By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

ROOTSTOWN

The Rootstown wrestling team had quite a day Dec. 14 in capturing the team championship of the Cardinal Huskies Russ Ward Memorial at Middlefield Cardinal High School. The Rovers totaled 292.5 points in the 15-team competition. Fairless finished second with 222 points, and Firelands was third with 210 points.

“We had to clean some stuff up from Thursday (Dec. 12 dual match at home against Garfield), and we did,” head coach Anthony Anderson said. “Overall, we did really well. Some of our young guys who are super inexperienced won some good matches, and most of the seniors came out on top.”

Rootstown had six wrestlers who won individual titles, including senior Nick Malek in the 150-pound weight class, junior Alex Ely at 126 and sophomore Peyton Simms at 215.

“Nick had a really great finals match against a kid from Pymatuning Valley,” said Anderson. “Alex just performed. He had a very solid effort. His fundamentals were really good. He put some stuff together that we’ve been working on every week. His effort is really starting show on the mat. He beat a Garfield kid who he lost to Thursday. Peyton is coming back from a knee injury from football that put him out of the season last year. He wrestled really solid. He’s been working really hard to get back in wrestling condition. He’s doing really well as one of the younger guys on our squad at a pretty big weight class.”

Also claiming individual championships were seniors Brian Youngblood (190), Nathan Lee (157) and Tristan McKibben (175).

In the dual match against Garfield, the Rovers won easily, but weren’t at their best.

“I felt we could’ve wrestled a little bit better overall as a team,” the coach said. “We were a little bit sloppy.”

Rootstown will travel to Pymatuning Valley for a dual match on Saturday.

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt freshman Jacob Dunfee had a tough task Dec. 12.

He opposed a state- ranked wrestler from host Southeast in the 113-pound weight class during a tri-meet that also included Alliance. Dunfee fell behind early, got caught and was down 7-0 in the first period.

“Jacob just chipped away and battled back,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He ended up beating the kid 17-13.”

Sophomore Carter Sertig wrestled a solid match in winning in the 120-pound weight class.

“Carter was the better kid,” the elder Dunfee said. “His opponent tried to keep it close, but Carter just kept chipping away. He wrestled clean, wrestled solid. I was happy with the way he competed.”

The Rough Riders defeated the Pirates by about 20 points.

Earlier in the day, Kent Roosevelt lost to Alliance in a relatively close match.

“Overall,” said Dunfee, “I thought we were more competitive with them than I thought we’d be. Alliance has a really good team. They have some state-ranked kids who I didn’t think we’d be able to compete with on a team level, but we did. The kids wrestled pretty well. A couple things go our way, and it might’ve been a different story.”

Senior Jeremiah Brumfield won his match at 138, while junior Gavin Edwards triumphed 10-1 at 165.

“Jeremiah wrestled well and came out attacking,” Dunfee said. “He made some nice adjustments throughout the match. I was proud of the way he competed. Gavin was dominant. It was a real solid match for him. He wrestled a clean match.”

The Rough Riders will compete Dec. 23 in the Fort Frye Invitational at Fort Frye High School.

FIELD

Field senior Joe D’Amico and freshman A.J. Freudeman both went undefeated Dec. 13-14 in the Marlington Duals at Marlington High School.

D’Amico wrestled in eight matches in the 144-pound weight class, while Freudeman competed in seven matches in the 106-pound weight division.

“Joe wrestled really well against some real tough competition, including a state qualifier from Springfield,” head coach Dave Tenney said. “He works really hard. His work ethic is superb. It’s what every coach wants out of a young man. What he doesn’t have in talent, he makes up for in effort. A.J. wrestled also extremely well against some really tough competition. Caldwell didn’t have a 106, and we wanted the competition, so I bump him up to 113 against a state qualifier from Caldwell. That was his only loss. He scored on him but just couldn’t get it done at the end.”

The Falcons went 2-6 in the eight-team competition with the wins coming against Springfield and East Cleveland Shaw.

“I was giving up 24 to 30 points to start every match,” said Tenney, “because two had not passed hydration and two were out due to injuries, and another kid got injured during the tournament.”

With records of 5-3 were junior Dan Hudson at 190 and senior Carter White at 165.

