Area quartet earns second at Maumee Bay

Jan. 15—OREGON — Two state-ranked wrestlers for Monroeville finished as runners-up at the rugged Maumee Bay Classic on Saturday, helping the Eagles place 11th out of 57 teams in the field.

Ashton Homan — ranked No. 1 in the state in Division III at 138 pounds according to borofanohio.net — reached the finals, as did teammate and state No. 6-ranked Hunter Vogus at 132 pounds.

Homan (24-6) posted wins of 19-2 (technical fall) and pins in 1:06 and 3:13 to reach the quarterfinals, where he claimed a 3-2 decision over Div. I No. 10-ranked Nathan Perry of Avon Lake.

In the semifinals, Homan topped Jayce Frymire (Fremont Ross) with a 3-0 decision.

Facing Div. I No. 4-ranked Jeremy Ginter (Toledo Whitmer) in the finals, Homan fell by a 5-0 decision.

Vogus (22-8) opened with three straight pins in 2:48, 2:26 and 1:15 to reach the quarters, where he edged Brock Christian (Perry) in a 1-0 decision. He then won another narrow 2-0 decision over Div. II No. 7 Dylan Rhoads (Louisville) in the semis.

In the finals, Vogus took on the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Div. I, Wadsworth's Jaxon Joy, and fell by a a 21-5 technical fall.

Also for the Eagles Landen Roeder (20-8) placed seventh at 144.

The Eagles return to the mat on Jan. 21 at the Anthony Wayne duals.

Also at the Maumee Bay, Edison's Max Hermes was second at 120 and Marcus Medina was second at 144.

Hermes (26-4) opened with a 20-5 technical fall win, followed by a pin in 2:34 and a 12-0 major decision. He claimed a 10-5 decision over Braden Hahlen (CVCA) in the quarters, then topped Wauseon's Larry Moreno by pin (1:47) in the semifinals.

Against Div. I No. 1-ranked Marcus Blaze of Perrsyburg, he lost a 6-2 decision in the finals. A year ago, Blaze beat Hermes by the exact same score in the semifinal round.

Medina (19-4) opened with a pin (2:47), a major decision (14-5) and an 8-4 decision over Ethan Mitchell (Findlay) to reach the semis, where he won by injury default.

Facing Archbold's Brodie Dominique — also the top-ranked wrestler in Div. III — in the finals, Medina fell in a 7-1 decision.

Caizzo returns, wins Ignatius tournament

CLEVELAND — St. Paul junior Casper Caizzo, the Division III state champion in 2022 at 106 pounds, made quite the debut to his 2022-23 season on Sunday.

After missing the first six weeks with a back injury, Caizzo won the 126-pound weight class at the St. Ignatius Catholic Invitational in Cleveland.

In the semifinal round, Caizzo beat Parma Hts. Holy Name's Liam Hatgas, the No. 7-ranked wrestler in Division II according to borofanohio.net, in a 4-2 decision. Hatgas was also a state qualifier last season.

In the finals, Caizzo then topped Cincinnati Moeller's Jared Johnson with a 6-3 decision. Johnston is also ranked No. 7 currently, and placed fourth in the state in Div. I in 2022.

Also for the Flyers, Ty Glavich went 5-2 at 120 and Tristan Nickoli was 3-3 at 175, while Niko Cuturic finished 2-4 at 106.

"It was great having Casper back in the lineup for the first time since state last year," St. Paul head coach Jesse Gross said. "He did a great job at finding the right times to score and really controlled each match.

"Ty Continues to improve as the season goes on and it is exciting to see his confidence build."

St. Paul is at Edison on Thursday, where three defending state champions — Caizzo, Edison's Max Hermes, and Akron St. Vincent St. Mary's Bryce Skinner — could potentially meet.

S.C.'s Berry wins title at Fredericktown

FREDERICKTOWN — South Central's Hayden Berry won the 175-pound weight class, and teammate Diton Farnsworth (113) was second place on Saturday at the Fredericktown Freddie Invitational.

Berry (14-3) won four matches to win his weight class, including a pin in 3:15 and an 8-4 decision before a pin in 3:12 put him in the finals. He then topped West Muskingum's Andrew Stark with an 11-8 decision.

Farnsworth (17-6) won three times by fall in 55 seconds, 1:05 and 1:19 to reach the semifinals, where he also needed just 28 seconds to beat Preston Hempfield (Mount Vernon). In the finals against Marion Harding's Samson St. Germain (17-3), he fell by a 6-1 decision.

Also for the Trojans, Dixon Blanton was third at 165 and Cole Frankhart was fifth at 132.

Willard had five placers, led by Caden Barnett (138) in third. Brayden Sykes (126) was fifth, while Adler Ames (120), Aidan Bates (157) and Carson Cinninger (175) each placed sixth.

South Central finished ninth and Willard was 11th among the 17-team field.

We had 15 wins and five losses on the day with eight pins and two technical falls," South Central head coach Ken Johnson said. "This was our best finish of the year as a team and it was in large part to the amount of work each of these guys are doing in the practice room.

"We have four freshmen in our lineup and they are all improving and contributing to the success of this team," he added. "They are exciting to watch. We can't say enough about the effort these guys are putting in to improve their skills."