By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Aurora senior Drake Brasiel trailed Xenia’s Otis Boyette 10-1 entering the third period in a 175 Division I quarterfinal at the OHSAA’s state championships at The Schottenstein Center in Columbus.

DRAKE BRASIEL

Brasiel was in a tough spot no doubt.

“We were definitely in a hole, and we had to dig our way out,” head coach Jeremy Johnson said of his three-time state qualifier, who was eighth last season and is Aurora’s first-ever Division I state finalist.

“Drake then rattled off 17 points in the third period alone to win the match 18-15. There was blood time from the other guy, there were stoppages, there were coaches at the table … despite all of those hurdles, Drake just kept his mind in the match. I was super proud of the way he battled back. It’s definitely nothing I’d never seen before. It was one heck of a match, one that I think the whole crowd was into.

“Drake just flipped the switch,” Johnson added. “There comes a point in a match where you either try to figure it out or you break, and Drake didn’t break. He dug deep, figured it out. There was benefit to those stoppages; he was able to go over to his coaches, get a gameplan and just keep chipping away, chipping away, chipping away until he was able to close that gap and ultimately take the lead.”

Brasiel won 5-4 over Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller’s Landen Messer in the semifinals, but in the finals lost by tech fall 18-3 to Massillon Perry’s Brennan Warwick.

“Drake’s semifinal win was a good match. Late in the third period, he was losing by two points and needed a takedown, and he got one with about 15 seconds left,” said Johnson.

“Brennan is a tough competitor. They’d wrestled the previous week in the district final and had a similar outcome, another tech fall. I was just proud of Drake’s effort and the way he took on that state-finals match. I thought we went in with a great gameplan, but at the end of the day we just fell short, and that’s okay.”

Brasiel easily won his first-round match 18-0 by tech fall over Hilliard Bradley’s Gauge Woods.

“Drake wrestled with a lot of grit and resiliency. There was definitely some adversity in his way,” said the coach. “I’m proud of the tournament, I’m proud of the season, I’m proud of the career that he had for us. We’re definitely going to miss having him around next season.”

MOGADORE

Mogadore’s Dylan Benedum defeated Bucyrus’ Hayden Butcher 7-0 in the Division III first round at 215, but then lost 8-5 by sudden victory in excruciating fashion in the quarterfinals to Belmont Union Local’s Kolten Snyder.

DYLAN BENEDUM

The senior Wildcat almost got a takedown in overtime, but went out of bounds. Then Snyder got his own takedown on Benedum.

“It was a pretty slick move,” head coach Duane Funk said. “Dylan was a little upset, of course, as anyone would be, but it didn’t break him, he didn’t get down in the dumps. He came back and fought. That shows a lot about who he is.”

Benedum reeled off four straight consolation wins, respectively, to claim third place — 6-0 over Springfield Catholic Central’s Brody Adams, 3-2 over Sugarcreek Garaway’s Thomas

Grimm, major decision 12-2 over Elmore Woodmore’s Bailey Jendrzejak and by third-period pin over West Liberty-Salem’s Sam Bradford.

“Senior year, final match … what better way to go out than to pin a guy for third place in the state?” said Funk. “Dylan wrestled fantastic, wrestled a hell of a tournament. He didn’t get a chance to wrestle for a state championship, but it was still pretty awesome to place.”

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood juniors Rocco Wrobel and Tye Berquist’s roads to the podium in the Division III state tournament mirrored each other.

Not only did both wrestlers finish sixth in their respective weight classes — Wrobel at 126, Berquist at 175 — their paths in terms of what rounds they won in and in which rounds they lost were the exact same.

Wrobel’s journey began in the first round by jumping out to a 7-0 lead, falling behind 8-7 and finally winning 12-11 over Bridgeport’s Cole Weekley. In the quarterfinals, Wrobel came out like gangbusters again in taking a 12-0 lead over West Liberty-Salem’s Lucas Merriman before holding him off 14-7.

In the semifinals, Wrobel was simply overmatched in losing to Delta’s Tyler Barnes by a second-period pin. He then fell in the consolation semis 3-2 by ultimate tiebreaker to Casstown Miami East’s Lucas Shore before losing 5-2 in the fifth/sixth-place match to Chippewa’s Grady Lambdin.

“In the ultimate tiebreaker, Rocco made the choice to go down, but didn’t get out and ended up losing. That one was a tough pill to swallow because, if he wins that, he’s top four in the state,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “Mentally, the previous match sat with him for a while, and he had a hard time overcoming that.

“I was proud of Rocco. He had a good weekend. Hopefully he comes back next season even hungrier, and we finish higher on the podium.”

Berquist, meanwhile, won by major decision 10-0 over Mechanicsburg’s Aidan O’Neal in the first round. In the quarterfinals he was down 8-0 in the second period to Camden Preble

Shawnee’s Bryson Doran, a very solid opponent, but he caught him and pinned him before the period was through.

In the semifinals Berquist fell 6-3 to Delta’s Marcus Nagel, he lost 4-1 to Sugarcreek Garaway’s Matt Frey in the consolation semifinals and lost by disqualification to Barnesville’s Hines Ford in the fifth/sixth-place match.

