H.S. Wrestling: Columbia loses in dual meet district tourney

ROOTSTOWN — It wasn't the dominating performance Columbia was hoping for Saturday, but the Raiders showed once again they can put together a formidable dual meet lineup. Columbia lost its first dual meet of the season — 45-36 in a back-and-forth battle with Hanoverton United — in the semifinals of the Division III dual meet district tournament. The Raiders (11-1) then rallied from a big early deficit for a bounce-back victory, 53-30 against Lake Catholic in their consolation matchup. "Obviously (the OHSWCA dual meet tournament) is great because it gives you two extra matches and you get to see some of the kids you're going to run into at (the) district (tournament)," Columbia coach Dan Juliani said. "It's a great tournament and it's a great thing for wrestling. Duals are what we need more of because they're exciting and we're out of here in two hours instead of spending eight hours in the bleachers. Nobody wants that. The coaches association does a great job with it and it being invitation only kind of gives it an elite feel. You wrestle good competition out here." Cole Schulke (113 pounds), Cody Tucker (138), Tony Governale (157), Garrett Szuch (165) and Hayden Garrow (190) — all seniors — went 2-0 for Columbia. Tucker picked up a first-period pin against United's Brandon Good in the opening match, then erased a big deficit against Lake Catholic's Michael Valentino to pick up another pin in the closing seconds of the first period. "(Comeback wins) are great because when you're down, you feel like it's over," Tucker said. "Then that one little boost turns it all around. (My weight class) is definitely exciting because you're halfway through the lineup and you don't know how the rest is going to go. The team could be up by a little and then it all could just completely change." Tucker's pin against United gave Columbia an 18-15 lead. The Raiders led 12-0 after two weights, grabbed a second lead after Tucker's match, went up for the third time when Szuch picked up a 30-second pin and led for the fourth and final time when Garrow was awarded a forfeit. United won the final two matches by pin to advance to the final, where the Golden Eagles were beaten 66-15 by top-seeded Rootstown. Lake Catholic built a 24-5 lead after five weights before Tucker's comeback pin stopped the bleeding. The Raiders won the final six weights to turn the matchup into a rout. Szuch also picked up 12 points for the Raiders with a pair of pins — sticking United's Matt Satterfield in 30 seconds and Lake Catholic's Nick Tallion in 31. "(The success this season) means a lot, most of all because of all the seniors that we have right now," Szuch said. "We've all wrestled together since we were 5, we wrestled for the same team, on the same weekends and every single day in practice … I grew up with all of them. (The upper half of the lineup) is nice because I know even if (a teammate) is having a rough day, that at least two or three of us will consistently win, so it's nice knowing that we don't have to just rely on one person." The entire Lorain County League shares in Columbia's disappointment, as a 2-0 day would have put the Raiders in the Division III dual meet state tournament next weekend, the same day as the league tourney at Firelands. Juliani said Columbia would have definitely sent its varsity lineup to the dual team event, but now the Raiders will be in full force in an attempt to add the LCL tournament championship to the dual meet championship they've already claimed this season. "We're excited because that's been our goal," Juliani said. "We wanted to hit the trifecta. We were able to take the dual championship and our middle school just took the middle school championship, so now we want to take the tournament championship to kind of have that undisputed championship … which we've never had in Columbia history. We've got the Dual in the School on Tuesday, with the girls, so we've got a lot going on this week. We've got a new board in the wrestling room with all our conference champions on it and every one of our guys have been eyeing it and saying they want to be the next one up there." SHOREMEN SUNK Avon Lake was the lone area team able to advance to the district final after downing Whitehouse Anthony Wayne 41-25 in the semifinals at Perrysburg during the morning session. The Shoremen couldn't keep the momentum rolling as they lost 61-7 to top-seeded Perrysburg, which is ranked No. 18 in the