“Dan has been working really hard at practice, and the things we’ve been practicing I got to see come to fruition,” the coach said. “Carter wrestled some really tough kids and really stepped up his game.”

Next up for Field is the Kenston Invitational Dec. 27-28 at Kenston High School. The starting times are noon Dec. 27 and 9:30 a.m. Dec. 28.

GARFIELD

The Garfield wrestling team finished fifth Dec. 14 in the 15-team Cardinal Huskies Russ Ward Memorial at Middlefield Cardinal High School. Junior Cam Lewicki and sophomore Landon Andel both finished 5-0 in winning individual titles, Lewicki in the 113-pound weight class and Andel in the 138-pound weight class. Placing third were senior Harper Troyer (175) and freshman Rider Cain (165).

“Harper won by tech fall in the match for third place,” head coach Dan Andel said. “He had a real solid performance in the third-place match. Rider wrestled really well in his opening high school tournament. He wrestled well from all three positions.”

Two days earlier, on Dec. 12, the G-Men lost convincingly in a dual match at Rootstown but still had three winners — Lewicki in the 120-pound weight class, Andel at 138 and sophomore Luke Kaufman at 126.

“Cam dominated the match. It was a good opening-season match for him,” said the elder Andel. “Landon won by pin in the first period. His opponent didn’t give him much resistance. Luke won by major decision over Alex Ely, a state-ranked kid. That was a good match.”

Garfield will compete in the Waterloo D3 Classic Dec. 20-21 at Waterloo High School.

AURORA

Aurora senior Cole Walton finished 5-0 in capturing the championship in the 165-pound weight class Dec. 13-14 in the Liberty Classic at Olentangy Liberty High School.

“It was a very solid, workmanlike performance for Cole throughout the entire tournament,” head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “I believe he picked up bonus points in every single match, and they weren’t easy matches either. I was really impressed with his effort, intensity and his preparation for each match.”

Overall, the Greenmen finished 10th out of 35 teams.

“I was pleased with our performance,” said Johnson. “It was a very competitive tournament with teams from not only all over the state but a few out-of-state teams that were really competitive as well. We have some things we need to work on, but we’re definitely showing progress in comparison to our performance the week before.”

Placing fifth were senior Cole Munn (132) and juniors Nick Turba (113) and Drake Brasiel (157).

“I was very pleased with Cole,” said the coach. “That weight class is a very tough class for that event. Cole beat a state qualifier to place. I was really happy with the way he wrestled all weekend long against tough competition. Nick lost early, but he battled his way back, stringing together three or four wins to place. I was happy with his performance and am excited to see how he can improve this week. Drake wrestled great. There were a lot of really close matches versus some tough competitors. He had a state finalist on the ropes in the consolation semifinals; he didn’t get the job done, but he really showed a lot of potential to win those big, big matches. We’re excited to see how he can string together a great season and get over that hump and win those big matches.”

Aurora will host a tri-match Thursday against Chardon and Mayfield.

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood sophomore wrestler Rocco Wrobel was the Red Devils’ lone place-winner Dec. 13-14 at the Solon High School Comet Classic. Wrobel finished fifth with a 4-2 record in the 113-pound weight class. He started off with a win to open up the tournament but came up

short in his quarterfinal match against a Revere opponent who had beaten him in overtime the week before.

“Rocco pinned his first two kids on Saturday morning then lost a tough match to a kid from Oregon Clay,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “But he ended up on a high note by defeating that kid from Revere who he lost to the day before and the week before 4-2, so it was nice for him to avenge those losses.”

Overall, Crestwood finished 25th out of 33 teams.

“We went in there knowing that it was going to be a challenging tournament,” the elder Wrobel said. “We were shooting to maybe have three place winners, but we ended up with one.”

The Red Devils will host a double dual meet at 6 p.m. Dec. 19 against Norton, Southeast and Burton Berkshire.

SOUTHEAST

Six starters who were out of Southeast’s lineup led to convincing defeats to Alliance and Kent Roosevelt Dec. 12 in a season-opening home tri-meet.

“To say we’re banged up is an understatement,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “We were very thin for both matches, although the Kent Roosevelt match was a little closer.”

Two bright spots for the Pirates against the Aviators were junior Trevor Osborne, who won in the 132-pound weight class, and sophomore Korbin Klaka, who was victorious in the 144-pound weight division.

