decision in the third-place bout.

Jacob Gomez (138 pounds), Jeremiah Ruiz (144) and Jayden Martin (190) also earned spots on the medal stand after wrestling to fourth place in their respective weight classes.

Wylie East’s determination also showed, as the Raiders had four wrestlers place in the top four. In addition to West’s first place showing at 157 pounds, Casey McCloud placed second at 165, while Kaden Roach placed third at 150 and Levi Coin took fourth place at 175.

McCloud advanced to the title bout despite entering the tournament as the seventh seed in his weight class. He pinned each of his first two opponents to reach the first-place match but came up just a few points short of winning a title in the 165-pound bracket. He was pinned by Frisco Lebanon Trail’s Elijah Southworth in the title match.

Meanwhile, Roach earned a takedown in the first period against Frisco’s Enzo Nogueira in the third-place bout at 150, and that was all he needed to win the match and earn a bronze medal.

Cameron Serna (138), Blake Moore (144), Theo Beversdorf (144), William Mitchell (165) and Connor Webb (285) also wrestled for the Raiders at the Wylie Invitational.

Wylie’s Brayden Baro (106), Paxton Le (113), Noah Jagelski (120), Carson Cleveland (132), Sean Roberts (157), Karchou Mahammed (165), Syed Ali (165) and Kaylan Wara (175) wrestled for the Pirates in their home tournament.