By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

The Kent Roosevelt boys wrestling team produced three individual champions Dec. 23 in the Fort Frye Tournament at Fort Frye High School. Freshman Jacob Dunfee and sophomore Carter Fertig each went 3-0 in the 106-pound weight division and at 120, respectively. Junior Gavin Edwards won all five of his matches at 157.

“Jacob was relentless,” head coach Chris Dunfee said. “He wrestled really well, wrestled very clean. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes. He was putting constant pressure on his opponents.

“I was very happy with the way he showed up. It’s his first high-school championship. Carter wrestled really well on top. He did a really nice job putting constant pressure on and getting turns. He’s really blossoming into a solid varsity kid for us.

“Gavin is the leader of our team. He’s learning how to become a champion. He wrestled really well, really solid. He was dominant on the seat and was putting constant pressure on his opponents. He’s in awesome shape. Conditioning-wise, he’s top notch. He’s one of the hardest workers you’re ever going to find.”

Team wise, the Rough Riders finished second to Cleveland Central Catholic out of 17 teams.

“I was very proud of the way the team wrestled,” said the elder Dunfee. “It’s really exciting to see them put it all together. Hard work is paying off.”

• Next for Kent Roosevelt: at Stow on Saturday for a dual-meet tournament.

KENT ROOSEVELT GIRLS

Kent Roosevelt freshman Penny Edwards (Gavin’s sister) won 2-of-3 matches to place second in the 100-pound weight class in the 5th annual Hubbard Holiday Tournament Dec. 22 at Hubbard High School. She is now 6-2 on the season.

“Penny was up by eight points in the finals over a senior, but ended up having bad positioning and got stuck. It was frustrating for her, but it was an excellent learning experience for her,” head coach Ryan Fankhauser said. “She’s wrestling like an experienced wrestler. She’s very dominant on top. All but one of her wins this season have been by pin; the other was by tech fall.”

• Next for Kent Roosevelt: Lady Longhorn Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Rocky River Lutheran West High School. The starting times are 11 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

SOUTHEAST

The Southeast wrestling team was not 100 percent healthy, but the Pirates still managed to place fifth out of 18 teams Dec. 20-21 in the Waterloo D3 Classic at Waterloo High School.

Garrettsville Garfield won the championship, while Akron Manchester finished second.

“Going into that tournament with a healthy lineup, we kind of felt like we should be competing for the title,” head coach Shane Kuberry said. “So for the guys to go in and finish in fifth place when we didn’t have some of our guys who would’ve scored us a lot of team points and would’ve advanced pretty far in the brackets, I was very happy with our effort. I feel like it was an opportunity for some of our younger guys to grow and really contribute to a high team finish. We’re doing it without a lot of our pieces that we’re hopeful to have back soon.”

Leading the way were junior Braeden Martin who finished second (4-2 record) in the 106-pound weight class and sophomore Korbin Klatka who was runner-up at 144 (6-1).

“Braeden made a huge improvement from day one to day two. I was super proud of how hard he wrestled. That was a good tournament for him,” said Kuberry. “That was Korbin’s highest varsity finish that he’s ever had. It was his first varsity final. He lost in overtime in the final. He was leading the match coming down towards the end, caught a stall call and then got taken down in overtime. Last year, he’s probably not even in that match. He’s grown so much, and he’s wrestling so tough that we’re expecting really good things from him the entire season. I’m super proud of him.”

Sophomore Lucas Willitt (150) and junior Landon Durstine (215) both finished third.

“That was Lucas’ highest varsity finish that he’s ever had,” the coach said. “He wrestled super smart and just wrestled super tough all weekend and won some close matches. He did what he had to do. A third-place finish for him is really good there. You can see the growth with him. I think that wrestling with Korbin in the room is really helping him. They’re really pushing each other. Landon had a tough semifinal loss. We felt like he was going to be in that match and have a chance to make the final. He got head locked, but the way he responded and bounced back to wrestle for third was super impressive. It shows how much he’s matured.”

