Wauseon’s Alex Sosa, top, handles Winston Yekel of Carrolton at 285 pounds in the semifinal dual. His 5-0 decision sealed the victory for the Indians who later fell to Graham in the championship, 48-9.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
Jarrett Bischoff of Wauseon, right, takes hold of Jeffrey Thomas of Graham in the 126-pound match during the state dual tournament Sunday in Columbus. Bischoff lost that match by a narrow 3-2 margin.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
Wauseon’s Andrew Bailey, top, looks for a pin against Jake D’Avello of Peninsula Woodridge in the quarterfinal round. He would get the pin in 1:57.
Max Householder | Fulton County Expositor
COLUMBUS- For the second straight year the Wauseon Indians can call themselves a state runner-up, as they finished second to St. Paris Graham in Division II at the State Dual Wrestling Tournament held Sunday at St. John Arena in Columbus.
“It’s an honor to represent Wauseon and Northwest Ohio at that level,” said head coach Mike Ritter. “We knew it was going to be a challenge, but our kids were prepared for it.”
Although they fell to St. Paris Graham 48-9 in the final match, what was more exciting was how they got there.
Wrestling as the second seed to Graham, the Indians defeated third seeded Carrollton in the semifinal, 34-30. It was a dual that came down to the final match.
“Our light weights built us a good lead,” said Ritter on the win over Carrollton. “We lost a match in the middle that I wasn’t anticipating. That turned into a 9 point swing for them.
“We made a slight adjustment to our last 3 weight classes, which worked out for us.”
Securing them the victory was Alex Sosa who earned a 5-0 win over Carrollton’s Winston Yekel at 285 pounds.
“For the second year in a row, our heavyweight Alex Sosa came through with a big win to put us in the state finals,” said Ritter.
Up 18-15 through 145 pounds, the Indians extended their lead to 10 points after Xavier Torres’ 6-4 win against Brandon Daniels at 152 pounds, and Andrew Bailey’s 11-0 major decision against Noah Carrothers at 160 pounds.
But, Carrollton responded with three straight victories to grab hold of the lead.
Brenton Miller (170) started their run with a pin of Wauseon’s Trent Davis, then Aidan Pasiuk (182) got a technical fall over Aaron Harris, and Cody Leggett (195) defeated Drew Krall 11-3 to put the overall score at 30-25.
Wauseon then put Tony Banister in the 220-pound match where he pinned Carrollton’s Noah Rutledge in 10 seconds, a victory that set up the winner take all heavyweight match.
In the championship, Graham won the first six matches, which included three technical fall victories, to put Wauseon in a 24-0 hole.
However, the Indians also had a pair of matches that could have gone either way in that stretch.
At 106 pounds, after holding an early lead, Gavin Ritter fell to Graham’s Tanner Jordan 3-2. Then, at 126 pounds, Jarrett Bischoff fell to Jeffrey Thomas by that duplicate score of 3-2.
Earning wins for the Indians were Sandro Ramirez (145) over Joey Sanchez 3-1, and Xavier Torres (152) who pinned D’artangan Spitler. Down the stretch, Banister lost a heartbreaker, 3-1 in overtime to Kavan Sarver.
“While we were very excited to be in that finals round, we knew we had an uphill battle against multiple time defending champs, St. Paris Graham,” explained the Indians’ coach. “All we asked out of our kids in that match was to battle hard and give their best effort. I felt we did that, and we had several matches that were close and we ended up on the losing end. Graham is a tough team….nationally ranked every year, so we have nothing to hang our heads about.”
The Indians went 11-3 in a 57-10 quarterfinal win over Peninsula Woodridge.
Notably, Gavin Ritter (106), Nolan Ray (120), Hunter Yackee (132), Bailey (160), Harris (182), Banister (195) and Alex Sosa (285) all earned pins.
Bulldogs out early in Division III
Swanton closed out their dual wrestling season with a 42-22 loss to eventual state champion Milan Edison in the quarterfinal of the Division III tournament.
The Bulldogs were the fifth seed taking on the fourth seeded Chargers.
“They wrestled tough up and down the lineup and that’s all you can ask for,” said Swanton coach Greg Hallett of his team’s performance. “We lost some close matches. We knew, there was a couple in there that could be tough. That could go either way. So it’s all preparation, because, we are gonna see a lot of these guys at the district tournament too.”
