By Roger Gordon 

Correspondent

Despite having to forfeit several matches due to injuries and not filling two other weight classes, the Kent Roosevelt boys wrestling team still managed to claim two victories Feb. 11 in a tri-meet against Wooster (53-35) and host Cuyahoga Falls (59-30).

“I was real happy with the way that our team wrestled both dual meets,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “Of matches that we actually wrestled, we went 17-3 in both dual meets combined.”

Leading the way with two pins apiece were senior Ethan Humbert in the 285-pound weight class and sophomore Jacob Dunfee at 120.

Humbert was bumped from his normal 215 up to 285.

“Ethan was giving up 50 pounds against the kid from Wooster,” said the elder Dunfee. “When you’re giving up 50 pounds, you have to wrestle a different style so you’re not putting yourself at a big disadvantage because an extra 50 pounds on your back is a lot. Ethan is a big, physical, strong kid.”

Dunfee is wrestling with a lot of confidence right now.

“Jacob is wrestling like he believes he can wrestle with some really good kids,” the coach said. “The kid from Falls who he beat placed fourth in the Suburban League Tournament the week before, so he was a good kid. Jacob just wrestled his match, his style. I was real happy with the way that he went out and took care of it.”

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown easily defeated Mogadore 54-22 at home Feb. 12.

“Our middle weights did pretty well,” head coach Anthony Anderson said. “We matched up pretty well against them.”

Seniors Alex Ely and Nathan Marzec dominated with first-period pins — Ely at 138, Marzec at 144.

“Their matches didn’t last long. They wrestled really well,” said Anderson.

Junior Kyle Reuting lost at 215, his third defeat to his opponent, who is ranked in the top five in the state, this season.

“Kyle wrestled really well. It was close, went three periods,” said the coach. “He keeps getting closer and closer to beating that kid. Maybe he’ll see him again at districts.”

RAVENNA

In a quad meet against Cloverleaf and Norton at host Streetsboro Feb. 11, Ravenna’s Ryder Denning and Bradley Davis each scored forfeit wins over the Panthers and Colts, respectively.

Both wrestlers, though, had substantial triumphs, Denning, a senior, at 138 by tech fall over an opponent from Cloverleaf and Davis, a junior, at 190 by pin over a foe from Norton.

“Ryder wrestled really well,” head coach Eric Kline said. “That was probably the best I’ve seen him wrestle all season, which is good because we’re getting to the peak of the season, heading into the league tournament and sectionals. With him being a senior, we had a long talk, and I told him, ‘Hey, you’ve got maybe two to three weeks left of your wrestling career, and it could be over.’ And he just turned it up, just clicked. He’s very talented. When God created Ryder, he created him to be an athlete.

“Bradley did very well in his match. He’s been putting in a lot of extra work after practice with us coaches, and you could see that hard work is definitely progressing him where he needs to be. He’s ranked 24 th in the state, and that’s a huge step for him, just to even be considered for wrestling for Ravenna and be ranked. He’s put in a lot of work. He’s doing great.”

FIELD

Field’s Dan Hudson was up against a state-ranked wrestler from Coventry at 190 Feb. 10 in a quad meet against host Springfield, too, and that also included Woodridge. The senior Falcon went toe to toe with his Comet opponent, but wound up on the losing end.

“It was real close,” head coach Dave Tenney said. “He wrestled him up to the very end, but it just didn’t come out the way we had hoped.”

Hudson then defeated a Springfield opponent by “wrestling his gameplan,” said Tenney.

“He wrestled pretty well on the night.”

Sophomore Braylan Rufener won both of his matches by pin at heavyweight.

“Braylan is wrestling very well,” said the coach. “Though he’s a sophomore, he is very dedicated and always trying to improve.”

Overall, Field defeated Coventry 36-30 and beat Springfield decidedly.

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood had to forfeit two weight classes Feb. 12 at Cleveland St. Ignatius, but the Red Devils were still competitive in a back-and-forth 42-28 loss.

“That’s always difficult to overcome, but we did alright, we competed,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “We did really well in the light weights, struggled a little bit with the middle weights and won a few matches in the upper weights.”

Securing first-round pins were juniors Rocco Wrobel at 126 and Tye Berquist at 175.

“Rocco came out and had nice, solid takedowns. He wrestled well on his feet, he was aggressive, was in the attack mode, which you want from him,” said the elder Wrobel. “Tye also had a couple nice takedowns. He was really aggressive, too, really physical. He’s been really wrestling well not only lately but throughout the season.”

Freshman Jacob Morris won by second-period pin at 132.

“Jacob wrestled a pretty solid wrestler who we’ve seen before,” said the coach. “It was a nice win for him.”

WATERLOO

Waterloo had no placers, but had two sophomores who competed well in the Eastern Ohio Wrestling League Duals on Feb. 7 at Columbiana Crestview.

Kayne Smith went 3-2 at 120 and Dalton Braybon won two matches at 138.

“Kayne wrestled tough, he battled all day long,” head coach Andy Young said. “He’s got a lot less matches in because of his injury to start the season. He’s still working through some things. He always fights win or lose when he’s out there.

“Dalton had an up and down day. He started kind of slow. It took him a while to wake up, but once he did, he wrestled a lot better. He’s always going to fight when he’s out there. He doesn’t quit. I expected a little better out of him, but I think it was a good kick in the butt going into conference and sectionals.”

Zach Mignano, another sophomore, won a single match at 190.

MOGADORE

Mogadore had to forfeit seven weight classes and brought only eight wrestlers to Rootstown in a Feb. 12 dual meet. The Wildcats, not surprisingly, lost 54-22, but still managed a handful of wins.

Two were pins by freshmen Peyton Custer at 165 and Caileb Tompkins at 126.

“The kid was definitely older and stronger than Peyton, but Peyton just wrestled really smart and won the scrambles when he needed to win them,” head coach Duane Funk said. “By the third period, the kid was a little bit gassed. That’s what we do when the opponent is stronger than us. You try to get it to the third period, and hopefully they gas out a little bit.

“Caileb just went after the kid and had good technique. He looked really good. He was physical, too.”

Senior Dylan Benedum won by major decision at 215, the fourth time he has beaten his opponent this season.

“Dylan beat him on his feet, looked really good on his feet,” said Funk.