The Mount Vernon High School wrestling team, led by a quintet of individual first-place finishers, edged Utica, 286-260, to capture the team victory at the 30th Annual Utica Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.

Warm weather is generally not a friend of deer hunters, but the 2006-07 deer season has been quite fruitful, despite the warmer temperatures early on. Knox County hunters have taken nearly the same number of deer thus far this season as they did last year. The season came in at the beginning of October, and will run through Feb. 4.

MOUNT VERNON -- Winter is somewhat of an odd season for students in Mount Vernon. During the summer, they are off school and have many daylight hours to use playing outdoor sports, hanging out by the pool or even tending to the lawn for their parents. Couple the shortening of the daytime hours with the rigors of school work, finding recreational opportunities in Mount Vernon is a bit of a challenge.

Up against the 10th-ranked team in the state and an Ohio Capital Conference powerhouse, the Mount Vernon High School wrestling team struggled at home in a duel meet against the Reynoldsburg Raiders. Jackets head coach John Brown says his team still has a lot of improvement to make, but showed some positive performances. The Raiders powered over the Jackets in Saturday night’s match, 67-8.

Things started out slow for the Mount Vernon High School boys basketball team on Friday night as it hosted the Dublin Jerome Celtics in Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division play. The Yellow Jackets, who trailed 12-6 after won quarter, used solid free-throw shooting and aggressive play to pull out a 48-33 victory. Mount Vernon went 17-of-22 from the line, including six free throws made each by Kyle Clinedinst and Caleb Tier.

Opportunity Knox Employment Services is, perhaps, one of the best kept secrets in the county. OKES is an employment service that uses state-of-the-art training equipment, Internet databases, training services and more to help any county resident find a new job or a better job. The services are all free and are available to anybody.

Utica had a lesson in taking things for granted on Friday, struggling through the first half with East Knox before dominating the second half in a 70-31 MBC victory.