Mapleton's Brock Durbin, Northwestern's Collin Good shine at Husky Invite

WEST SALEM — The highly-anticipated 126-pound final at the Husky Invitational between Mapleton’s Brock Durbin and Northwestern’s Trent Sigler had all the thrills of a postseason match.

And with the lights on, Durbin wanted to make a statement.

The junior did just that, storming out to an early lead and never looking back en route to taking the victory and highlighting a strong day for locals in the annual tournament at Northwestern.

“I just tried to give him everything that I had,” said Durbin, minutes after his 16-7 major decision of Sigler. “I knew I could get the takedowns that I wanted. I wanted to go for a lot of singles and that seemed to work.”

Durbin, who moved down to 126 from 132, was able to turn a modest 4-1 lead after the opening period into a six-point lead after the second before opening the match up for good as he used a relentless attack on Sigler in a battle of state-ranked opponents.

It was an efficient performance that was enough for Durbin to be named the Most Valuable Wrestler for the lightweight classes. Northwestern 175-pounder Collin Good was the MVW for the upper weights.

For Durbin, who is currently ranked eighth at 132 by borofanohio, the win was nice, but it was more about continuing to improve as he strives to make a third straight state appearance later this season.

“This weekend, I wanted to keep moving forward and fine-tune some mistakes, so I can go into sectionals, districts and state with a good, positive attitude,” Durbin said. “I need to trust my abilities.

“I don't like losing, so it has pushed me to get in those extra workouts,” he added. “And when I start to feel lazy, I think of me losing (at state) and I want to get better and better.”

Durbin wasn’t the only area wrestler to walk away with the win as six others also won. Mapleton’s Chase Sword (113 pounds), Loudonville’s Issac Wittel (138), Northwestern’s Anthony Huber (150), Northwestern’s Good (175) and Loudonville’s Caleb Gregory (190) also posted victories.

The wins from Wittel and Gregory capped off a solid weekend for a Redbirds team that was fifth overall in the 13-team field. Loudonville finished with 134 points, just ahead of host Northwestern (6th, 121½), Mapleton (9th, 101), Ashland (10th, 96) and Hillsdale (13th, 16). Keystone took the title with 227½.

Wittel and Gregory both went a perfect 4-0, all coming via pins, to win their respective weight classes, Wittel eventually wearing down Liberty’s Konnor Seifert for a second-period pin, while Gregory was able to takedown Dalton’s Seth Ryder at the 3:20 mark.

“I tried to turn him a couple of times (in the first) and then in the second, I chose down, so I had to get out and get to work,” Wittel said of his win. “Once you get that first takedown, you just work from there. (Seifert) got out there (in the second) and I was able to put him down again.”

For Gregory it was about using a steady attack to earn his first tournament win of the winter.

“I was able to consistently get in on the wrist,” the senior said. “I got a little higher than I wanted to, a couple times, but I just kept working it and working it and it eventually came.

“At first I was just feeling him out and from there it was just about working it and wearing him down.”

Good simply wore down all five of his opponents, earning three victories by technical fall and the other two by pin.

That effort, along with taking advantage of his opportunities, was on full display in his first-place bout as he stormed out to an early lead and never looked back in a 15-0 tech fall of Keystone’s Dante Ortiz.

“He was coming in super-heavy on the head, so I was just looking for an elbow pass, it opens up that single really easy,” Good said. “He kept leaving a lot of things open. My go-to move is the cradle and it was almost like he was asking for it.”

Huber gave up an early takedown, but bounced back with seven straight points, the final two leading to a pin of Keystone’s Paul Horten at the 3:20 mark.

“I just had to stay strong and stay on top; that helped me win,” Huber said. “That gave me a little bit of anger there, when he got his first takedown, and I just capitalized after that.”

The other local winner was Sword, who took home his first gold medal since his eighth-grade season.

Sword, a sophomore, used the motivation of his five early-season losses to finish his day with an 8-1 decision.

“This is the best match that I've wrestled all year,” he said. “It was just control. I've been losing too many matches from being just being too pumped up, matches I shouldn't lose. It kind of just all fell into place today.”

Along with Sigler, the area also had a pair of other runner-up finishers Saturday. Returning state qualifier Drew Spreng of Loudonville was second at 120, while Ashland’s Dylan Wodzisz dropped his finals match at 215.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Wrestling: Brock Durbin, Collin Good look dominant at Husky Invite