By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

It will be a family affair for the Edwards clan this weekend at the OHSAA state wrestling tournament inside the Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.

Kent Roosevelt senior Gavin Edwards and his sister, sophomore Penny Edwards, will both make their state-tournament debuts competing in the state capital with the best of the best under the bright lights and with all of the fanfare that goes with it.

The tourney will take place from Friday through Sunday.

Gavin will compete in Division II in the 165-pound weight class. He finished fourth, snagging the final spot at states, last weekend in a district tournament at Kenston.

“I was very pleased with the way Gavin wrestled,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He had a strong game plan, he followed the game plan, wrestled hard, left it all on the mat. I couldn’t ask much more of that kid. The young man has earned it for the last nine years. He’s the hardest working kid in our room. He leads by example and vocally.”

Gavin’s road to the state tournament was bumpy — at least medically speaking.

He broke his hand the week of sectionals as a junior, ending his season.

“It was pretty devastating for us,” said Dunfee. “I’d pegged Gavin to go to the state tournament last season. He had to come back from that.”

Gavin started this season slowly, picked it up a little and was wrestling well when disaster struck — he broke his leg at the Top Gun Tournament in mid-January.

According to the doctor’s original diagnosis, the best-case scenario was that he would be back in six weeks in time for sectionals. Gavin was determined to make that happen and actually returned much sooner than that.

“By the grace of God, that leg healed up in four weeks,” said the coach. “It’s hard to explain how. It doesn’t make sense, but the X-ray came back clean and he was good. We’ve been very cautious with how we’ve brought him along, getting him back in shape physically, getting his body ready to compete and kind of picking our spots. We ’ve been very strategic.”

Dunfee believes Gavin has a legitimate shot at placing this weekend.

“If he continues to wrestle the way he’s been wrestling the last couple weeks, it could happen,” he said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to compete at the state tournament.”

As for Penny, she will compete at 110 this weekend.

She finished third in a district tournament last Sunday at Mentor. She is now has a 42-8 record this season and 77-21 in her high-school career.

“Penny actually found her groove in sectionals the week before at Austintown Fitch,” head coach Ryan Fankhauser said. “She was meet champion, beating very tough wrestler Ashlynn Pennington, a senior from Alliance, 13-8 to secure first place.”

At districts Penny won her first match by pin, reaching a high-school career milestone already of 50 (now 52) wins by pin.

She lost her second match, putting her into the consolation rounds. After pinning her next opponent, she went up against Elyria sophomore Olivia Campbell, and it proved to be the most challenging match of her high-school career — and one that will be talked about for many years to come.

Penny trailed 14-0 entering the third period.

“With Penny being only one point and 2 minutes away from her season being over, she chose the top position for the final period,” said Fankhauser. “Campbell nearly escaped, and Penny was hit with a stalling call as they ended up going out of bounds. At this point, there was about a minute left with Penny still down 14 points and one stalling call away from losing. She took a breath, reset herself mentally and dug in an arm bar, turning Campbell to her back and pinning her with only 40 seconds left on the clock. Penny never gave up and found a way to win.”

In her fifth match of the day — the “blood” round — Penny opposed Canton South senior Ellie DiFiori, an opponent she had faced several times in the last two seasons, getting pinned by her on each occasion.

“This was a match we anticipated having at some point during districts and trained for it,” the coach said.

Penny won 9-3, securing her trip to the state tourney and becoming the first female Rough Rider to qualify for states. Not a bad way to celebrater her 16 th birthday.

“She dug deep and wrestled very well,” said Fankhauser.

In the third/fourth-place match, Penny went up against Pennington, the Alliance girl who she had beaten in sectionals. After Penny nearly pinned her in the second period, her opponent was forced to retire due to a medical issue, giving Penny third place. All of this happened on her 16th birthday.

“It was a very exciting weekend for the Edwards family,” said the coach. “We look forward to continuing the momentum this coming weekend and securing a spot on the podium.”