PARKERSBURG — Beginning at 6:30 p.m. today inside Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena, the 66th annual Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Ron Mauck wrestling tournament will get underway as Parkersburg South looks to continue its dominating run. The Patriots are going for a sixth consecutive championship, both in Class 5A as well as the overall title. Head coach Shaun Smith’s program has a tournament-best four No. 1 seeds and is tied with Beaver Local, which has a trio of top seeds, with 13 overall seeded grapplers in the top 12 of their respective weight classes. Trying to defend titles from a year ago for PSHS are 220-pounder Braxton Amos, 126-pounder Tucker Windland and 145-pounder Brayden Roberts. Windland won his OVAC crown last winter at 120 while Roberts captured his at 126. Zane Hinzman, who finished runner-up at 160 last year and was the 152-pound champ in 2017, has the top seed at 160. Windland, who is back at 126, actually has a No. 4 seed while Patriot heavyweight Louden Haga has the other top seed. “I wasn’t too thrilled with a few of them,” Smith said of how things shook out at the seeding meeting on Sunday night. “There obviously is some weird stuff going on with that, but at the same time I just tried to explain to the kids your seed doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you are number one. “If you don’t wrestle well you are going to get knocked off. That’s what I was trying to get through to the kids. Seeds don’t matter. Wrestle to your ability, wrestle well and do everything you can in your match and I think we will be all right.” Parkersburg South, which set the OVAC scoring record a year ago with 324.5 points, is coming off a tough fourth-place effort last weekend at the Virginia Duals and Smith was pleased with the focus of his squad when they got back into the matroom on Monday afternoon. “There have been some really good high points and low points,” admitted the coach of the season to date. “I really liked the way we responded on Monday after the weekend when we were that close to winning. “We were right there. We lost the consolation semi and gave up six pins. We won eight matches and gave up six pins. We had a good talk on Monday and the seniors and even some of the juniors really stepped up. The past is the past and we are going to do better this weekend.” Barring any late adjustments to the brackets, the Patriots will attempt to go 12-0 this evening as 106-pound ninth-seed Samantha Miller and 182-pound eighth-seed Dalton Fullerton have opening round byes. Also joining Windland as a fourth seed for the Patriots are 120-pounder Brayden Johnson, 138-pounder Gavin Quiocho and 152-pounder Mikey Shamblin. “They are a good team and a young team, too,” coach Smith said of Beaver Local. “They are coming for us, for sure. If we don’t wrestle well they are going to take the title. That’s what I’m trying to make them understand. “If they are not focused and don’t wrestle their best they aren’t going to win, but I have a feeling and we usually come out and wrestle really well this weekend. I think our team is going to come together and do that, but Steubenville is also a good team and that’s another one they need to be aware of.” Coach Smith likes the competition his squad receives each year at the OVAC and he knows this three-day tournament definitely will be a challenge. “We are going to see a lot of instate talent and people we are going to see at the state tournament,” added the coach. “There are a lot of good Ohio athletes and there are some really good wrestlers on the double-A side in West Virginia we are going to see. All that in one tournament.” Magnolia’s highest seeded grappler going into the tournament, which resumes action at noon Friday with all the placement matches getting underway at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, is 182-pounder James Stillwagoner, who is 20-3 and is a No. 4 seed. Caldwell’s top seed is 18-3 Marshal Niswonger, who earned a No. 5 nod at 113. Also, Shenandoah’s Alex Overly will put his 22-1 record on the line and has been tabbed as the grappler to beat at 106. Area seeds for the 66th annual Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Wrestling Tournament at WesBanco Arena 106: #1 Alex Overly (Shenandoah, 22-1); #9 Samantha Miller (South, 19-12) 113: #5 Marshal Niswonger (Caldwell, 18-3); #6 Devin Easton (South, 18-9) 120: #4 Brayden Johnson (South, 20-9); ALT Logan Wagner (Fort Frye, 13-4) 126: #4 Tucker Windland (South, 18-8); #12 Kason Delancey (Fort Frye, 13-5); ALT William Moore (Shenandoah, 10-8) 132: #11 Jude Childers (South, 20-13); #12 Nick Blackburn (Shenandoah, 14-7); ALT Sam Zombotti (Magnolia, 13-4) 138: #4 Gavin Quiocho (South, 27-6); #6 Collin Wiley (Caldwell, 19-5); #8 Gage Adams (Magnolia, 21-1) 145: #1 Brayden Roberts (South, 29-4) 152: #4 Mikey Shamblin (South, 17-8); ALT Michael Shreves (Pade City, 18-4) 160: #1 Zane Hinzman (South, 28-5) 170: #8 Wyatt Linder (South, 16-11) 182: #4 James Stillwagoner (Magnoila, 20-3); #8 Dalton Fullerton (South, 15-15); #10 Mason Wiley (Caldwell, 12-7) 195: ALT Noah Buckalew (South, 20-11) 220: #1 Braxton Amos (South, 33-0); #7 Dalton Rice (Shenandoah, 20-5); ALT Ryan Cross (Paden City, 14-8) 285: #1 Louden Haga (South, 28-5); #5 Easton Hitchens (Shenandoah, 19-5); #11 Mikey Hamrick (Magnolia, 16-5) NOTE: Action starts at 6:30 p.m. today, noon on Friday and Saturday with placement matches getting underway at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.