STATE WRESTLING

Penalty for hair band costs Moore title shot

Clay’s Nick Stencel throws Cincinnati Moeller’s Dakota Sizemore to the mat during their 160-pound semifinal match. Stencel, who lost 17-7, is now 43-11 this season.

COLUMBUS — Losses at this stage of the season always elicit second guesses.

“If only I had chosen neutral to start the second period.”

“I should have known that move was coming.”

“Why didn’t I remove the hair band from my wrist?”

The last one was introduced Friday by Marquise Moore. No one all season long had figured out how to beat the massive Whitmer heavyweight, and Canton Glen Oak’s Corey Siegfried did so only after receiving a huge lift from his opponent’s absent mind.

PHOTO GALLERY: State wrestling championships Day 2

Moore, who uses a hair band to keep his long dreadlocks in place, was “too pumped up” to remember to remove the band from his wrist before a Division I state semifinal bout at the Schottenstein Center.

The penalty point assessed to Moore in the first period made the difference in a 2-1 loss that will go in the annals as one of the more bizarre ever.

“I was too in my zone,” said Moore, who was aware of the rule. “I just forgot to take it off.”

That lapse in judgment punctuated a forgettable round for five D-I wrestlers who fell one win short of advancing to today’s final.

Moore — along with Clay’s Richie Screptock (120) and Nick Stencel (160), Fremont Ross’ Trey Grine (145), and Perrysburg’s J.P. Newton (152) — will now try to wade through the consolation bracket to finish third. Joining them will be Perrysburg’s Mario Guillen (106), who rallied with three wins in a row after an opening-round loss.

Perrysburg’s Cale Bonner (285) will wrestle for seventh.

Moore (35-1) and Siegfried (41-5) each escaped to start a period, and neither was close to scoring another point. Except for the penalty, which came 30 seconds in the match when a referee spotted something on Moore’s wrist.

“I wanted it so bad for him,” Whitmer coach Josh Adams said. “That it came down to something like that, something I should have caught, I have to take some accountability for that.”

Clay’s Screptock (50-5) and Perrysburg’s Newton (38-7) were undone by a daunting obstacle, each falling to a two-time state champion from Solon.

Screptock surrendered three points on a second-period cradle and lost 6-0 to Brandon Thompson (48-2).

“He’s as good as I thought he was,” said Screptock, a sophomore who will earn his second state medal.

Newton did not make it out of the first period against Anthony Collica (48-1), who secured the fall at the 1-minute, 20-second mark to advance.

“He’s the real deal,” said Newton, who said he had hoped to be the aggressor during his 152-pound match, “but I didn’t really get a chance to.”

Cincinnati Moeller’s Dakota Sizemore handled Clay’s Stencel, winning 17-7. Stencel, who fell to 43-11 this season, advanced to the semifinal with a quarterfinal pin against a returning state place winner.

Ross’ Grine (47-3) lost for the second time in three weeks to Ashland’s Wyatt Music, this time by a 9-2 mark.

Clay ranks 16th with 22 points going into the final day.

Perrysburg, which crowned three placers for the first time in what is believed to be program history, sits 20th with 10 points after two days.

The only qualifier for the Yellow Jackets not to place was projected 170-pound champion Rocco Caywood, who finished the tournament 0-2.