Boys Wrestling: Avon Lake beats Elyria to continue SWC dominance

AVON LAKE — The Shoremen have been undefeated in Southwestern Conference dual meets the past three seasons for one simple season: They are flat out good. It's no fluke. Avon Lake's SWC dominance continued Thursday evening as the Shoremen defeated Elyria 55-19 by taking 10 of 14 weight classes. Avon Lake (12-0, 3-0) hasn't lost a conference dual meet since the 2021-22 season, which was the last time another team — Elyria — won the SWC. Elyria (3-3, 1-2) only led one time Thursday and that was at the beginning of the dual meet. Bennett Waechter (106) chalked up a second-period pin over Henry Valerino. Avon Lake won seven of the next eight matches to run out to a 37-10 lead. Blake Elton's technical fall over Aaden Feliciano at 113 cut Elyria's early lead to 6-5. In a battle of state-ranked wrestlers, Avon Lake senior Nate Grieger (120) beat Elyria sophomore Marlon Charley 11-4 to put the Shoremen ahead for good. "I'm pretty proud that I was able to wrestle pretty tough against a top-10 kid in the state," said Grieger. "That kid is pretty tough, but I felt I handled him pretty well. "Elyria's the second-toughest team in the conference so the final score shows how tough we are. We're working every day. The coaches keep us motivated. I think we're all trying to stay humble. We've three-peated as conference champs but we're not letting that get to our heads." Avon Lake amassed four pins and a pair of technical falls. Connall Gannon (126), Kaeden Lademann (138), Brayden Patterson (150) and Noah Hansen (285) had the pins. Avon Lake was consistent throughout its lineup and didn't need any late comebacks for its match wins. Patterson gave up an early takedown versus Gatlin Hassler but bounced right back for a reversal before recording a pin at 1:56. "I just have to remind myself to keep pushing myself past my limits and just get back at it," said Patterson. "Just because he got the first takedown doesn't mean I'm not in the match. I'm always in the match. "I'm proud of my teammates. They didn't care who they wrestled. They wrestled hard and tough. For myself, I just need to stay focused on my conditioning. I want to be able to have the energy to go 6-7 periods just in case I would ever need to." Technical falls from Elton (106) and Ambrose Ierapoli (157) compiled additional points for Avon Lake. "I just like watching wrestling," said Avon Lake coach Scott Sedlick. "When I see our kids wrestling and hitting moves that's the most important thing. They stick to the game plan. They wrestle the right way and wait for the opportunities to get those pins. "Elyria has some studs on that team. They came out with some hammers. We had some hammers, too, so it was fun to watch a little back-and-forth action. A nice performance for Nate. He's beat a lot of good people and lost to some kids that he probably shouldn't have. That's a tough kid, Marlon Charley. To go out there and win that match, that was huge for him to get the confidence going. "There's always something to work on. We work on stuff every day. We just need to be sure we're in peak shape and peaking at the right time for the end of the season. We're getting closer to that now, getting everyone healthy and keeping them healthy. Just working on the little things, little technique that we need to do from here. Watch those films, watch the matches, fix some stuff." The setback was perhaps a little frustrating for Elyria, but coach Armando Torres is determined to keep the Pioneers pointed in the right direction. "The scoreboard didn't go our way, but that's OK," said Torres. "It's early January. I'm looking for fight from our guys right now. Technically there's stuff we're going to clean up in the wrestling room and hopefully we can get some answers back at the conference tournament. "SWC (Tournament) you have to come out and wrestle. Anybody you wrestle it doesn't matter. All the teams are good. We have to be better prepared technically, but as far as it goes we're going to use it as a learning tool. Our guys train for districts and state. This is what it is and we'll keep moving forward." Elyria senior Blake Cancel (144) had a big night. He recorded career victory No. 100 with a 12-0 technical fall over John Lutsoch. "We'll be fine," said Cancel. "Some of our conditioning isn't quite there yet. We just need to keep putting in the work and focus on our wrestling." Blake Bernath (165) also had a technical fall for Elyria. Elijah Mayes (175) had the Pioneers' other win as he amassed four takedowns in the third period to defeat Hayden Foutz 17-8. The Elyria girls defeated Avon Lake 42-29 prior to the boys match. The Pioneers took advantage of six Shoregal forfeits. The Avon Lake girls won three of the four matches that were contested. Bianca Craig (120) and Kaylen Martin (140) had pins for the Shoregals while Ginny Jordan (110) had a technical fall. Emily Conley (125) had a pin for Elyria. "We're mostly a tournament team since I've only got seven girls," said Avon Lake girls coach Dennis Copfer. "We do a lot of tournaments so they get more matches that way. We won three out of the four matches we had tonight. They wrestled very well. I couldn't be happier with the performance. "Things are starting to click, right where they're supposed to be. They're advancing as quickly as they can and everything is starting to click now." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 at ctsports@chroniclet.com.