Young middleweights lead Rootstown to Portage County Tournament title

ROOTSTOWN — As the sun slanted in through the double set of windows that separate the front entrance from the gymnasium, the Rovers' young middleweights shone.

With host Rootstown locked in a tight battle with Streetsboro for the Portage County Tournament crown, sophomore Tyler Paulus, freshmen Brian Youngblood and Tristen McKibben and senior Cody Coontz stacked up back-to-back-to-back-to-back titles.

Tack on a runner-up finish from Will McEwuen and a trio of third-place finishes from Nick Malek, Dylan Wise and Sylas Reiheld and Rootstown (206) captured the team title, ahead of runner-up Garfield (179), which surged late, and third-place Streetsboro (173.5).

"We all just kind of push each other in the room," Youngblood said. "We have this bond where it seems like we hate each other in the wrestling room, and as soon as we're out, we're like best friends again."

Tyler Paulus, Brian Youngblood, Tristen McKibben, Cody Coontz win four straight titles for Rootstown

Tyler Paulus, a sophomore making his PCT debut, got Rootstown rolling by capturing a back-and-forth title clash at 132 with Drake Rennecker. The Crestwood sophomore threatened to take control of the match with a reversal and near fall midway through the second, but Paulus got Rennecker by the side toward the end of the period for a pin.

Next up, Youngblood captured a similarly back-and-forth match. Trailing 2-0 in the first, Youngblood escaped, then got Garfield's Tim Sommer by the ankles to take a 3-2 lead.

"It kind of just came to me all the sudden," Youngblood said. "I don't know how to explain it. During a wrestling match, you don't think. It just comes to you and then you just go."

Knotted at three entering the second, Youngblood, starting on the bottom, spun around quick to get Sommer on his front for a 5-3 lead, then got Sommer by the back of the knee toward the end of the period for a 7-4 lead en route to a 9-7 victory.

"One of my team captains, Cody Coontz, always tells me that I got to finish a shot," Youngblood said. "It's an old middle-school habit that I keep trying to break and I was like, 'Oh, crud, Cody is going to be mad if I don't finish this shot.'"

McKibben's 150-pound title match with Red Devils senior Ethan Strahan was no less epic. Tied at two after a period, McKibben managed to ride Strahan out in the second.

Still knotted at two in the third, McKibben, starting in the down position, escaped and got behind Strahan for two points 30 seconds into the third, holding on for a 4-3 win.

That left the streak alive for Coontz, a PCT runner-up last season who is one of the lone upperclassmen on the Rovers, and Coontz maintained it with a pin in 2:55.

Garfield, Streetsboro climb the team standings

Rootstown's streak finally came to an end in the 165-pound title match, which instead featured a State Route 88 battle of state qualifiers in Garfield junior Hunter Andel (who placed in 2021) and Ravenna senior Shane Michael (who qualified in 2020).

Andel got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, then proved nearly impossible to score on, staying compact on his knees in the second, then riding on top for the bulk of the third.

G-Men sophomore Keegan Sell, another returning state placer, followed with a title at 175. Amazingly, Sell won all three of his matches Saturday by first-period pin.

Garfield junior Grayson Hoover was no less impressive earlier.

Seeded third at 120 pounds, Hoover advanced to the title match with a pair of pins late in the first round, then toppled top-seeded Morgan Harris of Streetsboro, 6-0.

The Rockets ended up just a few points behind the G-Men but they showed impressive depth throughout the tournament. Streetsboro advanced a wrestler to the finals in five out of 14 weight classes, including the three lowest weights (106, 113, 120), and the Rockets were also represented in four third-place bouts.

Junior Donovan Paes (132) and sophomore Aiden Carone (106) both captured titles for Streetsboro.

Mogadore, Southeast stage memorable upperweight battles

There was a brief feeling of deprivation late in the afternoon as a tantalizing 190-pound title match between Mogadore's Tyler Knight and Southeast's Jaidyn Sapp was scrapped.

Knight and Sapp met last year at a dual meet, the PCT, the district meet and the state meet, but Knight just made his return from a serious injury earlier this week, so Wildcats coach Duane Funk elected to have Knight sit out the 190-pound championship match.

"[Off] four practices, you're not going to wrestle a guy that got fifth in the state last year," Funk said. "Nobody could do that, but I wanted to get him some mat time [earlier in the tournament]."

A Mogadore-Southeast thriller couldn't be put off for long, however, with the Pirates and Wildcats meeting in the 190, 215 and 285 finals.

At 215, Mogadore's Michael Lowe and Southeast's Spencer Mesaros, both seniors, had a battle for the ages — and the rages, as it turned out.

Nearly every point was controversial, with Lowe awarded two penalty points for stalling that infuriated the Pirates to no end, and Mesaros getting behind Lowe for two points, with the Wildcats furious as can be, claiming the wrestlers were out of bounds. Knotted at two with two seconds to go, Lowe pulled off a remarkable escape for a 3-2 win.