On Dec. 19 Southeast competed in a double dual meet with host Crestwood, Norton and Burton Berkshire. The Pirates defeated Berkshire 53-24 but fell to Crestwood by about 15 points.

Senior Brice Schoenbaechler won both of his matches in the 157-pound weight class as did sophomore Jack Corll at 138.

“I think for Brice it’s just an opportunity for a kid who has come into his senior year who loves wrestling, and he finally gets a chance to actually wrestle a match against somebody who’s not in our room,” said Kuberry. “He got banged up a little bit and had to miss most of the start of the season. Just being able to get him out there helps us and definitely helps him. Jack is really starting to grow. You can kind of see him get a little bit better.”

Also performing well was Klatka at 144.

“Korbin wrestled super tough for us,” Kuberry said. “He just has matured so much from last year. He’s putting all the pieces together. He’s wrestling at a really high level.”

• Next for Southeast: Portage County Tournament on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. at Ravenna High School.

MOGADORE BOYS

Mogadore boys wrestling head coach Duane Funk was more than pleased with his team’s performance in the Wildcats’ season opener Dec. 20-21 at the Waterloo D3 Classic at Waterloo High School. Mogadore finished in the top five of the 25-team tournament. Garrettsville Garfield won the title, and Akron Manchester finished second.

Mogadore’s Owen Roberts competing at the Waterloo D3 Classic.
Eddie Roberts/Special to Portage Sports

“We did well. I’m very happy with where we’re at at this stage of the season,” Funk said. “We’re battling some injuries, so we only took nine kids. We placed five out of the nine, so that’s not too bad.”

The Wildcats had three individual champions – seniors Owen Roberts in the 132-pound weight division (7-0 record) and Matthew Plum at 165 (8-0) and junior Dylan Benedun at 215 (8-0).

“Owen wrestled very well. He had good technique,” said Funk. “He did a good job on offense, and his defense was very good. He wrestled tough, wrestled all three periods. He had a heck of a finals match in beating a very solid kid from (North Jackson) Jackson Milton in the finals.

“Matthew was a little undersized because he couldn’t get down to 157 yet. He wrestled very well, though. He’s a very good technician. He was solid on offense and defense. I was very happy with his performance. Because he wasn’t bigger or stronger than his opponents, he had to out-technique them and out-wrestle them, and he did.

“Dylan did fantastic. He won the tournament’s Pin Award for having the least amount of mat time in the tournament. He had a very strong performance. He looked really good.”

• Next for Mogadore: Portage County Tournament on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. at Ravenna High School.

MOGADORE GIRLS

Mogadore junior Mackenzie Shellenbarger captured an individual championship in the 170-pound weight class Dec. 22 in the fifth annual Hubbard Holiday Tournament at Hubbard High School.

“Mackenzie had a very dominant performance. She won every one of her five matches by pin,” Funk, also the girls head coach, said. “She was a little underweight because she’s going to be going down to 155, but she out-wrestled all of her opponents. She was quicker than them, had solid technique and hit her moves.”

Junior Kai Gaetjens finished third at 135.

“Kai started off by wrestling the second seed, the girl who wound up winning the title,” said Funk. “She was the only one who took her to the third period all day. She wrestled solid all the way back to third place, got several pins.”

The Wildcats finished 12 th out of more than 30 teams.

• Next for Mogdaore: Lady Longhorn Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Rocky River Lutheran West High School. The starting times are 11 a.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

STREETSBORO

Two sophomore wrestlers captured individual championships for Streetsboro in leading the Rockets to a third-place finish Dec. 20-21 in the 25-team Hudson Holiday Invitational Tournament at Hudson High School. Medina won the team title.

Johnny Bollinger won the championship in the 106-pound weight class, and Jarreau Walker won the title at 113. Both won all four of their respective matches.

“Johnny had an absolutely beautiful tournament,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said. “He was extremely tough on his feet. He did a fantastic job on riding his opponents and scoring his points. Jarreau is a superstar. He’s extremely athletic, he’s extremely skilled. His performance was second to none. He dominated every opponent, tech falling his opponent in the finals.”

