Woodridge's Steven Duffy, STVM wrestlers power through loaded OHSAA district at Kenston
BAINBRIDGE TWP. — Northeast Ohio's Division II wrestling district tournament has always been a meat grinder no matter who plays host.
Kenston High School hosted this year's district Saturday, and the level of competition remained stocked.
Woodridge's Steven Duffy scored the lone individual title for Summit County, while St. Vincent-St. Mary led the local contingent by placing third in the team race and advancing four wrestlers to state.
Buckeye dominated the team and individual races. The Bucks won the district title with 204.5 points and advanced seven wrestlers to state. Louisville (102) finished second with four state qualifiers.
Duffy scored his second district title in an otherwise difficult tournament for the Bulldogs. He found himself in battle with Salem's Aidan Stecker in the 175-pound final, but got the lone takedown in the second period to score a 3-1 win.
"The kid had great defense and really strong hips," Duffy said. "I got on him a few times, but was only able to finish one. I knew I didn't need to push for the takedown in the third period. I just needed to stay [on] defense and get the win. That's what we needed."
Duffy said he's been snake bitten at state, but plans to change that.
"Last year I really didn't take any shots," he said. "This year I plan on being aggressive. This is my tournament. I'm not wrestling them, they're wrestling me."
Meanwhile, STVM coach Nic Skonieczny said he was content with his young squad's performance.
"I think we're doing about what we thought," he said. "Sometimes, you don't know how all these young guys are going to respond to all this pressure. We've trained consistently hard. I think out young guys have stepped up. I think all four can be state placers."
STVM's lone finalist was 215-pounder Andy Vanscoy, who advanced to the final with a last-second takedown for a 5-4 win over Girard's Isaac Griffith in the semis.
Vanscoy dropped an 8-3 decision to Notre Dame Cathedral Latin's Bryce Wheatley in the final.
"He's probably our hardest worker in the room," Skonieczny said of Vanscoy. "He's done everything right. He deserves everything to get where he's at. That's our style. I tell these guys, 'We might lose the first period, we might lose the second period, but we'll win it in the third.'"
The Irish's Rylan Hurley (157) also advanced with a third-place finish, and Christian Osborne (120) and Taggart Wade (138) both were fourth.
Tallmadge finalist Ian Bee came in motivated after dropping out of last year's district because of skin issues. The 150-pound sophomore earned his first trip to state with an 8-3 win over Revere's Aidan Jones in the semifinal.
"It was heartbreaking last year," Bee said. "I'm just glad I had another chance to get it this year, and I came through."
Bee faced a familiar foe in the final — Cloverleaf's Tristan Craddock, who pinned him at the sectional. It was much tighter this time, as Craddock held on for a 5-3 win.
"I wanted to come out swinging," Bee said. "Last week I feel like I got shut down a little, so this week I concentrated on my offense. Even if I lost, I wanted to wrestle for six minutes and close that gap."
After his loss to Bee, Jones rebounded to earn his first state berth by placing third. CVCA 132-pounder Dylan Hart also qualified with a third-place finish.
Controversial call ends Streetsboro wrestling's Jarreau Walker's state dreams
No team had a bigger roller-coaster day than Streetsboro.
In the 106-pound final, Rocket freshman Jarreau Walker scored two takedowns to beat top-ranked Dom Prosperi of Canton South.
However, after the match, Walker was called for a misconduct for excessive celebration. It was his second misconduct of the tournament and, by rule, that disqualified him, costing Streetsboro all of Walker's points and knocking him out of state contention.
Streetsboro coach Mark Skonieczny was not amused.
"He blew his parents some kisses, waved to the crowd, jumped in his coach's hands," Skonieczny said. "He did what any 14-year-old kid would do when he just beat the No. 1 kid in the state of Ohio. He got booted for it. I didn't know there was a line between too much and not too much."
Streetboro ended up with one state qualifier, as 120-pounder Anthony Sindelar advanced with a second-place finish. Sindelar lost the 120-pound final to Buckeye's Colyn Limbert on a 23-8 technical fall.
"I feel good about some things and I feel terrible about some things," Skonieczny said. "Sindelar wrestled extremely well. Obviously, he had his hands full in the final. I'm heartbroken for my two fifth-place guys [Aiden Carone and Cohen Klimak]."
Louisville and Alliance each advance four wrestlers to state tournament
Louisville had a solid day, although the Leopards had hoped for a bit more.
Kolten Barker won Louisville's lone title at 126 pounds, beating Bedford's Tristan Jackson 16-4 in the final.
The Leopards' Kaiden Barker (113) and Colton Rhoads (120) also placed third, and Aric Criss (138) was fourth.
"It's bittersweet," said Leopards coach Micah Kullman. "We had kids win matches they weren't supposed to win on paper and we had kids lose matches they shouldn't have lost. I'm looking at the positives. Four to state is a good deal. I look forward to training with them this week."
There was nothing but sweetness for Alliance coach Dave Pennington, whose four district qualifiers all reached the finals.
The group was highlighted by All-Ohioan Aidan Mozden, who returned just before sectionals from a knee injury he suffered during football season to place second at heavyweight.
"That's the best thing we've had in many years," Pennington said. "My whole thing is that hard work pays off."
Aviators 165-pounder Quinn Callock pulled out at 3-2 win over Madison's Noah Blough to win a district title, and Johnny Beltz (144) and Jackson Eddy (190) also placed second.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: STVM wrestling finishes third at OHSAA Kenston district tournament
