By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

The Portage County Tournament (PCT) was held Jan. 3 at James A. Garfield High School. The top-six finishers in each event placed in the 11-team tourney.

Below are the results.

STREETSBORO

For his Streetsboro wrestling team to claim the PCT championship, head coach Mark Skonieczny knew his seven freshmen all had to place in the top three.

“One didn’t pass skin check,” he said, “so we had only six freshmen. “A lot of these guys drew one and two seeds right off the bat, so we pulled them all together and said, ‘Listen you nhave to come through that back door. You have to win out, you can’t lose another match.’ And they all performed extremely well, probably a little bit better than I was expecting.”

The Rockets captured the title with 227 points.

Leading the way, as always, was junior Jarreau Walker, who competed in the 120-pound weight class rather than his usual 113 due to one of Streetsboro’s wrestlers falling ill.

“We knew ‘RoRo’ would win, It was a fun day for Jarreau,” said Skonieczny. “He’d been wrestling the top kids in the country for the previous two weeks. He’d probably wrestled six out of the top 10 in the country. He was dominating as usual, slick as a cat. He wrestled hard and got the job done. He got his tech falls and pins.”

Other champions included senior Cameron Rogowski at 150, juniors Johnny Bollinger at 106 and Jerri Benci at 157 and freshman Avery Conroy at 175.

Rogowski missed most of the last two seasons due to injury.

“Cam was just tough, hard-nosed, blue collar, put your work boots on and go out and wrestle,” said the coach. “He’s a fighter out there. He’s scared of nobody. He comes after you.

“I thought Johnny would win, which he did. He wrestled tough, he wrestled physical. He attacked the body, he attacked the legs, he never stopped wrestling.

“Jerry is another tough kid. It was the first time in his high school career that he made it to the finals of a tournament. He dominated the matches. He stuck his opponents and celebrated like you wouldn’t believe. He had a great tournament. He told me at practice the day before that he would win this tournament.

“Avery pulled an upset in the finals. He’s about a 168-pound kid wrestling 175. He’s strong, physical, afraid of nobody on this planet. He was actually losing the match 10-1 in the second period. He got an escape, got a takedown, was doing his cradle, slapped the kid to his back and pinned him.”

Third-place finishers were junior Jayden Kittle (113), sophomore Brayden Kittle (126), Jayden’s brother, and freshmen Nolyn Dufala (144) and Lucian Mazzocco (165).

Placing fifth were sophomore Darius Collins (175) and freshmen Jacob Bodovetz (120) and Everette McDole (132).

Freshman Colin Scalia was sixth (138).

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt senior Gavin Edwards dominated all day long in capturing the championship at 165.

“That’s what we’ve come to expect out of Gavin,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He’s the leader of our program, leader of this team. He sets the tone for us, and Saturday was no different.”

Overall, the Rough Riders finished fifth, one spot higher than last season, with 146 points.

“I thought we started the day slow,” said Dunfee. “I was disappointed in how we came out of the gate, but we picked up as the day went on and started to really find our footing and started to really compete as the day grew on. I’m content with fifth place. We’ve closed the gap on some other teams we’ve been looking up to for a number of years. I felt good about that.”

Senior Ethan Humbert finished runner-up at 215, while senior Toby Brunner (157) and sophomores Noah Catanese (175) and Jacob Dunfee (120) placed third.

“We were disappointed in the way Jacob wrestled in the semifinals,” said the coach. “It was not his best effort, but he came back, battled back, really well in the consolations. He really put it together in the third/fourth-place match. It was nice to see.”

Sophomore Ka’yir Brown and freshman Kingston Kurtz both finished fourth – Brown at 138 and Kurtz at 150.

Placing fifth were senior Ethan Kurtz (Kingston’s brother) at 190 and sophomore James Lombardo at heavyweight. Junior Carter Fertig took sixth at 113.

GARFIELD

Luke Kaufaman’s 138-pound weight class was deep with talent, including a pair of state-ranked wrestlers.

No sweat for the Garfield junior.

