By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Dominic Kemble has been there, done that.

That’s why the Southeast senior wrestler was not intimidated in the least by competing in the Joshua Hephner Memorial Tournament Jan. 23-24 at Austintown Fitch. He won the championship at 138.

“We figured somebody as talented as Dom was going to get out of the pools, but once you get out of the pools and you’re in that main bracket, you start getting some tough matches,” head coach Shane Kuberry said of his wrestler who placed fifth in the state tournament last season.

“I thought his experience really showed out, especially in the semifinals and finals. He just knows how to wrestle those matches. He wrestles his match, keeps it close and scores at the end to win. I think the adversity he’s faced starting his freshman year coming all the way up to this season has helped him. He’s been in a lot of tight matches, he’s been in matches that have had a lot of meaning. He’s lost some and he’s won some. It’s just that experience … you live it, and then when it comes back up, you know how to get through it. He’s got some lofty goals that he can definitely reach. I think we all see it.”

Overall, the Pirates finished a solid 12th out of 35 teams.

“It’s about where I thought we’d be,” said Kuberry. “There were lots of Division I and II schools. I think we were the highest D-III team.”

Also pocketing an individual title was freshman Gavin Cantera at 150.

“Gavin really mowed his way through the pool,” said the coach. “He had a tough match in the semifinals and then won by technical fall in the final. There were some really, really impressive wins for him the last couple of weekends. Gavin is just a special kid. He competes at an extremely high level. He’s very talented and does everything the right way. He works extremely hard in the practice room. I think he has some goals and some expectations, and we see it the same way.”

Senior Trevor Osborne finished third at 132, and his classmate Landon Durstine took eighth at 190.

“Trevor was in one of those brackets where, if you didn’t win your pool, you couldn’t win the championship because there were so many kids in the bracket,” Kuberry said. “He was in a 0-0 match and got thrown to his back and pinned, but he didn’t lose the rest of the weekend. It was probably his best weekend of wrestling he’s put together all season. He was very impressive. He just had a really good tournament.

“Landon’s last match of the pool rounds determined whether or not he got into the championship bracket, where he had a chance to place. He wrestled super tough in that match and ended up winning it and making it into the championship bracket. He’s been banged up a little bit, so we medical defaulted him out of the seventh/eighth-place match. It was a good performance for him for not being 100 percent.”

STREETSBORO

Head coach Mark Skonieczny wanted to test his all-everything junior wrestler Jarreau Walker, so he bumped him from 113 up to 120 in Streetsboro’s tri-meet Jan. 22 against Woodridge and host Field.

The Rockets easily won against both schools — 68-10 over the Falcons and 54-18 over the Bulldogs.

Walker, the Division II state champion last season at 106, went up against Woodridge’s Gavin Genovese, who won the D-II state crown last season at 113. Walker, who had beaten

Genovese several times in the last two seasons, did it again — this time by a 3-0 score.

“I absolutely felt going in that ‘RoRo’ would beat the kid,” Skonieczny said. “Pinned the guy from Field. Bumped up a weight class. Beat a returning state champion. Went 2-0 on the day … pretty much what you’d expect from a kid like Jarreau. He had a spectacular day.”

Also with a pair of pins were senior Cam Rogowski at 150 and junior John Bollinger at 106.

“Cam had his left shoulder pop out the day before, so, like a soldier, he wrestled with one arm. He was hurting but refused to sit out the day,” said Skonieczny. “He’s the hardest working guy on the team. He dislocated his shoulder his freshman year, sophomore year he got surgery, so he sat out his entire sophomore and junior years. He’d been battling some up and down pain the week leading up to the tri-meet. He cut four pounds that night to wrestle with one arm the next day. It was incredible. He did a beautiful job for us. He’s an extremely tough, old-school kid.

“John’s performance is always our kickstart. He’s always our first man up, and he always gets that momentum going, sets the pace for us. Both matches, going out and dominating his opponents, getting those pins that get momentum on our side. You couldn’t ask for a better guy to be in that position. He’s done a fantastic job this season.”

AURORA

Aurora’s Drake Brasiel hadn’t lost a single match all season heading into the championship round at 175 on Jan. 16-17 in the Top Gun Tournament at Alliance.

The senior, who finished eighth in the state tournament last season, cruised his way to the quarterfinals and then won two tough matches en route the finals where he went up against a returning state finalist from Cincinnati LaSalle.

“It was a really good match, but Drake fell a little bit short,” head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “I was proud of his effort. It was a match we can learn and take a lot away from. He had a really, really great tournament. His attitude, his effort, the practice room, he lives the right lifestyle and shows up in the room every day wanting to improve and work on things. He’s been a true pleasure to coach all four years. We’re looking forward to a strong ending for his season. His goal is to be a state champ.”

Senior Michael Kennedy placed seventh at 157.

“Michael battled all tournament,” said Johnson. “He took a loss on the first day in the quarterfinals that we weren’t anticipating. He came back the second day and battled to get back on the podium. He had some really hard-fought matches, and that’s all we’re looking for are those hard-fought matches. I was proud of Michael’s ability to focus on the next match and not feel too down on himself but also focus on the match at hand. He was a district placer last season, so he’s itching to get to the state tournament and get on the podium. He’s had a pretty terrific season so far.”

ROOTSTOWN

Head coach Anthony Anderson knows full well that his Rootstown squad is young and inexperienced.

That is why, going into the Joshua Hephner Memorial Tournament Jan. 23-24 at Austintown Fitch, Anderson was more than aware that he has only a couple wrestlers who are talented enough to be in the mix in big tournaments like that.

Those wrestlers are senior Alex Ely and sophomore Chase Moyer.

Ely finished third at 138 and Moyer was sixth at heavyweight in the Hephner tourney.

