Is Hoban's Brayton Feister the area's next four-time state wrestling champion? Yes
The names of the four-time state champion greats in the Greater Akron/Canton area roll off the tongue with relative ease.
There’s John McGhee from Coventry (1993-96) and the CVCA duo of Harry Lester (1998-2001) and Nathan Tomasello (2010-13).
Perry had a duo in Dustin Schlatter (2002-05) and David Carr (2015-18), who actually won five state titles when you include the high school crown he won in eighth grade at the Kentucky high school state tournament.
Hoban freshman Brayton Feister hasn’t won a single title yet, but if you know anything about wrestling you know the heavyweight sensation is well on his way to becoming the sixth area four-time state champ.
“I would say he absolutely belongs in the conversation,” Hoban wrestling coach Dominic Cursio said. “As far as expectations, some of the smaller guys — I'll tell you, Jaxon Joy had a lot of [it] in high school, but it wasn't the same for Jaxon. He flew under the radar for a period of time, so he didn't have the same expectations coming in.
“I mean, we wrestled up at the Hudson Holiday Tournament. It was [Feister's] first official tournament, and I look around the mat and I'm like, ‘What the heck's going on here?’ Everybody was standing around the mat wanting to watch this kid wrestle. That's a lot of pressure on a kid, but he handles it so well.”
Why is there buzz for Hoban wrestler Brayton Feister
Feister came from Canton South Middle School, where he won three OAC state titles, with the last coming at 209 pounds. In doing so, he became the 10th three-time junior state champ, joining the likes of Logan Stieber, Collin Palmer and David Taylor.
He’s won multiple national titles as well.
Fast forward to this season and Feister enters the postseason 29-0 with 24 pins, one technical fall and two major decisions.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound standout has won the Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament, Bill Dies, Hudson Holiday and Chippewa Invitational. He was named most outstanding wrestler at the Dies and Chippewa.
“He’s a super athletic kid, and he moves well,” St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Nic Skonieczny said. “He's strong. When I've watched him, he's dominated these kids.
“He's just so much stronger and more athletic, even as a freshman. I wouldn't put it past him to be on the top of that podium this year for sure. He's just going to be too quick and athletic for these guys. I think he will be a top-two guy this year, and if he keeps improving I could definitely see him winning multiple state titles.”
Feister began the season at 215 before moving up to heavyweight at the Chippewa Invitational a little over three weeks ago.
His first three opponents lasted a total of 42 seconds, with none of them going longer than 19 seconds. Black River state-qualifier Cooper McKean fell 14-1 in the semifinals and Mayfield’s Nico Traczyk lost 6-1 in the final.
“He’s at this point in his career where it’s more fine tuning and making sure you're not screwing him up,” Cursio said. “His father, Bo, does a fantastic job with him, and as a father of a high school wrestler right now myself, it's pretty awesome to see them work together. They obviously have the same bumps that any father and son would have in that situation. Brayton implements pretty much everything that we review with him almost instantaneously without even sometimes even practicing it, which is hard to believe actually.”
The pressure of being two-sport Hoban standout Brayton Feister
It takes a lot of luck to stay healthy for four seasons, but it’s even harder when you’re a two-sport standout who is already known nationally.
As great as he is as a wrestler, the 16-year-old is arguably better as a football player.
The all-district running back already has an offer from Akron and will visit Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame and Tennessee as soon as wrestling is over.
“I've just learned how to deal with it,” he said. “It's definitely scary, but it feels good because it's just being able to achieve something that you've dreamt of as a kid watching TV, watching all these guys achieve their dreams. You set your dream from a young age and you're just like, ‘Wow, it's really coming true.'
“This is just a dream that I've had since I was little kid, so I'm willing to take and embrace everything that comes along with every challenge, be it a bit of hardship or every bit of adversity that I’ve got to face. I just keep my head strong, praise God and keep going.”
Hate on him all you want, Feister thrives on it.
The hype bubble is very real, but every day he learns how to pop it.
“The mat and field just quiet everything down,” he said. “All the noise in my life, everything that just hits me, all the adversity, everything, it's just like, let's just go have fun. Let's go do our thing. Let's go break a tackle. Let's go score a touchdown. Let's go score the takedown and win.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: OHSAA wrestling; The case for Brayton Fiester being a 4x state champ
