By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Streetsboro all-everything wrestler Jarreau Walker loses about as often as the Cleveland Browns host a playoff game.

Well, maybe not to that extreme, but it doesn’t happen often.

It happened twice, believe it or not, at the annual Ironman Tournament — the most renowned in-season tourney in the country — Dec. 12-13 at Walsh Jesuit.

Walker, a junior and the Division-II state champion last season at 106, lost two of his seven matches in finishing fourth at 113 in the invite-only tournament.

“As a coach,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said, “you’re extremely happy if you get anywhere in the top eight.

“You have to be a nationally ranked team to get invited to this tourney. They also invite all the best individuals on top of that. Twenty-seven states were represented.” Walker, ranked in the top 15 nationally at 113, was seeded 10th. He pulled off a couple of big upsets en route to the semifinals, where he lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the country and fell 4-2 in his third-place match to an opponent from Chicago, who is ranked in the top five nationally and who won the Ironman two years ago at 106 and took third at 113 there last year.

“Jarreau looked good. He wrestled an outstanding tournament,” said Skonieczny. “His conditioning was fantastic, he wrestled tough, he battled in all three positions, he wrestled with his heart on his sleeve. To finish on the award stand at this tournament is extremely difficult.There are state champions who go two and out in this tourney. If you get an invite to this tournament, you’re a bad dude, you can wrestle. Jarreau handled his business and wrestled his heart out. He represented Streetsboro very well.”

ROOTSTOWN

With six seniors lost to graduation last spring and a rebuild on the docket, Rootstown opened the season nicely with a fifth-place finish out of 16 teams Dec. 6 in the Ashland Sarver Paving Invitational.

“Overall, we wrestled pretty well,” head coach Anthony Anderson said. “We were very competitive for the first tournament out.”

Pacing the Rovers were seniors Alex Ely, who was runner-up at 138, and 2025 state qualifier Mason King, who was third at 126. Ely was pinned in the finals by Mason Bauer of

Ashland, while King, a state qualifier at 113, lost a tough semifinal but then pinned Carey’s Payne Stoops to snag third place.

“Alex wrestled pretty dominantly all the way through the finals,” said Anderson. “Mason had a really solid day. He had a couple kids he ran into who were able to push him. He’ll end up being at 120 by the end of the season.”

AURORA

Bonus points were the difference across the board for Aurora on Dec. 12 in a tri-match against Bedford and host Cleveland St. Ignatius. The Greenmen beat the Bearcats but lost by four points to the Wildcats.

“We knew the St. Ignatius dual would come down to overall bonus points,” head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “They won seven matches in the dual, and we won seven too, but they edged us on bonus points.”

Winning both of their matches were seniors Nick Turba (126), Hunter Sabatino (132), Michael Kennedy (157) and Drake Brasiel (165) plus sophomore Chase Peterson (120).

“The majority of those wins were by bonus,” said Johnson. “There were a few decisions in  there, but if you can get a win with bonus points, it helps the team out.”

Overall, the team had a decent match, according to the coach.

“There are things we need to work on,” he said, “but I was pleased with our effort and performance.”

RAVENNA

Now in his fourth season as Ravenna’s head coach, Eric Kline is thrilled that his Ravens are finally flying the coop — that is, leaving years of beatdowns in the dust and resembling a real team for the first time in a while.

“This is probably the most talented team I’ve had here,” said Kline, whose squad placed 18th out of 26 teams Dec. 12-13 in opening the season at the Riverside Rumble in Painesville.

“We competed, we really competed for the first time. It’s not a hammer of a tournament, but it’s pretty solid. It’s a good start-to-the-year tournament. If you place there, you’ll probably have a  pretty successful season.”

If Kline is correct, then junior Bradley Davis and senior Ryder Denning are likely going to shine in 2025-26. Davis won the championship at 190 (winning 14-3 in the finals), while Denning  finished sixth at 138.

“Bradley did a phenomenal job,” the coach said. “He’s starting to understand and starting to realize that he has to wrestle three periods to really be successful and to go far in his wrestling career. He did a lot of off-season work with some camps and other wrestling programs. I think he has the ability and the potential to be a state qualifier. He’s tough. He’s also really starting to become a leader in the room, leading by example.

“Ryder has come a long way. He did a lot of off-season stuff, too. He’s gotten a lot better. He had one close match, was tied 8-8 with four seconds left and he was on bottom, but he got out to win the match to go for fifth place. He really showed his determination and grit to get to a placement match. I was really proud and pleased to see that.”

According to Kline, the rebuild is well underway.

“We’re really working it through the youth and the middle schools, and we’re starting to see some of the fruits of our labor,” he said, “especially with our freshman and sophomore classes and a couple juniors who are wrestling solid.”

WATERLOO

Sam Russell was Waterloo’s lone placer Dec. 13 in the Berlin Center Western Reserve Tournament. The senior was runner-up at 150, losing in the finals to an opponent from Hanoverton United.

“Sam continues to go out and get to his offense quickly. He doesn’t back down from a challenge,” said head coach Andy Young. “He ran into a kid in the finals who was equal or better than where he is right now. I told him after the match, ‘That is a good loss because it kind of gauges where we’re at right now.’ ”

FIELD

Most of the teams competing in the Marlington Duals on Dec. 12-13 at Alliance Marlington had already begun their seasons.

Not Field.

Thus the Falcons were at, although minimal, a disadvantage.

“We opened up with West Geauga, though, and I think that kind of shook the dust off, going against that caliber of a team,” head coach Dave Tenney said.

Field wound up with a 4-5 record on the day.

“The teams that were there were pretty good teams,” said Tenney. “Overall, we wrestled really well.”

Leading the way for the Falcons with 7-1 records on the day were seniors Daniel Hudson in the 190-pound weight class, and Owen Wymer at 157 plus junior Garrett Smith at 144.

Hudson and Wymer were district qualifiers last season.

“Daniel put in some time in the offseason getting ready for this season,” said the coach. “The things we’ve been working on in practice came to fruition for him. He really, really wrestled well. Owen has a no-stop, no-quit attitude. Even when he’s facing adversity, he’s getting after it. Garrett had been sick all week, so for him to come in and wrestle that well … I just didn’t really see that happening. He really stepped up his game.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt had a rough evening Dec. 11 in the Solon Quad, losing 42-24 to the host Comets, falling 41-24 to Stow-Munroe Falls and tying Beachwood, finishing in third place.

The Rough Riders did have some fine individual performances, however, including senior Ethan Humbert finishing 3-0 at 215 with a pin.

“Ethan came out with a lot of aggression, and he attacked really well,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He’s taken a nice step forward so far this season.”Ka’yir Brown

Freshman Kingston Kurtz finished 2-1 at 150 with both wins by pin. Sophomore Ka’yir Brown also won two of three matches at 138, including one by pin.

“Kingston wrestled really well in his first time in the bright lights of a dual-meet session,” said Dunfee. “I’m really happy with the way he’s coming along, and I’m looking forward to seeing him over the next three seasons.

“Ka’yir has taken a nice step forward already. It’s his first season with us; he just moved here. He’s an attacker. He’s really just learning the sport, but just watching him grow in this first month has been pretty awesome.”