High school wrestling: North Ridgeville edges Avon in dual match

AVON — North Ridgeville needed a pin and Brian Taylor delivered. The Rangers won the first six bouts of their dual against Avon, but needed to break up an Eagles' run in order to secure the win. Taylor delivered at 190 pounds, pinning Yaseen Shady in the second period to help North Ridgeville escape with a 41-39 Southwestern Conference victory at Avon on Thursday night. "The kid was strong, he's a good kid," Taylor said. "I normally don't wrestle this far up, but I've been wrestling up. I knew I could do it. It's just putting in the effort in practice and that's what I've kept doing. I dealt with it a lot in middle school, always needing six points to win, so this was second nature to me." Taylor's pin ensured North Ridgeville would, at worst, finish with a tie as long as Avon didn't secure pins in its final two bouts. That meant Zain Najjar couldn't get pinned at 215 since Avon heavyweight Eian Englehart has pinned everyone he's faced so far this season. And he did not disappoint, getting his seventh fall of the season, all in the first period. So while Avon's Braden Patrick piled up points and did his best to get Najjar on his back, the North Ridgeville sophomore held strong and prevented the pin. Najjar clinched the dual for the Rangers by limiting Patrick to a 17-7 major decision. "That's where heart comes in," North Ridgeville coach Dustan Fair said. "As a wrestler, doing everything you can do to stay in the match, stay off your back and keep wrestling. That takes heart. It's easy to give up, so all props to him for sticking it through and fighting hard for his team." Taylor was one of three freshmen to secure pins for North Ridgeville (2-0, 2-0), the other two came during the Rangers' opening run. North Ridgeville won at 106 and 113 by forfeit then secured pins from freshmen Carmine Purpura and Logan Rottari at 120 and 126, respectively. Josh Grimm picked up a technical fall at 132 and Pierre Greenhill added a pin at 138 to give North Ridgeville a 35-0 lead. Owen Scharte had seen enough, getting Avon (0-2, 0-2) on the board with a pin of Jesse Payne at 144 just as the first-period buzzer sounded. Scharte, who was filling in at 144 because Anthony Mrosko — one of the Eagles' top wrestlers — is dealing with an injury, made his season debut after missing his junior season with an ankle injury he suffered in the preseason. "It feels awesome to be back," Scharte said. "I knew going out there, that's what I had to do. I knew I had to start the train of getting these pins. I was reading the score at the start of my match and knew we'd need the rest of our team to pin through in order to win this. Sadly, we didn't get there, but next week we're all going to be working hard." That jumpstarted the Eagles, who won seven of 12 bouts contested. Avon also got pins from Trey Daugherty (157), Jack Schumacher (165) and Evan Branham (175). Kane Sparks put together a technical fall with a 20-4 win at 157. "I'm proud of the effort," Avon coach Mark Jayne said. "That's all I care about right now — effort, attitude, perseverance during the match and then how do we improve? We have a lot of youth and first-year guys in the first half of our lineup and they're all learning. They go out there and stay aggressive. Even if they lose, they're still developing and getting better." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. North Ridgeville, 41, Avon 39 106 — Ian Rottari (NR), by forfeit. 113 — Owen Bockmore (NR), by forfeit. 120 — Carmine Purpura (NR) pin Evan Janson, 3:16. 126 — Logan Rottari (NR) pin Cole Schumacher, 1:51. 132 — Josh Grimm (NR) tech. fall Mohamed Shady (A), 16-0. 138 — Pierre Greenhill (NR) pin Brian Ruan, 3:34. 144 — Owen Scharte (A) pin Jesse Payne (NR), 2:00. 150 — Trey Daugherty (A) pin Jon Florczyk, 4:43. 157 — Kane Sparks (A) tech. fall Jayden Shafer, 20-4. 165 — Jack Schumacher (A) pin Spencer Vanadia, 1:55. 175 — Evan Branham (A) pin Zach Barnes, 3:27. 190 — Brian Taylor (NR) pin Yaseen Shady, 2:51. 215 — Braden Patrick (A) maj. dec. Zain Najjar, 17-7. 285 — Eian Englehart (A) pin Dan Armstrong, 1:37.