District wrestling: Mobley, Maple punch state tickets
STEUBENVILLE — Cruz Mobley had to do things the hard way, but the end result was the same.
River View's standout senior, battling sickness, dropped his quarterfinal match on Friday at the Division II district at Steubenville High School, but Saturday posed another opportunity.
The 215-pounder took full advantage, winning four straight matches in the consolation bracket — three on Saturday — en route to a third place finish. It sealed his berth at next week's state tournament at Ohio State's Value City Arena in Columbus.
His primary goal is to regain full health, so he's not climbing uphill against the state's best like that of his district journey. It ended with a rousing third-period pin of Greenfield McClain's Ethan Hill with just four seconds remaining.
The win set the school's all-time pins record and led to Mobley and Black Bears coach Devin Klein to show some rare outward emotion.
It was one of his gutsiest wins, considering the health issues. He improved to 44-6.
"My gas tank definitely isn't there like it normally is," Mobley said. "It was a rough two days, I'll tell you that. It was definitely not where I wanted to be, but it's where I ended up. Sometimes you have to take the back road and just floor it, see where get."
Mobley earned a first-period pin against fellow Muskingum Valley League foe Isaac McKinney, of Sheridan, in the first round. That put him in a tough second-round matchup with Indian Valley sophomore Jaxon Burcher, a No. 1 seed who edged him, 6-4, on Friday night.
But he fought back, dominating his way for two pins before a 13-1 major decision in the qualifying match against Gallipolis Gallia Academy's Michael Henry to seal his state berth.
He'll take a No. 3 seed into the state by virtue of his consolation finals win against Hill, whom he took to his back with a vicious takedown with time slipping away. He reached his second state tournament in as many years.
"It was definitely another obstacle I had to jump over, I guess," Mobley said of his consolation adventure. "But when your heart is set on something, you just have overcome it and let it go."
Classmate Brady Winner, in his first year of wrestling, was on the verge of knocking down the door at 285 after reaching the semifinals following a pair of second-period pins.
But he dropped a 3-2 decision to New Lex's Zane Pletcher, who won on Saturday despite giving Winner two penalty points after grabbing his headgear.
It dropped him into the qualifying match against Claymont senior Wyatt Shaw, who pinned him in the first period to end his state aspirations. He then fell, 8-4, to New Philadelphia's Garrett Dillon-Rine in the fifth-place match.
Winner finished 27-13.
In Division III, Ridgewood senior Jesse Maple fell short of a district title, but earned his third straight state berth by placing third at 132 pounds.
Maple opened the tournament with a 40-second pin of Westfall's Wyatt Ward then pinned Martins Ferry's Jonathan Rossano in 47 seconds in the quarterfinals. However, Maple lost a hard-fought 2-0 decision to Newark Catholic's Brian Luft in his semifinal match.
He rebounded with an 8-1 decision against West Jefferson's Ryder Brown to reach the third-place match and edged Johnstown Northridge's Treven Angus 3-1 to place third overall.
“I was at 138, but I’m stronger at 132," noted Maple, who is 41-4. "I had one bad mistake that cost me (in the Luft match), gave up an early takedown, and that was the difference. I've done a lot of off-season stuff and am trying to get on the podium this year."
His General teammates weren't as fortunate. Sophomore Aiden Sparger lost both of his matches at 150 pounds to finish 32-18 on the year, while sophomore Logan Sesser went 1-2 at 285 and was 35-15.
Coshocton senior Zane Stanton also went 1-2 at 190 pounds and finished the season 12-9.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: District wrestling: Mobley, Maple punch state tickets
