By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Jarreau “RoRo” Walker did not try to do anything too flashy at the Division II state tournament in the Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus.

Streetsboro sophomore Jarreau Walker jumps into the arms of his head coach Mark Skonieczny after winning the Division II state championship at 106 pounds.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

He simply did what he needed to do to capture his first state championship in the 106-pound weight class.

It very well could have been his second state title, but after winning the district title last season as a freshman his excessive celebration disqualified him from appearing the state tourney.

“The state tournament is a tournament where you have the best of the best,” head coach Mark Skonieczny said. “Wrestling is like weddings and funerals. You can go from your extreme high emotion during a match, then hit your extreme low in a matter of 5 seconds. You can be up 13-1 with a minute left and end up getting thrown to your back on a headlock and get pinned. When you get to the matches at the state tournament, these kids are all capable of hitting the big move on you, so once you build your lead, you kind of tone it down a little bit and then you want to be more aware of everything.

“And that’s what ‘RoRo’ does. He gets that lead where you’re not going to catch him, he’s up by eight, nine, 10, 11 or 12 points, then he starts to be really picky and choosy,” Skonieczny added. “You don’t put yourself in danger anymore. If Jarreau wanted to, he could’ve really opened up and probably tech falled every one of those kids, but he wrestled very, very intelligently.”

Walker had three major decisions and a tech fall, with the last major decision coming in his 11-3 victory over Jonathan Alder’s Rayce Watson in the finals.

Walker finished the season with an unblemished 35-0 record, giving him a sparkling 74-1 mark thus far in his high school career.

Despite his outstanding season as a freshman, Walker still needed to prove himself.

“RoRo and I had these talks many times,” said Skonieczny. “I told him, ‘You can win Brecksville, you can win Top Gun, but in the state of Ohio you don’t become ‘the man’ until you win that state tournament.’ And he knew that was the one thing he lacked. Not proving it last season really put that little chip on his shoulder that he really needed to get it done this season.”

Skonieczny, who foresees Walker competing at 120 or even 126 next season, expects him to step up and be a leader of the Streetsboro program the next two years.

“We expect him to keep this ball rolling,” he said, “and make the guys around him better.”

Rockets senior Cohen Klimak also wrestled at the state tournament, winning one match at 165 before getting ousted from the tourney. It was Klimak’s third appearance in Columbus. He advanced there as a freshman and sophomore. He is the third-winningest wrestler in school history with 140 wins.

“That 165-pound weight class was the toughest weight class in Division II,” said the coach. “Cohen got beat by the second-place kid and got beat in double overtime by the kid who took fourth in which there were three questionable calls that he should’ve scored points on. He just needed that one call to boost him into the top four.”