League Roundup: Five from Marion area claim MOAC wrestling titles
GALION — Daxton Chase wrestled like he was double parked Saturday at Galion High School.
The Pleasant junior easily won the 144-pound championship at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Wrestling Tournament, scoring four pins over a collective 2 minutes, 11 seconds.
Did he even break a sweat?
"I don’t think so to be honest," he said. "I wanted to get ready for next week and sectionals."
The first order of business for Chase and everyone one else on Saturday was to win conference championships, so business got handled.
Chase pinned Highland's Matthew Scarberry in 1:14, Clear Fork's Landon Schlosser in 36 seconds and Galion's Arius Swaim in 1:06 to set up a championship bout with Scarberry.
With memories of last year's finals at 132 where he lost 2-1 to Ontario's Mason Turnbaugh, he didn't want to leave anything to chance and so he pinned Scarberry in the rematch of the opener in 15 seconds.
"It feels good because last year I took that hard loss in the finals. It was good to bounce back this year and get the win," Chase said. "I shouldn’t have lost that match. Obviously when you lose a match you’re not supposed to, it drives you and motivates you. Yeah, it hurt deep down."
Chase was one of five wrestlers from area schools to claim MOAC championships.
Marion Harding's Samson St. Germain won at 113, while Highland's Caleb Wetzel at 132, Cael Gilmore at 138 and Remington Baker at 150 also earned titles.
"It’s great. I’ve been working really hard throughout the season and getting better," St. Germain said. "In the first tournament here, I ended up taking second in a loss. I’ve been pushing and working really hard during the season."
With just five wrestlers at 113, St. Germain topped Highland's Brendan Lester 5-3 and pinned Clear Fork's Hezekiah Molina 3:11 before topping Lester again 7-2 in the final.
"I definitely feel a lot better about my wrestling and my cardio. I really haven’t been getting tired in my matches. I’ve been wrestling a full, hard six minutes," St. Germain said.
Three champions helped the Scots to a fourth-place finish as a team with 167.5 points behind Clear Fork's 241, Ontario's 236 and Galion's 222. Pleasant was fifth at 131 followed by Shelby's 120, Harding's 114 and River Valley's 70.5.
Starting the championship victories for the Scots was Wetzel.
"I wouldn’t say a surprise, but I knew the kid in the finals was going to be good," Wetzel said of his crown. "I’ve wrestled him before, so I knew it was going to be a tough match. I just stayed confident and trusted the work that I’ve done. I wouldn’t say a surprise, but I knew it was going to be a tough one."
He advanced to the finals after 21-6 and 18-3 technical falls over Galion's Sam Evans and River Valley's Owen Rogers before pinning Harding's Nathan Cunningham in 52 seconds. In the title match against Clear Fork's Jaxon Swank, Wetzel took a 6-4 lead in the final 30 seconds before scoring a pin at the 5:44 mark.
"It proves to me all the extra work I put in mattered," he said "All the extra weight cuts and staying after practice, it was worth it in the end. I look forward to postseason and hopefully I can get it done there, too."
Gilmore knocked off the guy who beat Chase last year at 132. In the 138 title match, the freshman defeated Turnbaugh 6-2.
"It means a lot. I knew I had a tough bracket and the finals match was a revenge match," Gilmore said. "He beat me in the blood round at state in my seventh grade year. I had a chip on my shoulder coming in today."
It showed. He topped River Valley's Adison Babb 15-0 and pinned Clear Fork's Kayden Bostic in 1:41, Galion's Aydan Reyes in 1:38 and Harding's Ridge Barley in 3:58 to make the finals.
"I’ve got some bragging rights and momentum," Gilmore said.
Baker went 5-0 in the tournament, scoring pins of 3:30, 3:27 and 1:32 over Shelby's Chance Jamison, Pleasant's Mason Moore and Harding's Kile Sentieri before edging Galion's Ryder McCabe to reach the finals.
"It means a lot, putting in the hard work to even get to that position where I can wrestle for a championship and winning it and seeing my family and friends cheering me on," Baker said.
In the title bout, he dispatched Clear Fork's Cody Jackson 8-2.
"I’ve wrestled that kid before, and I beat him in an overtime match," Baker said. "To beat him singlehandedly and control the match the whole time was a bigger deal."
Five other area wrestlers ended as MOAC runners-up.
At 106, Highland's Konnery Blaney lost to Aiden Ohl 9-0 in the finals, while Lester took second at 113. Harding's David Backus lost in the finals at 126 to Clear Fork's Peyton Hoskins 8-5; Pleasant's Brandon Mulvaine lost at 157 to Galion's Brodyn Butcher 11-2; Pleasant's Sam Mentzer fell to Clear Fork's Luke Schlosser in 59 seconds.
Finishing third were Rogers at 132, Barkley at 138, River Valley's Diego Sanchez at 175 and Highland's Chandler Stevens at 190.
Taking fourth were Pleasant's Ayden O'Dell at 106, RV's Gabe Thacker at 120, Cunningham at 132, RV's Porter Rick at 165, Pleasant's Sasha Detwiler at 175, Harding's William Dunn at 215 and Pleasant's Luke Flinchbaugh at 285.
Ending in fifth were Pleasant's Sean Murphy at 120, Babb at 138, Sentieri at 150 and Pleasant's Landon O'Donnell at 190.
Claiming sixth were Harding's Chase Marquis at 120, Pleasant's Greyson Haycock at 126, Moore at 150, Highland's Jacob Wymer at 157, RV's Ben Luchene at 190, Pleasant's Elijah Miley at 215 and Harding's Je'Merrion Flournoy-Jacobs at 285.
KMAC
For second straight year, Elgin won the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Wrestling Tournament.
The Comets scored 283 points to outdistance the hosts of Northmor with its 221.5. Centerburg was third at 186, Loudonville fourth at 181, Fredericktown and Lucas fifth at 70, Cardington seventh at 66 and Mount Gilead eighth at 26.
Elgin competes in the KMAC in wrestling only since the Northwest Central Conference does not have enough schools that offer the sport in order to hold its own league tournament.
Elgin's Kaiden Luikart won the KMAC title at 150 pounds as did Jarrod Johnston at 165 and Nels VanGundy at 175, while taking runner-up spots were Aiden Cervantes at 106, Gavin Rhodes at 132, Quinten Harrison at 157, Luke Waldo at 190 and Tyler Pasma at 215.
Finishing third for the Comets were John Willis at 113, Jacob Hostetler at 126, Colton Long at 138 and Russel Sherman at 285. Karson Thomas was fourth at 120.
For Northmor, Cohan Hurt at 106, Brady Carr at 113, Cowin Becker at 126 and C.J. Stoney at 132 all earned championships. Other placers for the Golden Knights were Ethan Amens (second, 120), Bryce Cooper (third, 144), James Eichler (third, 157), Ashton Clark (third, 165) and Nick Amrose (fourth, 215).
Placing for Cardington was Brandon Hughes (fourth, 113), Chris Kinsey (fourth, 150), Wyatt Denney (second, 165) and Dillen Darst (fourth, 175)
Mount Gilead's Cody Meimer was the school's lone placer, getting third at 215.
CBC
At the Central Buckeye Conference Meet at St. Paris Graham, the hosts won it with 320 points, while Jonathan Alder was second at 251. North Union was seventh with 64 points out of 12 teams.
Earning places for the Wildcats were Trace Williams (second, 120), Heath Ferguson (sixth, 138), Jason Cremeans (fifth, 175) and Tyler Cline (third, 215).
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: League Roundup: Five from area claim MOAC wrestling titles
