Indians, Irish rule sectional wresting tournament

WAUSEON - It can strongly be debated whether Wauseon or Central Catholic performed better this weekend at a Division II sectional wrestling tournament.

In defense of the host Indians, 13 of their 14 wrestlers finished in the top four of their respective weight classes to earn a bid to this week's district meet. Central Catholic, though, crowned six individuals champions to Wauseon's four and will send its full lineup of 11 to districts.

But Wauseon can boast of the ultimate determining factor - albeit barely - as it bested the Irish by one-point on the scoreboard 213 to 212. The Indians survived a late fright by Central's upper weights last night to add a title to go alongside the one they captured last week at the Northwest Ohio Athletic League tournament. Central defeated Wauseon in a December dual meet, but Indians coach Mike Ritter insists his team's makeup is far different from the early season.

"We talked all year long that wrestling is a team sport," Ritter said. "And today's title was about the team. Everyone was instrumental to it."

The two-day tournament, which included nine teams, feeds into next week's district meet at Marion Harding. The top four finishers at each district will qualify for the state meet March 4-6 in Columbus.

Eastwood pieced together a solid showing, finishing third with 175.5 points. Rounding out the field were Bryan (153.5), Napoleon (114), Maumee (96), Rossford (69), Woodward (37), and Libbey (14).

Considering he brought three fewer wrestlers than Wauseon, Central Catholic coach Mitch Naufel was at ease with the narrow defeat.

"If we would have lost our league meet by one [point] it probably would've hurt more, but at sectionals the goal is to get as many moving on as you can, and you can't do better than 11 for 11," Naufel said.

Individuals from Wauseon and Central faced off three times in the finals with the Indians notching two victories. Brandon Volkman shut down Nico Covarrubias 3-0 at 140 pounds, and Nick McCall pinned Ron Sanner in 2:13 at 171. Central's Tony Martin topped Austin Kutzli 7-3 at 152. Wauseon and Central combined to win all seven weights from 119 to 152. Eastwood's Seth Hoffman stopped the streak when he pinned Wauseon's Luke Tanier at 160.

"We really improved throughout the year, so I thought we could take them," Volkman said.

Also winning championships for the Indians were Dalton Nicely, who pinned Bryan's Wes Welter in 1:23 at 125 pounds, and freshman Austin Yarnell who won the 130-pound final over Maumee's Josh Bischoff 5-4.

"I felt pretty good, probably better than I've wrestled in a while," Nicely said. "Hopefully it carries over into districts."

Yarnell, who missed much of the season with an injury, reversed Bischoff to take the lead at the beginning of the third period and followed with a series of impressive rides to seal the win.

"Once I got on top I didn't want to lose," Yarnell said.

Had Central picked up bonus points in either of the final two weights, it would have won the team race. Instead the Irish registered a pair of regular decisions. Jake Henderson (215) remained undefeated with a 3-2 tiebreaker win over Napoleon's Cody Bloom, and Vincenzo Cardone stopped Eastwood's Matt Schling 2-1 at 285.

The Irish's other champions were Brian Elden (119), Dan Cook (135), and D.J. Beauch (145).

"I was raring to go, I guess, and I came out on top," said Elden, who pinned Eastwood's Justin Burket in 51 seconds.

Cook, ranked sixth in the state, wrestled smartly in downing Bryan's Dylan Zedaker 6-0. Cook spent the regular season floating between 130 and 135 but says he feels more energetic at the heavier class.

"I'm getting better workouts in and my conditioning is getting better," Cook said.

Eastwood's Hoffmann wrestled a combined 2:22 over three matches in upping his record to 46-2. He'll be joined at Marion Harding by nine of his teammates.

"We could have done better than we did, but we did pretty well," Hoffmann said.

Other individual champions were: Napoleon's Zach Walker (103), Bryan's Shelden Struble (112), and Rossford's D.J. Recknagel (189).

Struble beat Wauseon's Cody Pontious for the fourth time this season, using a late takedown to secure a 6-2 win. Pontious has scored the first takedown in all four bouts, according to Struble.

"It's always nice to start out with the lead, but knowing I've come back from it before makes me more comfortable," Struble said.

Recknagel, who won last week's Northern Lakes League tournament, only wrestled twice during the tournament and picked up falls in 58 and 49 seconds. A three-time district qualifier, the junior used a power half to pin Wauseon's Trent Seiler in the finals.

"I haven't really made a name for myself at districts yet, but I'm looking to do big things this year," he said.