He captured the title.

“To finish on top of the podium … it was a good win for Luke, a solid finish,” head coach Dan Andel said. “He continues to grow in diversifying his scoring ability. No one is going to outwork him in the wrestling room and out of the wrestling room. His hard work is paying off.”

Overall, the G-Men placed sixth with 109.5 points.

Three juniors were runner-up — Keaton Ellison at 150, Cole Porter at 157 and Griffin Kline at 165.

“Keaton had a couple tight ones getting to the finals. It was a solid finish for him. He was just outwrestled in the finals. Cole is a first-year wrestler, and he’s doing a tremendous job. To be competing as a first-year wrestler in high school let alone making it to the finals was just tremendous. His trajectory is going really fast. He’s doing really well. Griffin did well. He’s a few weeks behind everybody because he started a little late in the season. Making it to the finals was a great accomplishment.”

Senior Cam Lewicki finished fourth at 113, and freshman Marc Grubb placed fifth at 144.

MOGADORE

Mogadore’s Dylan Benedum won his second consecutive PCT title at 215.

The senior Wildcat dominated from start to finish, pinning and tech falling his way through the day.

“Dylan wrestled really well,” head coach Duane Funk said. “Last season, he weighed only 203-204 at 215, so he was light for the weight class, didn’t really have the strength to hang with the guys up there. He did well, don’t get me wrong, he placed in the top six in districts. But this season, he weighs 214-215. Plus he’s tall, which helps with his leverage. Dylan has been wrestling for a very long time. His IQ for wrestling is really good. I’m expecting pretty big things out of him this season. If all goes well and he stays healthy, he can climb up the district podium and be on that state podium.”

Overall, Mogadore finished eighth with 73.5 points.

“I think we improved from the previous match,” said Funk. “I have a young team experience-wise, but we’re getting better.”

Freshman Caileb Tomkins was runner-up at 126.

“Caileb did a great job,” the coach said. “He ended up facing returning senior state qualifier Mason King from Rootstown in the semifinals and hung in there until King finally got

him in the third period. I’m very proud of Caileb.”

Sophomore Colt Tomkins, Caileb’s cousin, finished third at 106, senior Matthew Trusky placed fourth at heavyweight and freshman Peyton Custer took fifth at 165.

RAVENNA

Although Ravenna finished ninth with 28 points, the young and inexperienced Ravens still managed three placers.

Bradley Davis led the way by finishing third at 190.

“Bradley had a pretty good tournament,” head coach Eric Kline said of his junior who lost in the semifinals to a wrestler from Crestwood. “That was a pretty good match, a good learning experience for him. I think Bradley knows what he needs to do during practice to get to that next level. His goal is to get down to Columbus as a state qualifier and hopefully place.”

Finishing sixth were senior Ryder Denning at 132 and sophomore Noah Brode at 215.

“It wasn’t the result that Ryder wanted, and it wasn’t the result I wanted as his coach,” Kline said. “He needs to put three periods together, and he knows that. He does really well in the first period, but come second and third … he can’t coast and think he’s going to win the match just because he’s winning after the first or second period. He’s all in, he really wants to get better, and as a coach that’s all I can ask for. He’s going to keep plugging along and keep working.

“Noah missed last season because he tore his ACL during football, so this is really his first season wrestling. He’s a little undersized for 215, but that’s kind of where he’s at. He works hard in practice, and he wants to get better. As a coach, that’s all I can ask for.”

WATERLOO

Waterloo head coach Andy Young has just five team members this season, and only two were available for the PCT.

Sophomore Kayne Smith, one of the two, finished sixth at 120. This was Smith’s first competition since tearing a ligament in his knee before the season started. To complicate things, he drew a challenging first-round opponent in Streetsboro’s defending state champion Jarreau Walker.

“Kayne did win a couple matches,” said Young. “He was just really trying to shake the rust loose and get back into the groove. We expect pretty big things out of him.” Smith’s performance kept the Vikings from getting shut out. He provided them with 6.5 points, placing them 11th.