Senior Cohen Klimak finished second at 165. He lost to a Medina opponent in the last seconds in the finals.

“Cohen had a takedown right at the buzzer to win that finals match,” Skonieczny said, “but the officials discussed it and said time was out before the takedown. He wrestled a great tournament. He was dominant on his feet, controlled his opponents.”

• Next for Streetsboro: Brecksville-Broadview Heights Tournament at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School on Sunday and Monday. The starting time both days is 11 a.m.

CRESTWOOD

The Crestwood wrestling team competed in a double-dual meet Dec. 19 at home against Norton, Southeast and Burton Berkshire. The Red Devils defeated the Pirates by about 15 points after falling to the Panthers in a close one 36-33.

Rocco Wrobel won by pin in the 113-pound weight class as did Ty Berquist at 165 and his brother Michael Berquist at 175.

“Rocco looked good, he looked very strong, he looked very technical,” head coach Dave Wrobel said. “He was able to work on his feet.”

Other Crestwood wrestlers that won were Tyler Devlin at 120 and Brenton Mason at 190.

Said the elder Wrobel, “Both Tyler and Brenton really stepped up.”

In the match against Norton, the Red Devils jumped out to a 12-0 lead only because the Panthers had forfeits at 106 and 113. The Panthers, though, won every match except at 132 until the 165-pound weight division to take the lead.

Crestwood, however, began to get big wins with Ty Berquist pinning his opponent at 165 and Michael Berquist tech falling his opponent at 175. Mason then pinned his opponent at 190, and Doug Sipes won his match at 215 to put the Red Devils back on top 33-30 heading to the heavyweight match.

“Because we don’t have a heavyweight, we bumped up one of our 215-pounders, freshman Logan Brown, up to heavyweight,” Wrobel said. “He was undersized, but we had to throw him out there instead of forfeiting to try to preserve the win.”

Brown was pinned, clinching defeat for the Red Devils.

“The meet was exciting, back and forth,” Wrobel said. “It was a good dual.”

• Next for Crestwood: Kenston Invitational on Friday and Saturday Kenston High School in Chagrin Falls. The starting times are noon on Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

RAVENNA

Ravenna sophomore Bradley Davis finished fourth in the 190-pound weight class (3-2 record) Dec. 20-21 in the Hudson Holiday Invitational Tournament at Hudson High School.

“Bradley wrestled a heck of a tournament,” head coach Eric Kline said. “He’s really opened up this season with chain wrestling. Chain wrestling is where you hit one move, and if that’s not there you look for a second or third move. His chain wrestling has really advanced this season. He’s looking really good at all three positions – top, bottom and neutral. He also put in a lot of work in the offseason, and it’s relay paid off.”

Overall, the Ravens placed 24th out of 25 teams.

“We only took four wrestlers,” said Kline. “Five of our starters are either sick or seriously injured.”

Junior Dominic Heeter (sixth at heavyweight) and senior Jayden Pudder (167) both went 2-2.

“Dominic had a strong tournament,” Kline said. “He had to wrestle a kid from Stow-Munroe Falls who’s ranked in the top 10 in the state. He wrestled him tough. He lost his deciding match to place fifth by one point. I’ve seen a lot of improvements with him. Good things are going to happen with him. Jayden has come a long way. He’s really putting in the work this season and has really shown a lot of improvement. He was close to placing.”

• Next for Ravenna: Portage County Tournament on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. at Ravenna High School.

AURORA

The Aurora wrestling team defeated both Mayfield 52-27 and Chardon 60-24 in a tri- meet Dec. 19 at home. Greenmen who finished 2-0 for the meet were Nick Turba (113-pound weight class), Johnny Green (120), Dan Culliton (126), Cole Munn (132), Grant Eaton (138),

Drake Brasiel (157), Cole Walton (165) and A.J. Bruno (175).

• Next for Aurora: Brecksville-Broadview Heights Tournament at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School on Sunday and Monday. The starting time both days is 11 a.m.