Six district champs lead 10 area state qualifiers

Mar. 4—ROSSFORD — Wrestlers from Edison, Monroeville and St. Paul claimed district championships on Saturday at Rossford to lead 10 area qualifiers to the Division III state championships next weekend.

The Chargers, projected to finish state runners-up in the team standings, also finished second on Saturday with 114.5 points, which was behind Archbold (148.5). Monroeville — projected to finish fifth next week — scored 109.5 points to finish in fourth at the district.

For Edison, Abe Hermes (113 pounds), Max Hermes (120) and Kohen Horvath (150) again won their respective weight classes.

Abe (25-1) began his tournament with a pair of pins in 3:31 and 2:42 over Gibsonburg's Israel Limon and Archbold's Jordan Rodriguez, respectively. He advanced to the finals with a 15-2 major decision over Archbold's Mason Miller, also a 100-plus career winner.

Abe then drew Delta's Tyler Barnes and claimed a tough 4-2 decision in a matchup of the Nos. 3 and 6-ranked kids in the state.

Max Hermes, the defending state champion and again a projected champion next weekend, improved to 48-3 on the season at 120. He pinned Elmwood's Marcus Mossbarger (1:15) and Genoa's Mikey Soto (1:29), then did the same in 3:43 over Delta's Anthony Hernandez to reach the finals.

Facing Otsego's No. 5-ranked Trevor Wilcox, Max then won a 4-1 decision.

Ranked No. 2 in the state, Horvath improved to 42-4 with his four victories at 150. He needed 54 seconds to pin Lakota's Ethan Bomer, then had a 13-3 major decision over Archbold's Ian Grime.

Horvath won a 9-4 decision over Otsego's No. 6 -ranked Lee Borders in the semis, then had an impressive 9-1 major decision over Mohawk's No. 3-ranked Jace Margraf in the finals.

Also for the Chargers, junior Marcus Medina will have another chance to be an All-Ohioan after finishing second at 144 pounds.

Medina pinned Defiance Tinora's Devin Luellen in 2:16, then scored a 24-7 technical fall win over Genoa's Zavier Materni before a 5-0 decision over Monroeville's Landen Roeder in the semifinals.

The No. 1-ranked Medina (39-7) then fell to No. 2-ranked Brodie Dominique by a 3-1 decision in a potential state championship match next weekend.

Monroeville's 1-2 punch of Hunter Vogus and Ashton Homan again led a total of four Eagles advancing to state.

Also a projected state champ, Homan (39-5) opened with a 15-0 technical fall win over Delta's Parker Cone. He pinned Lakota's Grant Bomer in 3:20, then added a 9-0 major decision over Liberty Center's Jackson Bartels.

Facing Oak Harbor's No. 5-ranked Owen Miller in the final, Homan held him off for a 2-0 decision win.

Ranked No. 2 in the final state rankings, Vogus (42-7) had three pins and a decision at 132 pounds. He pinned Patrick Henry's Jaidem Rutter in 36 seconds, then outlasted Defiance Tinora's No. 9-ranked Anden Ankney with a 2-0 decision in the quarterfinals.

Vogus then cursed from there, pinning Delta's Landon Lintermoot in 1:44 and Archbold's Gabe Chapa in 4:39 in the finals.

Also for the Eagles, Brencyn Evans was second at 157, while Roeder (36-12) was fourth at 144 to both qualify for state.

Evans (39-8) began his tournament with a pin in 3:15 over Findlay Liberty-Benton's Will Chiow, then added a 10-1 major decision over Antwerp's Eli Reinhart. He won a 3-2 decision over Tinora's Aiden Helmke to reach the finals, where the No. 21-ranked Evans fell to Defiance Ayersville's No. 17 Kasen Wellman in a 7-2 decision.

After Roeder opened with two wins with a pin in 1:35 over Evergreen's Isaac Overfield and posted an 11-3 major decision over Findlay Liberty-Benton's Avery Allen, he fell to Medina and down to the consolation rounds.