“Tye was losing 5-0 to the Delta kid but got a takedown in the third period to make it 5-3,” said the elder Wrobel. “Down 6-3, we ended up kicking him, trying to get a game-tying takedown, but it didn’t quite pan out that way as time ran out. Tye lost a hard-fought match in the last seconds to the Garaway kid. In the last match, he was getting real physical to the point that it ended up costing him a couple penalty points.”

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown junior Kiel Reuting and his opponent from Attica Seneca East, Alex Young, were evenly matched in their Division III first-round encounter at 215.

Someone had to win, though, and it was not Reuting, who lost by a third-period pin.

Reuting defeated Martins Ferry’s Tayson Palmer 11-3 by major decision in a first-round consolation match before being eliminated in a second-round consolation match by second-period pin at the hands of West Liberty-Salem’s Sam Bradford.

“We had a good opportunity to finish a takedown but couldn’t do so,” head coach Anthony Anderson said. “We started the second period down, and the opponent ended up turning us twice. Then he pinned us late in the period. It was a good experience for Kiel. Obviously, it’s not the way we wanted the tournament to go.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

It was a tough draw for Kent Roosevelt senior Gavin Edwards in the Division II first round at 165. He went up against Marengo Highland’s Cael Gilmore, one of the top wrestlers in the state.

“We knew we had our work cut out for us,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “We were going to have to take some chances and hope for the best. We took some risks, but they didn’t pan out for us.”

The result was a 17-2 defeat by tech fall.

It looked like Edwards was going to reign victorious with just a minute remaining in the third period in his first-round consolation match against Granville’s Luke Sanchez. Edwards was leading 8-5, but he put himself in a bad spot, got caught to his back and ended up getting pinned.

“Gavin wrestled really well. We had a nice gameplan. He executed it very well,” said Dunfee. “Had he not gotten pinned, he had the match won. It was a bummer.”

GIRLS

SOUTHEAST

Riley Diehl had lost couple times at 130 this past season to Mansfield Madison Comprehensive’s Koppert Smith.

RILEY DIEHL

The Southeast freshman would have to oppose Smith again in a third-round consolation match last weekend.

This time, it was a different story.

Diehl finally defeated her Rams thorn in her side by a second-period pin. Make no mistake, it was a very big “Diehl” for the youngster.

“It’s a big jump that shows how far you came during the season,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “It was a really good win, and she was winning pretty handily when she pinned the girl.”

It was the ultimate “pin party” for Diehl, who wound up finishing in sixth place, all through the tournament. Every single one of her matches ended with a pin. Diehl won by a third-period pin in the first round over Perrysburg’s Savannah Mulkey. In the quarterfinals she lost by a second-period pin to the very talented Lewis Center Olentangy Orange’s Lacie Knick.

“We kind of figured it was going to be tough,” said Kuberry. “Riley wrestled hard, but it didn’t really go her way.”

Diehl dominated Gahanna Lincoln’s Mina Gee, triumphing by a third-period pin in a second-round consolation match before losing by first-period pins in the consolation semifinals to West Chester Lakota West’s Kelsey King and in the fifth/sixth-place match to Brunswick’s Marisa McCartin.

AURORA

GIULIA ZAYAS

Aurora sophomore Giulia Zayas was Aurora’s first-ever qualifier to the state tournament.

She finished eighth at 100, losing the seventh/eighth-place match by a third-period pin to Marysville’s Avery Riley. In the first round Zayas lost by a second-period pin to Batavia’s Madelynn Rennie before winning by second-period pins in her first two consolation matches — over Reynoldsburg’s Aaliyah Dawson and then over Lorain’s Cali Otero. Zayas lost a tough 7-6 third-round consolation match to Hamilton Badin’s Teegan Herrington that placed her in the match for seventh place.

MOGADORE

Head coach Duane Funk believed in his heart that MJ Shellenbarger could capture the state championship at 155 if she competed to her full potential, but Shellenbarger lost by tech fall 18-0 in the first round to Gahanna Lincoln’s KyLee Tibbs, the eventual state champion.

“Right off the bat,” Funk said, “she wrestled the girl who won the state title last season at 140 or 145. The girl was tough. She was really good. MJ just couldn’t really stop her. She would’ve had to wrestle her best to win.”

Shellenbarger won by a first-period pin over Liberty Township Lakota East’s Corinna Sowah in a first-round consolation match before being eliminated in a second-round consolation match by Lebanon’s Natalie Carlisle by a second-period pin.

“MJ just got her head down and got caught and couldn’t move and just couldn’t get out,” said Funk. “She had a great career, though.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

Penny Edwards gave it her all, but the Kent Roosevelt sophomore lost 5-4 to Bloomdale Elmwood’s Triniti Bechstein at 110 in a first-round consolation match that ended her state tournament.

Ewards had started out losing by a third-period pin to Vincent Warren’s Emma Gorrell in the first round of the main draw.

“Although Penny didn’t get the outcome she was looking for, she shouldn’t have any regrets knowing that she gave 110 percent effort,” head coach Ryan Fankhauser said. “I’m excited to see what the future has in store for her. Now that she’s had a taste of the big show, I expect some adjustments will be made in her training during the offseason, and Penny will be back next season even better.”