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Davidson’s Austin Smith (right) gets a grasp of Darby’s Trevor Parker in their match at 170 pounds Feb. 2. Smith won 11-7, giving the Wildcats the victory to clinch the OCC-Central Division championship. Buy This Photo

Austin Smith opted to give up wrestling after his eighth-grade season at Weaver Middle School.

Four years later, Smith decided to return to the sport for his senior year at Hilliard Davidson High School, and Wildcats coach Dominic DiSabato is glad he did.

Smith helped Davidson win its 17th league championship with a 34-27 victory over host Hilliard Darby on Feb. 2. He clinched the OCC-Central Division title for the Wildcats by beating Trevor Parker 11-7 at 170 pounds.

“This definitely makes it worthwhile,” Smith said of returning to the sport. “I didn’t wrestle since middle school, came back and thought I would give it a try. I’m glad I did.”

The Wildcats finished 7-0 in the OCC-Central, ahead of Dublin Coffman (6-1), Darby (5-2), Worthington Kilbourne (4-3), Upper Arlington (3-4), Central Crossing (1-6), Thomas Worthington (1-6) and Westland (1-6).

It is Davidson’s second consecutive league title. The Wildcats clinched last season’s championship with a 45-29 win over Darby to finish 7-0, ahead of the second-place Panthers (6-1).

“We have a lot of titles,” DiSabato said. “It’s always nice to win the OCC. That’s our first step of our goals. We have some higher aspirations. We still have some work to do. As nice as they feel now, there’s a lot of guys in that room right now that know they didn’t wrestle to their capability and are disappointed with their performance.”

On a team with depth in the upper weights, Smith has seen limited action this season. He improved to 8-5 with the win over Parker.

“That showed a lot of guts,” DiSabato said of Smith’s performance against Parker. “We have a lot of faith in him and that’s why we were able to bump him in there. He’s one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, on our team. He pushes those guys. His main job is to push our best wrestlers like Chase (Delande), Alex (Mickley) and Hannibal (Tate). I’m not surprised.”

The limited number of matches hasn’t deterred Smith’s enthusiasm for the sport or his support of his teammates. Several of his teammates lifted him in celebration after his win over Parker.

“We talked about me possibly wrestling during the week before this match,” Smith said. “I thought I’d just be a stand-in in case somebody doesn’t make weight, but I guess it worked out.”

The match had a spirited atmosphere as Davidson and Darby traded the lead throughout.

“This was good for Hilliard wrestling,” Darby coach Brendan Moody said. “We had some of the student body come out, so it was nice for them to come out and support us to see a little bit of the sport and hopefully come out again.”

After Darby’s Matt Walker pinned Mickley in 3 minutes, 47 seconds at 160 to pull the Panthers within 31-27, Smith and Parker stepped onto the mat with the outcome of the match on the line. The two traded the lead with Smith taking control late with a pair of back points.

Parker trailed 2-0 after one period before taking a 5-2 lead in the second period with a reversal and three back points. Smith rallied for a 7-5 lead heading into the third period on his way to the win.

The match between Davidson and Darby was tied four times with the final deadlock coming at 21 after an 11-4 win by the Panthers’ Zack Donatelli over Zach Duhl at 138.

Davidson opened a 31-21 lead after a 22-8 win by Tate over Darby’s Ben Radcliff at 145 and Delande’s pin of the Panthers’ Keegan Davidson in :39 at 152.

Another key victory for the Wildcats came at 113, where Jacob Davis beat Sam Valenti 6-4 in overtime to tie the match at 15.

The Wildcats’ other win by pin came at 195, where Nathan Moore beat Nathan Bonn in :34.

Also winning for Davidson were Makiyn Tate at 120 (9-8) and Lee Wilson at 126 (7-4).

Darby’s Tyler Bowens opened by pinning Clay Kuszmaul in :29 at 182. Other winners for the Panthers included Robert Valenti at 106 (5-3) and Sean Black at 132 (7-1).

Davidson’s Alex Backenstoe at 220 and Darby’s Chad Miller at heavyweight each won by forfeit.

“Not a lot of schools can say they’ve won a league title 17 times, especially back-to-back years,” Delande said. “It feels good.”

•Bradley clinched its first league championship with a 56-12 win over host Delaware on Feb. 2.

The Jaguars finished 7-0 in the OCC-Capital, ahead of Mount Vernon (6-1), Olentangy Orange (5-2), Delaware (4-3), Big Walnut (3-4), Watkins Memorial (2-5), New Albany (1-6) and Franklin Heights (0-7).

“The kids, including the seven seniors, have worked extremely hard since the day we opened the doors to the accomplish that goal,” coach John Riggs said. “It was a great night for our wrestling program.”

Bradley dominated league opponents, winning by an average margin of 42 points.

The Jaguars’ closest match came in its league opener when they defeated Mount Vernon 39-24 on Jan. 5.

“We don’t even entertain thoughts like that,” Riggs said of his team’s domination of the league. “We just try to stay focused on every day and the next opponent on our schedule. Keep our heads down, work hard and prepare the best that we can. We try to stay focused on our immediate goals and not look too far into the future.”

Against Delaware, winning by pin were Robert McGrath at 106 (3:51), Amer Al-Mahmoud at 113 (1:12), Austin Johnston at 138 (:42), Conor Driscoll at 145 (1:44), Jake Zoller at 152 (1:39) and Hunter Kidd at 182 (2:55).