POINT PLEASANT — To be the man, you have to beat the man.

And Point Pleasant will get that shot this weekend.

With 10 consecutive Class AA/A state wrestling titles to their credit, the Oak Glen Golden Bears have been the pinnacle of wrestling in the state of West Virginia over the past decade and have left all other wrestling teams standing in their overwhelming shadow.

But one team may be ready to step out of that shadow and make a run at competing with and, if all the cards fall perfectly into place, overtaking Oak Glen and ending what, if they were to win again this weekend, would be a record for consecutive state championships in state history.

And that team hails from right here in Mason County.

“We have been getting a little better every year and hopefully we can continue this year,” said Point Pleasant wrestling coach Jack Cullen. “I know Oak Glen is awful strong, they have good wrestlers from top to bottom. Can we get them this year? What was the song ‘we need a little help from a friend,’ it would take an excellent effort on our part and I think we need a little help from other teams to knock off a few of their guys.”

Oak Glen and Point Pleasant have been one-two in the state wrestling polls all season long and their dominating performances in their respective regional tournaments reflected those numbers. Point Pleasant qualified 11 grapplers for the state tourney, which will be held in Huntington this weekend, while Oak Glen is sending 12 representatives.

“They just have an outstanding program. They have a great wrestling community and they are sitting in an ideal area in Northern West Virginia,” Cullen said.

But while the chance to compete for a title with the Golden Bears intrigues the Black Knights, Cullen admits that his team can’t get ahead of themselves and must take things one match at a time.

“You have got to get on the line and wrestle the person across from you. You have to get in there and execute the best you can, it doesn’t matter if its Oak Glen or the county school here at Wahama, it doesn’t matter,” Cullen said. “If you don’t get on the line and wrestle and put fourth an effort at the state tournament you are going to get beat pretty quick.”

Instead, their main goal is simply to improve on their third place finish from last season’s tournament and improve on the four individual state titles in the past two years and five individual championships total. If they do those things and are still in the hunt — then they can worry about a team title.

And Oak Glen is not the only concern.

“We have been ranked second most of the season, but you look at Oak Glen, they are so far ahead of everyone else it isn’t even funny,” Cullen commented. “When you start looking at second through 10th, it could be anybody. If our guys step up and wrestle the way that they can, maybe we have a chance at Oak Glen. But if we don’t, there are other good schools out there that can step up and be the second best in the state.”

While there is no ‘I’ in team, there is one in wrestling and those wrestlers’ individual efforts are what make a team title possible. And over the past two years, individual titles have been increasing at Point Pleasant.

The Big Blacks won their first individual state wrestling title in 1998 with Alex Reed and did not have another until James Casto did so in 2005. But in 2006, Point Pleasant trumped those with three titles from the trio of Casto and first-timers Brent Hereford and Heath Shirley.

Now Point will be trying to equal or better last season’s results with a few new faces and one which has become very familiar with winning at the state level.

Casto, who finished fifth in his first state go-around as a freshman, has since won two individual state titles and has racked up a very impressive 172-16 record as he goes for an amazing third straight title.

“He is just phenomenal. This is the 60th state wrestling tournament and there have been thousands of state champions during those years,” Cullen said. “When you look at the number of two time state champions, that brings it down to maybe around 100 or so. When you start bringing up three time state champions that is probably under 50. When you look at those numbers, that moves him to a really special place.”

So how did the Black Knights reach this point?

Simply put, they start them young and from there the results speak for themselves.

“The smartest thing me and coach Darst did way back when was start a youth league,” Cullen added. “The more experience you get them at a younger age, the better you will be. Getting them started right helps and then to watch them blossom is pretty special. That is why we are where we are.”

And those younger wrestling teams have led to one of the most dominating middle school wrestling programs in the state which, in turn, helps fuel the Black Knight wrestling machine down the line.

Point Pleasant’s 11 qualifiers this year are Casto (152-pounds), Anthony Jeffers (160) Colby McCoy (189), Eric Veith (140), Phillip Allen (119), Benson Shirley (heavyweight), Tre Pyles (145), Jared Searls (119), Chris McDermitt (135), Matt McCormick (125) and Caleb Duong (103).

Of those, James, Jeffers and Allen have had very special seasons that could see them join the now infamous at Point Pleasant, while any of the others have just as much of a chance at making it to a championship final if things go as planned.

Now all that is left is to for the Black Knights to put all the experience and talent to the test and hopefully set the standard for Point Pleasant wrestling higher than ever before.

And Cullen hopes the community will come help support the Black Knights and all they have been able to accomplish over the past few years.

“I would like to see as many people from the Point Pleasant area there,” Cullen said. “We have had several people the past couple years come watch our guys wrestle and it is pretty special to see a crowd from Point Pleasant.”

Wrestling action at the Big Sandy Superstore Area in Huntington begins today and runs through Saturday with state finals to be held 6 p.m. Saturday evening.