“Trevor wrestled extremely well,” Kuberry said. “He doesn’t get out of position. The kid is super solid in all positions. He doesn’t freak out or anything. He’s really relaxed, always looks confident and really puts a lot of pressure on his opponent. And that’s how it went. He went out and did what he needed to do.

“Korbin had a really good match. He’s wrestling extremely well right now. He’s come a long way just in the course of a year. He’s shown some signs of being a really solid kid. We can tell he’s taken a step forward. He’s matured quite a bit. He has a really high attack rate. He’s wrestling super strong right now. It’s really impressive.”

Two days later, on Dec. 14, Southeast finished 10 th with 86 points out of 16 teams in the Hoppel Wrestling Invitational at Beaver Local High School. Austintown-Fitch won the competition with 272.5 points. Beaver Local finished second with 266.5 points, and Carrollton was third with 213 points.

“I feel like our kids wrestled super hard,” said the coach. “We always ask for a couple things from them. We ask for attitude, we ask for effort. I feel like everybody gave that.”

Osborne finished fourth at 132 but did not lose. He had a medical default in the semifinals because of an illness. Senior Cameron Dye also took fourth at 113.

“Trevor wrestled super hard in his first three matches. He was 3-0,” Kuberry said. “In the semifinals Cameron dropped a match to a kid from West Virginia who was pretty much a buzz saw. Cameron wrestled a super match in the third/fourth-place match but ended up falling.”

The Pirates will compete in a double dual match at 6 p.m. Dec. 19 at Crestwood. They will take part in the Waterloo D3 Classic Dec. 20-21. The starting times are 4 p.m. Dec. 20 and 10 a.m. Dec. 21.

RAVENNA

It was rough going for the Ravenna wrestling team Dec. 13-14 in the season-opening Painesville Riverside Rumble at Painesville Riverside High School. The Ravens, who entered only five wrestlers in the tournament due to illnesses and injuries, finished last out of 23 teams with 22.5 points. Canton GlenOak won the competition with 228.5 points. Brecksville-Broadview Heights finished second with 180.5 points, and Painesville Harvey was third with 160 points.

Ravenna was able to enter two wrestlers in the 190-pound weight class — sophomore Bradley Davis and junior Marcus Hutchinson.

“Bradley has really improved since last season, his mat awareness, his attacking, from the neutral position, getting out of the bottom,” head coach Eric Kline said. “His second loss of the tournament to go for seventh, he lost to the same kid last year by pin in the first period. He took him all the way to the third period this time. It went down to the wire. It was a good match, back and forth. Marcus is a B teamer. We threw him in there to see what he could do.”

Hutchinson and Davis actually had to wrestle each other for seventh place. Davis pinned his teammate in the first period.

“It’s tough for teammates to have to wrestle each other because you have that friendship and that team bond,” said Kline. “I told both of them before they went out to wrestle each other, ‘Look, you have a job to do. One of you guys has got to win, teammates or no teammates.

You’ve got to go out and execute and win.’ They wrestled hard.”

Next up for the Ravens is a tournament at Hudson High School Dec. 20-21. The starting times are 5 p.m. Dec. 20 and 9 a.m. Dec. 21.

WATERLOO GIRLS

Waterloo senior wrestler Courtney Eisenbraun finished fifth in going 3-2 in the 110-pound weight class Dec. 13 in the 3rd annual United Girls Invitational at the University of Mount Union.

“Courtney is a first-year wrestler,” head coach John Foster said. “Honestly, I think she probably wins her first match, but her nerves kind of got the better of her. It was a big atmosphere being in the (Peterson) Field House. They didn’t have bleacher seats, so people kind of crowded in around the mat. If Courtney would’ve had a little more experience, she wins that first match for sure. Definitely as the night went on, you could see things starting to click for her.

She just got better and better and better. In terms of her match for fifth and sixth, she was pretty dominant. I was super proud of her.”

Junior Heylie Camacho went 1-3 in the 190-pound weight division.

“Heylie definitely improved through the night,” said Foster. “She kind of got roughed up at the start, getting pinned in her first match in less than a minute and then losing her next two matches. Her last match of the night she was able to win. To get beat up on for three matches in a row and then still keep your head in the game and win that last one says a lot about her character.”