District wrestling: MVL's best bring home hardware

STEUBENVILLE — The Muskingum Valley League's usual suspects were at it again on Saturday.

New Lexington's Ethan Burkhart and Hunter Rose and Philo's Drew Lincicome, who entered the Division II district tournament with 136 combined wins, showed again why they were considered the best the MVL had to offer on Saturday at Steubenville High School.

All three earned titles as the MVL advanced eight to next week's Division II state tournament at Ohio State's Value City Arena. Four came from New Lex, which won the league tournament, and also had an alternate in 215-pound Jesse Wood.

The Panthers sent their second-most wrestlers to state in program history. Its five district placers were tied for the most, as the team totaled 112 points and finished third behind champion Millersburg West Holmes (159) and runner-up Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (114 1/2).

It was the second time the Panthers finished third in the district. The top four finishers in each weight class earned state berths.

"I feel like we've exceeded expectations this year," said Burkhart, who improved to 41-0 with his title at 106. "I feel like Hunter is a top six wrestler, maybe top four. Sam is a placer, Zane is a top four. Jesse went to the semis.

"We just go match by match every week," Burkhart said. "That's all we do. We tell ourselves that the first match of the first tournament is the most important match. You wrestle it out until the finals."

Burkhart earned the crown with a 9-3 decision against Washington Court House Miami Trace's Lyric Dickerson, which followed a 2-0 win in the semifinals against Carrollton's Landon Jenkins. He also defeated Jenkins, 3-0, in the finals at Licking Valley on Jan. 7.

He earned a second-period reversal, which were the only points of the match on Saturday. Jenkins got in tight on a cradle attempt, but Burkhart fought it off.

"I felt pretty confident coming into the season," Burkhart said. "I feel like I can do a lot next week, so I am doing try and do my best there. I'm pretty excited. I don't feel like I've had a lot of competition, because I haven't gone into the third period losing a match all year. I want to feel that and push myself more."

Rose, 46-6 entering Saturday, was soon to follow at 165. He earned a takedown in the closing seconds to break a 5-all tie, then earned a two-point decision against lanky Washington Court House sophomore Mack Parsley in the finals.

Prior to that, he had two first-period pins and a 15-3 major decision against New Philadelphia junior Edgar Mejia-Ramos; his 54-second pin in the semifinals came against a sectional champ in Wintersville Indian Creek sophomore Ethan Llewellen, who won two consolation matches to place third.

The drama was soon to come.

Lincicome, now 49-1, also earned two early pins and a major decision of Carrollton's Ben Zinda in the semifinals to get to the finals at 190. He saw a familiar foe there in third-ranked Kaiden Haines, of Minerva, and a late takedown in the third period proved the difference in a 3-1 win that brought the Electric faithful to their feet.

He pinned Haines, who pinned Morgan's Logan Niceswanger in the third period in the semifinals, in the sectional finals last week. This one was tight from the start, but Haines' only point came on a third-period escape after Lincicome nearly rode him out.

Like Burkhart and Jenkins, they will be in opposite brackets next week.

"I knew it was going to be a tough match," Lincicome said. "It was going to be different than last week. I knew he would give me a fight, but I put faith in my preparation and my training. I knew things would work out."

Haines became visibly frustrated the longer the match progressed, something Lincicome sensed. Once it became tied at 1, Lincicome hit a low single-leg takedown that took Haines to his back.

He came away pleased with his tournament, adding his warmup was strong and had him ready.

"Just everybody being here, us bringing seven guys was important," Lincicome said. "I had all of these guys in my ear telling me, 'you got this.' That's more important than they even realize."

Meanwhile, Niceswanger, who himself has seen plenty of Lincicome this season, earned a second-period pin of Gallia Academy's Cole Hines in the qualifying match to punch his ticket. He placed fourth after falling to Zinda in the third-place match.

New Lex heavyweight Zane Pletcher reached the finals without yielding a takedown, and he held a 1-0 lead on top-ranked Elisha Baldridge, of West Holmes, before the latter tied it with an escape.

Baldridge then got the benefit of a borderline takedown along the out-of-bounds line to get a 3-1 lead, then got another in the third period to pad his lead and earn a 5-1 win.

It was the only match that Baldridge, who barely registers as a heavyweight, didn't get a pin. Pletcher feels he can be a top four placer, and his wins at the sectional against thrid-ranked Trevor Banks, of Chillicothe, and fourth-ranked T.J. Fulgham, of Circleville, would indicate it is more than wishful thinking.

"I was just trying to get an escape and get him into overtime, to be honest," said Pletcher of his finals match. "Once he got that two, I kept trying to get up, but he kept picking my leg up and I'd go straight down."

Others earning state berths were Sheridan's Coltyn Reedy, who was third at 138, New Lexington's Sam Longhenry, who took fourth at 175, and River View's Cruz Mobley, who was third at 215 after winning four straight matches in the consolation bracket.

Reedy shut out New Philadelphia's Tyler Ulmer (3-0) and Steubenville's Cal Beadling (10-0 major decision) in his final two matches after dropping a tough 7-5 decision to Carrollton's Josh Carman in the semifinals.

Reedy continues to fight through a right hand injury that said continues to impact his grip pressure. He has managed to compete with it taped for several weeks.

He had high hopes, especially going 2-0 on Friday, but couldn't get over the hump against Carman, ranked fourth by borofan.

"It's not the result I wanted, but I still got the angle," Reedy said. "I just have to keep working hard. ... I had the No. 1 overall seed (in Carman) and should have beaten him. There are just some little things I needed tightened up before next weekend."

Wood was joined as an alternate by Tri-Valley sophomore Slade Armstrong and Philo's Talan Bailey, who lost his qualifying match, 8-7, to Steubenville's Savier Faulks at 150. He then cruised to a 20-3 technical fall against Bidwell River Valley's Tanner Young in the fifth-place match.

Armstrong suffered a hard-luck 5-4 loss in the semifinals at 132 to West Holmes' Hunter McCluggage before dropping his qualifying match, 11-2, to Claymont's Elijah Parrish. He rebounded with a 10-6 win over Indian Valley's Hunter Albright to take fifth.

His teammate, Jason Patterson, finished sixth at 150 after falling to Claymont's Thayne Mehaffey, 7-5, in his qualifying match. He fell 5-3 to Miami Trace's Ethyn Munro in the fifth-place match.

Division III

West Muskingum senior Konnor Samson will head to Columbus after reaching the finals at 150, but finished second after being pinned in 1:03 by Barnesville's Reese Stephen.

Samson was the lone area qualifier in the district tournament at Harrison Central.

"I'm a two-time district placer, sixth last year, and had not made the state tournament so this was definitely a goal," Samson said. "Weight control has been the biggest thing for me. I feel way stronger at 150. I went up last year to 172 and didn't do as well."

Samson opened with an 11-2 major decision over Newcomerstown's Domonique Millender then followed with an 11-4 major decision against Elgin's Kaiden Luikart in the quarterfinals on Friday. In the semifinals, Samson outlasted Amanda-Clearcreek's Peyton Beavers for a 9-7 decision which guaranteed a state berth.

West M coach Talor Woodard felt Samson was the tough weight class in Division III and was impressed with how his team competed overall.

"I’m really happy about our team," he said. "We only had five wrestlers all year, and for the first time, our entire team made the district. It was a good showing."

Crooksville's Jacob Hammer was the only other local placer, taking sixth after losing in the consolation semifinals then forfeiting the fifth-place match.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: MVL's best wrestlers bring home hardware at district tournament