nation. Nathan Perry and Clay Broadhurst were the lone Avon Lake wrestlers able to go 2-0, but seven other Shoremen scored wins in the opening matchup against the Generals. At 126 pounds, Avon Lake state qualifier Michael Valerino suffered his first loss of the season against Perrysburg's Marcus Blaze, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation at 120 pounds. FALCONS FALL Firelands was the lone Division II team invited to this year's dual meet bracket and the Falcons were surely hoping for a stronger showing at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary during the morning session. Only two wrestlers were able to grab wins during a 58-9 defeat to No. 4-seeded Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in the district semifinals. Kevin Williams picked up a first-period pin at 138 pounds for the No. 5 Falcons, while Conner Rogers won a 6-0 decision at 175. Akron SVSM defeated CVCA in the final to advance to next weekend's state tournament. Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter. Hanoverton United 45, Columbia 36 106 – Michael Frye (C) by forfeit. 113 – Cole Schulke (C) pinned Javin Shafer, :37. 120 – Logan Casto (HU) pinned Colton Wolcott, 4:29. 126 – Gage Smith (HU) pinned Rushi Patel, :35. 132 – Kaleb French (HU) dec. Ethan Valentine, 8-5. 138 – Cody Tucker (C) pinned Brandon Good, 1:26. 144 – Jenson Baker (HU) pinned Bryce Bevelacqua, 1:27. 150 – Chance Cope (HU) pinned Bryan Jones, 1:06. 157 – Tony Governale (C) pinned Alex Baur, :49. 165 – Garrett Szuch (C) pinned Matt Satterfield, :30. 175 – Gavin Berger (HU) pinned Michael Chapman, 1:15. 190 – Hayden Garrow (C) by forfeit. 215 – Tucker Kiko (HU) pinned Erik Pepsin, 1:33. 285 – Dallas McCracken (HU) pinned Ben Bowling, :48. Columbia 53, Lake Catholic 30 106 – Parker Pikor (LC) pinned Frye, 1:26. 113 – Schulke (C) tech. fall Carson Gilbert, 16-1. 120 – Joey Romano (LC) pinned Wolcott, 1:33. 126 – Jayden Huszczo (LC) pinned Andrew Sorensen, :26. 132 – Ryan Sharp (LC) pinned Valentine, 5:18. 138 – Tucker (C) pinned Michael Valentino, 1:58. 144 – Bevelacqua (C) by forfeit. 150 – Victor Arenas (LC) pinned Jones, 2:56. 157 – Governale (C) pinned Brayden Pomnean, 1:03. 165 – Szuch (C) pinned Nick Tallion, :31. 175 – M. Chapman (C) by forfeit. 190 – Garrow (C) pinned Jayson Cummins, :54. 215 – Nathan Chapman (C) by forfeit. 285 – Bowling (C) by forfeit. Avon Lake 41, Anthony Wayne 25 106 – Nate Grieger (AL) tech. fall James Geary, 15-0. 113 – Zachary Elton (AW) pinned Abe Gill, 3:25. 120 – Zachary Bergman (AW) pinned Nick Perry, 1:31. 126 – Michael Valerino (AL) dec. Jacob Bergman, 11-6. 132 – Jack Valerino (AL) maj. dec. Samuel Braker, 8-0. 138 – Nathan Perry (AL) pinned Andrew Heck, :34. 144 – Hunter Layson (AW) dec. Brayden Patterson, 8-4 (SV). 150 – Gavin Andrews (AL) dec. Antonio Chapa, 10-4. 157 – Joe Marconi (AL) pinned Kyle Wymer, 1:52. 165 – Jack Marconi (AL) tech. fall Scott Deason, 16-0. 175 – Jack Shepard (AL) by forfeit. 190 – Luke Wymer (AW) maj. dec. Josh Heath, 13-2. 215 – Clay Broadhurst (AL) dec. Blake Reed, 3-0. 285 – Tommy Ling (AW) pinned Lewis Gallagher, 1:43. Perrysburg 61, Avon Lake 7 106 – Ayden Dodd (P) tech. fall Grieger, 16-1. 113 – Alex Denkins (P) pinned Gill, 1:45. 120 – Chris Carpenter (P) pinned Ni. Perry, 2:00. 126 – Marcus Blaze (P) pinned M. Valerino, 3:26. 132 – Cole Evans (P) tech. fall J. Valerino, 16-1. 138 – Na. Perry (AL) maj. dec. Brody Bauman, 14-5. 144 – AJ Parish (P) pinned Patterson, 2:24. 150 – Wynton Denkins (P) tech. fall Andrews, 19-3. 157 – Jake Wood (P) maj. dec. Jo. Marconi, 16-2. 165 – Joey Blaze (P) pinned Ja. Marconi, 1:53. 175 – Nick Hartzell (P) pinned Shepard, 3:13. 190 – Caiden Nichols (P) dec. Heath, 7-1. 215 – Broadhurst (AL) dec. Ben Sawaya, 8-1. 285 – Andrew Boden (P) dec. Gallagher, 7-2. CVCA 58, Firelands 9 106 – Owen Nelson (CVCA) pinned Dane Vanderpool, :03. 113 – Rocco Czarnecki (CVCA) pinned Collin Eckman, :09. 120 – Double forfeit. 126 – Braden Hahlen (CVCA) maj. dec. Kameron Williams, 11-0. 132 – Jeffrey Summers (CVCA) pinned Daren Aslaksen, :47. 138 – Kevin Williams (F) pinned Gabe Kautzman, 1:14. 144 – Michael Lewis (CVCA) dec. Kase Rogers, 6-5. 150 – Gavin O'Keefe (CVCA) by forfeit. 157 – Ben Truax (CVCA) dec. Thomas Ives, 7-4. 165 – Niall Walker (CVCA) pinned Jimmy Berry, :43. 175 – Conner Rogers (F) dec. Nathanael Nevmerzycki, 6-0. 190 – Kyle Snider (CVCA) by forfeit. 215 – Seth Nerone (CVCA) pinned Logan Parker, 1:15. 285 – Tony Collins (CVCA) pinned A.J. Dunn, 1:33.