By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Streetsboro junior Roro Walker wrestles for a victory in the Division II district semifinals last week. Photo: Randy Tevepaugh

Jarreau Walker is still maturing mentally regarding his wrestling career.

When things do not go his way, the Streetsboro junior lets it play into his head.

“He’ll get out of rhythm if things don’t go his way, but he’s gotten a lot better with that,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said.

The thing is … Walker is so used to dominating, he doesn’t get much practice in dealing with mental challenges while on the mat.

“I’ve never coached a kid like him besides my own sons,” said Skonieczny of his rock star who has won three district championships, a state title (at 106 last season), is ranked No. 1 in the state at 113 and is ranked in the top 10 in the country.

Walker cruised to a district title Friday and Saturday at Kenston, winning by pin twice and tech fall once en route to the finals.

There, he won by only 6-4, but the close score was very deceiving.

“Jarreau just kind of wrestled that finals match cautiously, was never in trouble to lose it, kind of coasted through it,” said the coach. “He got a big lead and kind of just held on to it. He was just trying to avoid injury and a big move like a headlock or some freaky thing. He wrestled a real smart match.”

It is going to take a huge upset for Walker not to capture a second straight state championship.

“We’re expecting Jarreau to win it again,” said Skonieczny. “He’s just so talented of a kid. He’s strong, he’s quick, he’s dangerous, he’s deadly on top, he’s deadly on his feet. When he gets inside and makes his shot, he can move his body and can move his hips in positions and ways that you can’t coach.”

Freshman Avery Conroy finished runner-up in districts at 175. He had a huge second-round match against an opponent from Parma Padua Franciscan, a senior with well more than 30 wins this season.

“That was a match that, we felt comfortable if Avery won, he’d make it to the finals because we felt that his second-round match was going to be tougher than his semifinal,” Skonieczny said. “He was losing that second-round match 6-2 with about 10 seconds left. He cradled the kid and put him on his back to tie the match up at the buzzer. He then won in overtime. Once he beat him, I was confident he was going to get out.” Conroy pinned his opponent in the semifinals before losing the championship match 14-8.

“It was respectable,” said Skonieczny. “As a coach, I’m overwhelmed. This is a freshman who is wrestling grown men. He’s a 14-year-old kid. As the season progressed, he got better. He dominated sectionals, then you start believing, ‘Hey, this freshman may be able to get out of here.’ He faces the fifth or sixth ranked kid in the state in the first round at states, but I’m not counting him out of any matches. This kid is incredible.”

Conroy is just a wide-eyed freshman who doesn’t blink twice when it comes to the pressure at this point in the season.

“He smiles and he’s jumping up and he’s talking to his buddies, and this is like two minutes before he wrestles a big match,” Skonieczny said. “He’s very naïve, but it works to his advantage. You don’t want to change that with him because that’s his personality.”

One last Rockets state qualifier was junior Johnny Bollinger at 106, finishing fourth at districts in his first season as a full-time starter competing in the postseason.

“We felt Johnny had to get an upset somewhere,” the coach said. “He was one of six outstanding guys in that weight class. Those top four could’ve gone to anybody. We felt, if he could pull off the upset in the quarterfinals against this kid from Copley, that would kind of open the door for him.”

Bollinger defeated his highly ranked Indians foe 1-0.

“Johnny wrestled the best match of his life,” said Skonieczny. “Had he lost that match, his to-go match would’ve been a lot tougher to win. He got beat in the semis by a kid from St. Vincent-St. Mary. We knew, in the ‘blood’ round, he’d have somebody he already beat this season, and that gives you big confidence. He won 6-4 and then lost the third/fourth-place match to the same Copley kid he upset in the quarters.”

Bollinger has a tough task this weekend. He will oppose Beaver’s Jordan Bates, the top- ranked wrestler in the state, to start things off.

“If he loses,” Skonieczny said, “I think his second match is winnable.”

DIVISION III BOYS

SOUTHEAST

Southeast head coach Shane Kuberry will not be surprised in the least if Gavin Cantera brings home a state championship at 144 this weekend in Columbus.

And Cantera is only a freshman!

“I think if you ask Gavin and anyone on the coaching staff, we expect him to do extremely well,” Kuberry said. “We could see him standing on top of that podium at the end of the day as a freshman with a chance to be a four-timer.

“It’s something really special.”

Cantera captured a district title last weekend at Independence.

“I thought Gavin had an extremely good district tournament,” said Kuberry. “The only kid who came close to him was in the semifinals, and even though that match’s score looked close, I didn’t really feel like it was close. I felt like Gavin controlled everything. He teched the kid in the finals very quickly.”

According to the coach, it has been a constant all season that you know exactly what you are going to get out of Cantera.