"You don't see too many 215-pound kids hit Granby [rolls]," Funk said. "If they do it right, you're good, and that was perfect."

Mogadore junior heavyweight Tyler Shellenbarger followed with a pin in 40 seconds, giving the Wildcats three individual titles, after Brady Funk captured his second straight PCT title earlier in the day.

Crestwood's J.P. Wrobel also made it two straight PCT championships following an epic title bout against fellow state qualifier Mason Amodio of Southeast. Amodio stayed on top the entire second period and led 1-0 early in the third, before Wrobel got Amodio's leg up 30 seconds into the third period and knocked him down for a 2-1 lead.

Following Amodio's escape to tie the score, Wrobel lifted Amodio's leg once more. This time, Amodio wriggled free, but Wrobel raced behind him for what turned out to be the winning shot in a 4-3 victory.

Full list of Portage County Tournament results

Here are the team standings from Saturday:

1. Rootstown 206, 2. Garfield 179, 3. Streetsboro 173.5, 4. Southeast 144, 5. Mogadore 141, 6. Waterloo 103.5, 7. Field 92, 8. Crestwood 91.5, 9. Ravenna 85, 10. Roosevelt 46

Here are all of Saturday's Portage County Tournament placers:

106 | 1. Aidan Carone (Streetsboro), 2. Will McEwuen (Rootstown); 3. Joe D'Amico (Field), 4. Deian Longgood (Southeast), 5. Travis Hummel (Mogadore), 6. Dublin Porter (Waterloo)

113 | 1. Brady Funk (Mogadore), 2. Matt Klimak (Streetsboro), 3. Owen Martin (Southeast), 4. Rex Fryer (Waterloo), 5. Cory Cole (Ravenna), 6. Jeremiah Brumfield (Roosevelt)

120 | 1. Grayson Hoover (Garfield), 2. Morgan Harris (Streetsboro), 3. Ryan Ramser (Southeast), 4. Mason Daniels (Crestwood), 5. Nathan Lee (Rootstown), 6. Owen Roberts (Mogadore)

126 | 1. J.P. Wrobel (Crestwood), 2. Mason Amodio (Southeast), 3. Nick Malek (Rootstown), 4. Hunter Smith (Streetsboro), 5. Vince D'Amico (Garfield), 6. Carter White (Field)

132 | 1. Donovan Paes (Streetsboro), 2. Hunter Long (Field), 3. Dylan Wise (Rootstown), 4. Ian Hunt (Garfield), 5. Kasey Pruitt (Mogadore), 6. Carson D'Sidocky (Roosevelt)

138 | 1. Tyler Paulus (Rootstown), 2. Drake Rennecker (Crestwood), 3. Aiden King (Waterloo), 4. Mason Long (Field), 5. Deacon Sommer (Garfield), 6. Kage Klatka (Southeast)

144 | 1. Brian Youngblood (Rootstown), 2. Tim Sommer (Garfield), 3. Sean Loucks (Ravenna), 4. Zach Biltz (Waterloo), 5. Brady McCoy (Field), 6. James Rutherford (Crestwood)

150 | Tristen McKibben (Rootstown), 2. Ethan Strahan (Crestwood), 3. Cohen Klimak (Streetsboro), 4. Jayden Hakin (Waterloo), 5. Joseph Sparks (Garfield), 6. Justin Sloan (Field)

157 | 1. Cody Coontz (Rootstown), 2. Brayden Robinson (Waterloo), 3. Jason Ponick (Roosevelt), 4. Alex Shaffer (Streetsboro), 5. Ronnie Skye (Mogadore), 6. Tyler Howerton (Garfield)

165 | 1. Hunter Andel (Garfield), 2. Shane Michael (Ravenna), 3. Justin Fox (Waterloo), 4. Nathan Fulmer (Rootstown), 5. Vinnie Sanderfer (Southeast), 6. Kaleb Fisher (Streetsboro)

175 | 1. Keegan Sell (Garfield), 2. Sam Brunner (Streetsboro), 3. Sylas Reiheld (Rootstown), 4. Anthony Vargo (Ravenna), 5. John Riley (Field), 6. Brenton Mason (Crestwood)

190 | 1. Jaidyn Sapp (Southeast), 2. Tyler Knight (Mogadore), 3. Ricky Legg (Roosevelt), 4. Robert Atha (Field), 5. Lane McKenzie (Rootstown), 6. Jon Hundzsa (Garfield)

215 | 1. Michael Lowe (Mogadore), 2. Spencer Mesaros (Southeast), 3. David Davis (Ravenna), 4. Joseph Neal (Streetsboro), 5. Ivan Trent (Garfield), 6. Brandon Melin (Roosevelt)

285 | 1. Tyler Shellenbarger (Mogadore), 2. Preston Bello (Southeast), 3. Nate Veccia (Garfield), 4. Alex Johnson (Ravenna), 5. Hunter Krieger (Rootstown), 6. William Nienhius (Field)

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Young middleweights lead Rootstown to Portage County Tournament title