Love of wrestling pushes Wadsworth's Jaxon Joy, Perry's Aidan Fockler to OHSAA state titles
Some high school athletes wrestle to stay in shape for football.
Others do it as a way to pass the time between fall and spring sports.
Wadsworth’s Jaxon Joy (132 pounds) and Perry’s Aidan Fockler (285) do it because they love it.
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Jaxon Joy rolled through the bracket once again Sunday for his second big school state title
“I just like the creativity of it,” Joy said. “Every wrestler is different no matter what the size is. It’s just the art of perfecting those techniques and stuff like that. It drives me to be better every day.”
OHSAA state wrestling title comes with no doubt for Wadsworth's Jaxon Joy
Joy ended things with a no-doubt-about-it 5-0 win over St. Edward junior and Medina resident Kade Brown.
The Cornell pledge, who began wrestling when he was 4, wasted no time in getting a cool down run before he met with reporters after title No. 2.
“There's nothing else I'd rather do,” Joy said. “I’m borderline obsessed with it. I mean, I have other things to look forward to, but at the end of the day I just want to wrestle. My goals are a lot higher than winning the state tournament."
Perry's Aidan Fockler wins OHSAA state title at 285 pounds and is already thinking about another one
Like Joy, Fockler is a wrestling-only guy even though he’s big enough to be a linebacker for the Panthers.
The junior erased a second-place two seasons ago and a third-place finish last season with a win over national freestyle champ Aaron Ries of Wadsworth.
It came with the drive he’s known for and the heart that made him Perry’s 34th state champion.
“Wrestling is just one of those sports where you don't need a team to be good,” the Central Michigan commit said. “You just have to worry about yourself, and you got to go out there and perform. As long as you put the work in, you're going to get the results out that you want.”
Those results didn’t come easily as Fockler reversed a loss to Ries at the Grizzly Invitational Tournament.
This time it took a little over eight minutes for the junior to win.
Fockler and Ries traded escapes in regulation and overtime to send it into the ultimate tiebreaker.
Escape in 30 seconds and Fockler wins. Don’t and he loses.
It took nine seconds, but Fockler did it.
“It really says something about someone's fight,” Fockler said. “It says a lot about what’s in their heart. No matter what type of person you are, as long as you don’t quit and put the work in, you can be a champion.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Passion pushes Joy, Fockler to OHSAA state wrestling championships
