D-II District Wrestling: Elyria Catholic freshman Grady Moos takes home title at 106

BAINBRIDGE TWP. — Someone forgot to remind Elyria Catholic's Grady Moos he's still a freshman, because he sure didn't wrestle like one this weekend. With a trip to the state tournament already in hand, Moos defeated St. Vincent-St. Mary's Cole Palma 4-1 on Saturday to win the 106-pound Division II district championship at Kenston High School and complete a perfect two days. "It felt really good to be standing on top of the podium. I worked very hard to get there," Moos said. After a pair of wins by pin Friday, Moos began Day 2 with a 16-1 technical fall over Coventry's Travis Chapman. That win assured Moos would be Elyria Catholic's first state qualifier since 2017. Moos knew he would have a tough match in the final against Palma but came out and took an early 3-0 lead to gain control. "He's a really good guy, I've wrestled him a number of times," Moos said. "He's a good friend of mine so I knew it was going to be hard coming into it, but I just stuck to what I know, stayed calm and got the job done." Moos will enter the state tournament with a 37-4 record. "He had to battle and face a little bit of adversity but he showed a lot of resilience," Elyria Catholic coach Mick Barnett said. "I don't think he was feeling his best but he did a really good job. That guy he faced in the final was tough, but he was able to sneak in a first-period takedown. "I knew Grady had it in him. For him to come out to the district tournament and put four matches together says a lot. He's going to have a lot of confidence heading into next week and that's the end goal to be on top of the podium at the end of next week." Moos was Lorain County's only district champion but will be joined in Columbus by Firelands junior D'Mari Campbell, who finished fourth at 150. Campbell (36-12) earned his ticket with a wild 22-12 major decision in the consolation semifinals over Howland's Aidan O'Donnell in a match that featured eight reversals over the final two periods. "I was able to get points the first couple of periods. I looked up near the end and saw I had a big lead but I was really gassed out," Campbell said. "He was really pushing me but I held on." Campbell will go to Columbus as the fourth seed from the Kenston district after losing to West Branch's Beau Nezbeth in the third-place match. Elyria Catholic's Juelz Martin will be an alternate at the state tournament after defeating Kenston's Brady Baran to finish fifth at 144. Panthers senior Jake Hill had a disappointing ending to his season, losing his consolation semifinal to Norwayne's Jason Beverley on a takedown with less than 10 seconds to go in the match, then dropping the fifth-place match to Chardon's Luke Vucetic. Brookside had three wrestlers advance to the second day, but Collin Patton (190) was the only one to win a match. Perry won the district with 144 points and four state qualifiers. West Geauga (124) and St. Vincent-St. Mary (112) finished second and third and had five state qualifiers each. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Team results: 1. Perry 144; 2. West Geauga 124; 3. St. Vincent - St. Mary 112; 4. Buckeye 102; 5. Benedictine 88.5; 6. CVCA 80; 7. Canfield 73; 8. Streetsboro 65.5; 9. Alliance 62.5; 10. Kenston 61. Local teams: 15. Elyria Catholic 47.5; 26. Firelands 27; 34. Brookside 13. Individual results: 106: FIRST — Grady Moos (Elyria Catholic) def. Cole Palma (St. Vincent - St. Mary). 4-1. THIRD - Maximilian Holley (Copley) def. John Bollinger (Streetsboro), maj. dec. 9-1. 113: FIRST — Jarreau Walker (Streetsboro) def. Nolan DeShon (St. Vincent - St. Mary), 6-4. THIRD - Dominic Prosperi (Canton South) def. Jordan MuCullough (Madison), fall 3:08 120: FIRST — Gavin Genovese (Woodridge) def. Teo Triscaro (Kenston), 4-0. THIRD - Caden Kaleal (West Geauga) def. Collin Bartos (Buckeye), 12-3. 126: FIRST — Carter Baran (Kenston) def. Tanner Williams (Geneva), maj. dec. 10-1. THIRD - Quinn Hurley (St. Vincent - St. Mary) def. John Paul Hatgas (Benedictine), 8-7. 132: FIRST — Rocco Czarnecki (CVCA) def. Devion Coffin (Benedictine), maj. dec. 10-2. THIRD - Markel Hackwelder (Hubbard) def. Doyle Grosz (University School), 8-4. 138: FIRST — Blake Bartos (Buckeye) def. Zander Joltin (West Geauga), tech. fall, 19-4, 2:34. THIRD - Desmond Childers Jr. (Copley) def. Ky'Ron Fikes (CVCA), 4-1. 144: FIRST — Anthony Trentanelli (Perry) def. Taggart Wade (St. Vincent - St. Mary), 13-6. THIRD - Omar Leon (Akron Springfield) def. Logan Letner (Buckeye), 4-1. 150: FIRST — Chance Schlauch (Perry) def. John Jones Jr. (Benedictine), tech. fall, 19-2, 4:24. THIRD - Beau Nezbeth (West Branch) def. D'Mari Campbell (Firelands), 5-0. 157: FIRST — John Beltz (Alliance) def. Duke Clayton (St. Vincent - St. Mary), tech. fall 17-2 (4:52). THIRD - Anthony Bertone (Perry) def. Jason Beverly (Norton), 6-1. 165: FIRST — Brian Denamen (West Geauga) def. Brody Zoul (Buckeye), 7-4. THIRD - Isaac Coup (Lakeside) def. Gavin Edwards (Kent Roosevelt), fall 2:27 175: FIRST — Ian Bee (Tallmadge) def. Avery Conroy (Streetsboro), 15-9. THIRD - Jimmy Zarzeczny (Padua) def. Andrew Pennington, fall 4:41. 190: FIRST — Paul Tepley (CVCA) def. Evan Owen (Coventry), maj. dec. 13-4. THIRD - Gabriel Miller (Canfield) def. Austin Wheatley (West Geauga), 6-3. 215: FIRST — Chase White (Madison) def. Matt Webster (Jefferson Area), maj. dec. 10-1. THIRD - Blake Welker (West Geauga) def. Owen Dreher (Howland), fall 1:57. 285: FIRST — Brydon Feister (Archbishop Hoban) def. Trent Taylor (Perry), fall 0:34. THIRD - Deangelo Spear (Canton South) def. Shepard Charlton (Benedictine), 1-0.