“Alex wrestled really well until the semifinals against a really good kid from Copley,” Anderson said. “Chase is just coming back to wrestling after being off for a couple years. He’s getting back in the swing of things. He lost a couple matches that we should’ve won, but he battled back, so I’m pretty proud of him for that.

Overall, the Rovers finished 16th out of 35 teams.

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt junior Carter Fertig’s only two defeats at 113 on Jan. 23-24 in the Joshua Hephner Memorial Tournament at Austintown Fitch were to wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in the state. He finished fifth.

“I thought Carter wrestled really well,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He’s come on really well the last couple of weeks. He’s finding his groove.”

Overall, the Rough Riders finished 25th out of 35 teams.

“I thought we wrestled well,” said Dunfee. “It was a big tournament for a lot of these guys. I thought our team responded well.”

Sophomore Jacob Dunfee finished sixth at 120, and senior Ethan Humbert was eighth at 215.

“Jacob wrestled well,” said the coach. “He started off really well on Friday night. On Saturday morning, he wrestled a good match but got caught and ended up losing a match. He then lost to the No. 7 ranked kid in the state in Division I. It was a great measuring stick for Jacob at this time of the season. He finished the tournament strong.

“Ethan is a big, physical kid. Unfortunately, he got injured and had to medical forfeit out of the tournament. Otherwise, I’m confident he would’ve placed higher.”

GARFIELD

The Wadsworth Grizzly Invitational Jan. 24 may be one of the toughest one-day tournaments in the entire country, but Landon Andel wasn’t fazed.

The Garfield junior placed third at 144.

“Landon won his pool, wrestled a few tough matches, to get to the semifinals,” head coach Dan Andel said. “He lost in the semifinals to the kid who ended up winning the title. He wrestled a kid from Columbus St. Francis DeSales in the placement round and ended up pinning him for third.”

Junior Luke Kaufman competed at 138, going 1-2.

“Luke battled tough but didn’t end up on the podium,” said the elder Andel. “He wrestled well, but just had a really tough draw.”

MOGADORE

Youth and inexperience were the culprits for Mogadore on Jan. 23-24 in the 35-team Joshua Hephner Memorial Tournament Jan. 23-24 at Austintown Fitch.

“We wrestled hard,” head coach Duane Funk said, “but it’s a really, really tough tournament because we’re Division III and it’s really loaded with Division I schools and a few Division-II schools. It’s a good challenge. The kids gave me a 100 percent effort.”

The Wildcats’ lone placer was senior Dylan Benedum, who finished fourth at 215.

“Dylan was wrestling a kid from North Royalton in the quarterfinals,” said Funk, “and the kid tried a grabby type thing. Dylan stopped him and stuck him but had his head on the mat and put a little strain on his back while he was pinning the kid. I let him wrestle in the semifinals and he got pinned, but he had to forfeit the third/fourth-place match because of the injury.”

Freshman Caileb Tompkins competed at 126 and went 3-3.

“As a freshman going in there, Caileb wrestled tough. He was challenged and had some nice, good battles,” the coach said. “He’s growing up as the season goes along.”

CRESTWOOD

The middle weight classes were the difference for Crestwood in its 43-33 victory Jan. 22 at Berkshire.

Freshman Jacob Morris won by seven points at 138, and juniors Jakob Devlin at 144 and Nick Lukart at 150 both won by second-period pins.

“Jacob had a solid takedown, had a few different takedowns, scored some back points and had a reversal. He was just good overall,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “Jakob ended up being really aggressive and intense. He knew we needed some points out of that weight class, and he stepped up. Nick looked really good. He was also really aggressive.”

WATERLOO

Head coach Andy Young had only five wrestlers in a quad meet Jan. 10 against Canton McKinley and Canton GlenOak at Canton South.

“We probably had our best day of the season, though,” he said.

Three sophomores led the way for the Vikings – Kayne Smith was 2-0 at 120, Dalton Brayvon was 2-1 at 138 and Zach Mignano was 1-1 at 190.

“Kayne had a couple of tough matches,” said Young. “He was down in his second match against GlenOak but battled back and just turned the guy about 20 times. He went to work on top. It was really good to see.

“In Dalton’s third match, he went out there on little rest but cradled the GlenOak kid the whole match and pinned him. He really showed a lot of mental toughness.

“Zach continues to improve week in and week out, and we’re going to keep building on it.”

FIELD

It was a disappointing evening for Field in losing at home to both Streetsboro and Norton in a quad meet Jan. 22 that also included Woodridge.

Despite the rough night, four Falcons won both of their matches — senior Dan Hudson at 195, sophomores A.J. Freudeman at 132 and heavyweight Braylan Rufener, as well as freshman Will Henson at 165.

Freudeman won by technical fall and major decision.

Rufener is now 20-7 on the season.

Henson won both of his matches by pin.

“Braylan is doing really well,” head coach Dave Tenney said. “He doesn’t move like a typical heavyweight, doesn’t wrestle like heavyweights seem to want to wrestle. He’s interested in being aggressive and going on the attack.”

RAVENNA

Bradley Davis lost two matches at 190 in the 35-team Joshua Hephner Memorial Tournament on Jan. 23-24 at Austintown Fitch.

Those two defeats were to the wrestlers who finished second and third. The Ravenna junior wound up fifth.

“Bradley had a really tough bracket with a lot of good kids. He had some big wins,” head coach Eric Kline said. “He came off of a tough defeat last Thursday against Coventry. He and I talked and I said, ‘Hey, you just have to bring more to the plate, bring more to the table,’ and he stepped it up. He wrestled really tough, really well.”

Senior Ryder Denning competed at 132 and was 3-4 for the tournament.

“Ryder wrestled well, but we could do better. He knows that,” said Kline. “He has to learn to wrestle all three periods.”