“Gavin is just extremely impressive all the time,” he said. “He’s an extremely hard worker, he’s a phenomenal wrestler, he doesn’t really get himself into bad positions very often, and when he does he’s able to wrestle his way out of them.”

Senior Dominic Kemble won districts at 138 and will make his third straight trip to the state capital. In the semifinals he got a takedown in overtime against a quality opponent. In the finals he got another takedown with three seconds to go in the third period against an opponent who he had lost to twice.

“Both of those kids Dom beat are going to place pretty high in the state tournament,” said Kuberry. “Dom didn’t win a match at states the first time, but he got experience and got to see it a little bit. The second time, he ended up fifth place on the podium. This time, he has aspirations to be standing on that top spot. He’s just been clutch all season. If Dom does what we think he can do, there’s a very good chance that he’s in that state championship match with a chance to bring it all home.”

Freshman Damian Kemble finished third at districts at 120.

“Damian took some of the best kids in the state all the way to the wire and ended up beating a former state champion in the third/fourth-place match,” Kuberry said. “He just is so intense and doesn’t ever give up. When he is intense like that and wrestling hard, he can hang with anybody in the state. We expect really big things out of him in Columbus. We think he’s a podium finisher for sure, and we really expect him to press some of the best kids in the state.”

CRESTWOOD

Three pins and an 11-0 major decision gave Crestwood junior Tye Berquist a district championship at 175 Friday and Saturday at Independence. His final pin came in the title match — in the first period! — against a Dalton opponent.

“Tye had a really, really solid tournament. He was clicking on all cylinders. He looked really good,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “We knew coming in that he had a good shot to win

the district. The way he dominated kind of surprised us, but he went out there and was ready to roll. He was really focused and wrestled to the best of his ability.”

Rocco Wrobel, Berquist’s classmate, was runner-up at 126. After winning by two pins on Friday, he beat a Doylestown Chippewa foe 5-1 in the semifinals on Saturday, a match he was losing 1-0 with less than 10 seconds left in the third period. He got a takedown with back points with two seconds left to get the win, his 100 th career victory.

“It was an exciting ending for Rocco to qualify for the state tournament,” said the elder Wrobel.

In the finals, Wrobel got caught early and was pinned in less than a minute by a Waynedale opponent.

“I think both Rocco and Tye have the ability to get on the podium,” said the coach. “How high they go … you never know. It’s the state tournament. You just hope they get those jitters out and go out and wrestle like they know how.”

MOGADORE

It was unfortunate that Dylan Benedum was in the same bracket at 215 as Mentor Lake Catholic’s all-world sensation Danny Zmorowski last weekend in a district tournament at Independence.

Why?

The junior Cougar is the defending state champion and finished third as a freshman.

For the Mogadore senior to advance to the championship match, he would likely have to go through Zmorowski in the semifinals.

And that is exactly what happened.

“Dylan actually wrestled Danny very well,” head coach Duane Funk said of his wrestler who got pinned in the second period. “Dylan gave him the best match he’s probably had in the last three weeks because Danny usually pins everybody in the first period. He wrestled like a state champ. He’s a good wrestler.”

After that defeat, Funk had a message for Benedum: “Now is the time to make a statement like, ‘Here we go.’ ”

Benedum pinned his Waynedale opponent in the second period in the “blood” round to qualify for states before disposing a Massillon Tuslaw foe for third place.

“It went really well,” said the coach. “The championship match lasted 50 seconds with Danny and a Rootstown boy. Our goal is now to face Danny in the finals in Columbus. We’ll be in different brackets this time. Dylan has the potential to wrestle Danny or whoever makes it in the state finals.”

ROOTSTOWN

Because he was a sectional champion, Kiel Reuting received a favorable draw at 215 last weekend in a district tournament at Independence.

The Rootstown junior produced third-period pins in his first two matches against a Black River opponent and a Hillsdale foe. Reuting wound up in the championship match but was pinned himself in the first period by Mentor Lake Catholic’s Danny Zmorowski, the defending state champion.

“Overall, Kiel wrestled really, really well,” head coach Anthony Anderson said of his state qualifier. “And he got a really good draw at the state tournament. If we can get past that first match, which I think we can, we’ve got a really good opportunity to place.”

Also qualifying for the state tournament in Division I was Aurora’s Drake Brasiel at 175.

Portage County also has seven boys state alternates: Aurora’s Nick Turba (Division I, 126), Aurora’s Grant Eaton (Division I, 150), Ravenna’s Bradley Davis (Division II, 190), Crestwood’s Levi Daniels (Division III, 113), Garfield’s Landon Andel (Division III, 144), Rootstown’s Alex Ely (Division III, 138) and Southeast’s Landon Durstine (Division III, 190).