Portage Wrestling Report | Rootstown impresses at Cardinal, CVCA
Expectations are high, even higher than usual, for the powerhouse Rovers this season.
For good reason, as Rootstown wrestling has demonstrated through the first couple of weeks.
That included a dominant performance this past weekend at the Russ Ward Memorial in which the Rovers didn't just win, but their winning margin was nearly 200 points. (Rootstown accumulated a whopping 372 points, well ahead of runner-up Firelands, which had 180.5, and Pymatuning Valley, which tallied 166.)
What the Rovers did Wednesday night was arguably more impressive.
That's when Rootstown ventured over to Wyoga Lake Road and topped both Division II Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy and Division I Highland in dual matches. While Rovers coach Craig Wise noted that the Hornets and Royals were missing a couple of wrestlers, he also noted that his team relished taking on bigger schools.
"Because they're a Catholic school or a Christian school or Division I, why are they tougher than you?" Wise said. "Absolutely, that's our battle cry. 100 percent. We love it."
This past Saturday, Rootstown junior Tyler Paulus was the man of the meet, topping the 11th-ranked wrestler in Division II, Kevin Williams of Firelands, in the 138-pound championship match.
"He had the biggest one of the day," Wise said. "He's a junior, so he's an upperclassman and he's stepping up, and so far, he's taking care of business. We've got a plan for his matches and he's executing, he's being a bully out there, so that's what we wanted to do."
On Wednesday, it was actually a backup, albeit a very talented backup, that stole the show in Damien Reuting.
After all, the Rootstown freshman did more than fill in.
Reuting won his match against Highland senior Joey Zywiec, the 20th-ranked wrestler at 138 pounds in Division I according to BoroFan.
"That was the match-up of the night [Wednesday] night, so Damien Reuting got to wear the crown on the way home," Wise said. "He went down 5-0 or 4-0 early, was down 6-3 late, and cradled to tie and then cradled to win in the last minute. He's buying in and he's an incredible athlete."
Reuting is emblematic of a Rovers team that didn't just return a massive number of district qualifiers from a season ago.
With 30 athletes, this is also the largest Rootstown team Wise has had yet, and that depth was demonstrated yet again with Reuting's victory.
"This is the first year we've really been deep like we are," Wise said. "It's obviously a great deal for the coach to get to know that we've got some kids that'll step in and handle their business."
Streetsboro wrestling impresses at North Coast
The Rockets are right up there with the Rovers in terms of deep teams that could do some serious damage this season.
This past weekend, Streetsboro earned runner-up honors at the 32-team North Coast Classic behind only Nordonia, including a championship at 126 pounds from Anthony Perez.
Fellow senior Donovan Paes (132) added runner-up honors, while Aidan Carone (106) snagged third.
Joey Fedor (7th, 215), Matt Klimak (6th, 113), Cameron Rogowski (8th, 120) and Hunter Smith (7th, 138) also placed for the Rockets, while Cohen Klimak was an undefeated placer, defaulting to eighth after only wrestling the first day of the two-day tournament.
Drake Rennecker, JP Wrobel start strong for Crestwood
The Red Devils have also gotten off to a strong start, with Drake Rennecker and JP Wrobel both placing at the team's first two tournaments.
Wrobel (126 pounds), a two-time state qualifier, took third at both the Solon Comet Classic and the North Coast Classic, leaving him at 14-2 with 10 pins.
Rennecker (144), one of Crestwood's wrestlers on the rise, placed sixth at Solon and second at Independence and is now 11-4 with seven pins.
The Portage Wrestling Report will run weekly throughout the season. Please feel free to email feature ideas/news/results to jrosenblum@recordpub.com!
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage Wrestling Report | Rootstown impresses at Cardinal, CVCA