Needing one win to get to state, he posted an 11-2 major decision over Lakota's Cody Biddle before falling to No. 3-ranked Crestview standout Hayden Kuhn in the third-place match by a 4-0 decision.

"Overall, I'm extremely proud and excited about our showcase today," Monroeville head coach Tylor Nester said. "We were hoping for a couple more to get out, but the overall progress top to bottom will all our wrestlers that made it to districts we were extremely pleased with.

"We made a ton of growth and are hitting our stride at the right time," he added. "Hunter led and set for the team coming out on top. When you start winning as a team it becomes contagious. Ashton had a heck of tournament an continued to improve in all positions. Brencyn avenged some losses earlier this year, and Landen battled through a bracket that four out of the top five placements came from our sectional. Getting four down to Columbus is absolutely awesome, and beats our mark of three over the last couple of years."

For St. Paul, defending state champion Casper Caizzo improved to 32-2 and also won the 126-pound weight class. He had a pair of pins in 4:53 and 1:41 over Otsego's Owen Kasza and Archbold's Jack Buchhop, respectively.

Caizzo then won a 4-0 decision over Delta's Evan Hanefeld, and won by the same score in the finals over Seneca East's Nathan Parks in a matchup of No. 5 vs. No. 6 in the weight class.

"Casper wrestled two smart matches against opponents he lost to his freshman year at the districts, so it felt good for him to get those today," St. Paul head coach Jesse Gross said. "Although he didn't light up the scoreboard today, he controlled the pace of the matches and was never in any trouble.

"Winning back-to-back district championships in the Northwest is no small feat, but we are looking forward to making another run at the state tournament next," he added.

At 190, Plymouth standout Colton Sparks responded from a loss to the projected state champion to come back and place third to earn his return trip to state.

Ranked No. 3, Sparks pinned Oak Harbor's Scott Smith in 1:29 before he was pinned in 5:33 against Defiance's Abe DeLano (49-4). Needing to come back in the consolation bracket, Sparks won a 3-1 decision over Port Clinton's Meyers, then pinned Woodmore's No. 14-ranked Eli Wolph in 4:14 before a 10-4 decision over Lakota's No. 19 Jon Rosas to earn his state spot.

Wrestling for third place, Sparks (46-2) then won a 5-0 decision over Delta's Connor Sintobin.

The state championships will get underway at 1 p.m. on Friday (March 10) inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University. The state title matches are slated to begin at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 12.

DIVISION II

Area shut out at Norwalk

NORWALK — At the Div. II district championship meet in Norwalk, the area did not earn a state qualifier, though came close.

At 126, Norwalk junior Austin Ware's season came to a close one win shy of state. After getting a win by default, Ware lost a 9-3 decision to Clyde's Dawson Brimmer to drop down to the consolation bracket.

There, Ware won a pair of matches, including a 12-0 major decision over Ontario's Owen Reamsnider and a 10-6 decision over Defiance's Viktor Jurcevich. Facing Clear Fork standout Peyton Hoskins (46-7) in the "go-to-state" match, Ware was pinned in 1:45.

Ware finished the season with a 35-14 record.

Ryan Fox went 2-2 at 175 for the Truckers, and finished the season with a 47-13 record.

Also winning a match for the Truckers included Jackson James at 120.

"It wasn't the ending we were hoping for but this team is young with a ton of untapped talent," Norwalk head coach Erich Metzger said. "Really proud of Austin Ware. The kid just wants it. The way he works, especially when he feels he has something to prove ... he is a force.

"After talking to him at the end of they day I wouldn't want to be his opponent next season," he added. "Some look at it as the end of the season, we look at it as the beginning of next year. Coach (Tracy) Hivnor and I have already started planning for the summer and next season. I am proud of this team and excited for the future of Norwalk wrestling."

At 132, Willard freshman Luke Slone went 2-2 to finish his season at 28-13.