Boys wrestling: Avon Lake defends title at Vermilion tournament

VERMILION — For the second time this season Avon Lake came up against the St. Edward Green (varsity B) team in a tournament, and for the second time the Shoremen came out on top. The Shoremen won the Defense Soap Super Duals for the second year in a row Saturday afternoon, overcoming illness, injuries and a reshuffling of their lineup to go 9-0 across two days of competition to take home the trophy. "When you go to a tournament, you always want to win," Avon Lake coach Scott Sedlick said. "We dealt with a lot of sickness this week, and injuries. We were moving guys around in the lineup and trying to find ways to win matches. I didn't know if we were going to be able to win or not, so we're pretty happy with the outcome." That outcome was still in doubt entering the final two matches of the tournament, with Avon Lake sitting at 7-0 and staring down matchups with fellow undefeated St. Edward and 6-1 Port Clinton. The Shoremen took control of the standings with a narrow 36-32 win over the Eagles despite having to forfeit two weight classes. "This is set up in a way that everybody gets beat up," Sedlick said. "We were tired and beat up, they were tired and beat up, but that's the way it should be." The first major result that swung the matchup came at 165 pounds, in the third match of the dual, as Luke Peace held on for an 11-10 win to tie the score at 6. The Shoremen took the lead in the next match, as Aide Omoijuanfo produced a fantastic escape of an attempted takedown in the final seconds to preserve his major decision victory. From there, Avon Lake began to dominate the matchup, winning by pinfall at 190, 215 and 285, with the pin at heavyweight coming while Jason Harner was trailing in the match. The Eagles started to rally once the lower weight classes began to wrestle, until Nate Grieger produced a decision victory to put the Shoremen back in control. "It's just a statement of how tough we are," Grieger said. "We had a couple of late scratches yesterday, and the whole team just got it done and picked up a victory at a really tough tournament." Grieger in particular exemplified that toughness, rebounding from multiple losses Friday to win all five of his Saturday matches and help lead Avon Lake to the title. "I wanted to try and put yesterday behind me," Grieger said. "I had a rough couple of matches, so I just figured I'll forget what happened yesterday and show up a better wrestler today and win all my matches, and that's exactly what I did." Grieger didn't just win all his matches Saturday, he recorded his 100th career win with a pin against Vermilion. "It was a pretty surreal moment," Grieger said. "One hundred wins is the milestone that every varsity wrestler works for, and I was just so happy to do it today. I can't really describe the feeling." "(Grieger) deserves everything he's gotten this year," Sedlick said. "He's wrestling hard, and he had a couple of losses (Friday) which he didn't like, but this is where you make mistakes, this is where you get better." The Shoremen finished off the Eagles thanks to a pin from Kaeden Lademann at 138 to clinch the victory with one match remaining. Avon Lake then dominated Port Clinton 52-18 to finish the tournament in style and lock up the championship. After Avon Lake, the next best area team in the standings was Vermilion, which finished in fourth place with a 6-3 record, one of only four teams to finish the two days with a winning record. The Sailors were led by senior Aiden Kyser, who was named tournament MVP after winning all nine matches, eight via pinfall and one via forfeit. "It means a lot to come out here and show up for my school," Kyser said. "I just watched my opponents before I wrestled them and knew what they were going to do, and that's how I caught them." Kyser kicked off his senior season Monday by winning the Coventry Clash, but he wasn't sure he would be able to follow it up with another dominant showing this weekend. "There were some good teams here," Kyser said. "I honestly didn't think I was going to beat them, but I came in here, wrestled hard and got it done." Rounding out the local teams at the weekend's tournament were Lorain, which finished tied for fifth with a record of 4-5, and Midview, which finished tied for eighth at 2-7. Contact Will Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Round 1 Vermilion 51, NDCL 15Avon Lake 42, Midview 26Port Clinton 52, Tiffin Columbian 27Lorain 53, Twinsburg 30St. Edward 57, Huron 18 Round 2 Vermilion 41, Twinsburg 24Midview 36, Huron 35St. Edward 65, NDCL 11Avon Lake 54, Tiffin Columbian 17Port Clinton 47, Lorain 33 Round 3 Port Clinton 59, Vermilion 15St. Edward 72, Twinsburg 4Avon Lake 57, Huron 16Lorain 60, Tiffin Columbian 24Midview 36, NDCL 22 Round 4 Vermilion 42, Tiffin Columbian 24Twinsburg 35, Midview 30Avon Lake 58, Lorain 17St. Edward 53, Port Clinton 30Huron 44, NDCL 10 Round 5 Avon Lake 69, NDCL 0St. Edward 58, Tiffin Columbian 11Huron 36, Twinsburg 35Port Clinton 54, Midview 29Vermilion 42, Lorain 40 Round 6 Twinsburg 42, NDCL 24Tiffin Columbian 41, Midview 30Port Clinton 66, Huron 12Avon Lake 65, Vermilion 12St. Edward 58, Lorain 29 Round 7 Port Clinton 59, NDCL 15Tiffin Columbian 42, Huron 36Avon Lake 70, Twinsburg 6St. Edward 60, Vermilion 22Lorain 61, Midview 15 Round 8 Tiffin Columbian 45, NDCL 29Port Clinton 50, Twinsburg 31Vermilion 51, Midview 16Huron 40, Lorain 36Avon Lake 36, St. Edward 32 Round 9 Tiffin Columbian 34, Twinsburg 30Lorain 57, NDCL 17Vermilion 49, Huron 18Avon Lake 52, Port Clinton 18St. Edward 57, Midview 3 FINAL STANDINGS: Avon Lake 9-0; St. Edward 8-1; Port Clinton 7-2; Vermilion 6-3; Tiffin Columbian 4-5; Lorain 4-5; Huron 3-6; Midview 2-7; Twinsburg 2-7; NDCL 0-9.