Edison picked up a pin by Ray Adams over Zach Schaller at 106 pounds, then a forfeit victory for Gabe Mina-Vazquez at 113 pounds, and 5-2 decision for Dylan Burns against Trevor Schaller before Swanton got on the board.
Winning first for the Bulldogs was Dylan Cook (126) with a 9-0 major decision against Trent Werner, making the score 15-4.
However, the Chargers followed with three straight wins, starting with a 5-3 win for Max Wolfe (132) over Swanton’s Gage Pachlhofer. They then added a pin by Brady Barnett (138) against Noah Saunders, and a 4-2 win by Alex Neuberger (145) against Chase Moore which put the margin at 27-4.
Swanton went 4-3 in the final seven matches. At 152 pounds, Ryan Marvin defeated Edison’s Collin Mancuso 7-6. Later, at 170 pounds, Tyler Houston downed John Neer 7-2.
The Dogs also got pins from Greg Wilson (220) and Tommy Lytle to close out the night.
Division II Results
Semifinal
Wauseon 34, Carrollton 30
106- Gavin Ritter (W) pinned Nathan Blake (C), 0:58. 113- Robbie Hoopes (C) dec. McKayla Campbell (W), 10-6. 120- Nolan Ray (W) pinned Clay Pidgeon (C), 0:49. 126- Jarrett Bischoff (W) pinned Brayden Carter (C), 2:51. 132- Ben Pasiuk (C) dec. Hunter Yackee (W0, 3-1. 138- Justin Shaw (C) dec. Mauricio Barajas (W), 2-1. 145- Adam Shaw (C) pinned Sandro Ramirez (W), 3:55. 152- Xavier Torres (W) dec. Brandon Daniels (C), 6-4. 160- Andrew Bailey (W) major dec. Noah Carrothers (C), 11-0. 170- Brenton Miller (C) pinned Trent Davis (W), 1:56. 182- Aidan Pasiuk (C) tech. fall Aaron Harris (W), 15-0. 195- Cody Leggett (C) major dec. Drew Krall (W), 11-3. 220- Tony Banister (W) pinned Noah Rutledge (C), 0:10. 285- Alex Sosa (W) dec. Winston Yekel (C), 5-0.
Final
Graham Local 48, Wauseon 9
106- Tanner Jordan (G) dec. Gavin Ritter (W), 3-2. 113- Dawson Show (G) tech. fall McKayla Campbell (W), 16-0. 120- Jordan Crace (G) tech. fall Nolan Ray (W), 16-1. 126- Jeffrey Thomas (G) dec. Jarrett Bischoff (W), 3-2. 132- Mitch Moore (G) dec. Hunter Yackee (W), 6-1. 138- J.D. Stickley (G) tech. fall Mauricio Barajas (W), 17-2. 145- Sandro Ramirez (W) dec. Joey Sanchez (G), 3-1. 152- Xavier Torres (W) pinned D’artangan Spitler (G), 1:46. 160- Ryan Thomas (G) pinned Andrew Bailey (W), 1:49. 170- Hunter Hyden (G) dec. Trent Davis (W), 9-6. 182- Gage Braun (G) tech. fall Aaron Harris (W), 20-4. 195- Kavan Sarver (G) dec. Tony Banister (W), 3-1 SV. 220- Johnny Shafer (G) major dec. Sammy Sosa (W), 17-5. 285- Khrizdon Van (G) dec. Alex Sosa (W), 5-2.
Division III Quarterfinal
Edison 42, Swanton 22
106- Ray Adams (E) pinned Zach Schaller (S), 3:51. 113- Gabe Mina-Vazquez (E), forfeit. 120- Dylan Burns (E) dec. Trevor Schaller (S), 5-2. 126- Dylan Cook (S) major dec. Trent Werner (E), 9-0. 132- Max Wolfe (E) dec. Gage Pachlhofer (S), 5-3. 138- Brady Barnett (E) pinned Noah Saunders (S), 2:15. 145- Alex Neuberger (E) dec. Chase Moore (S), 4-2. 152- Ryan Marvin (S) dec. Collin Mancuso (E), 7-6. 160- Dalton Burns (E) dec. Zack Leahey (S), 8-3. 170- Tyler Houston (S) dec. John Neer (E), 7-2. 182- Joey Kasper (E) pinned Mitchell Reisinger (S), 2:34. 195- Sam Stoll (E) pinned Crew Oberheim (S), 1:45. 220- Greg Wilson (S) pinned Patrick Kreglow (E), 1:42. 285- Tommy Lytle (S) pinned Tim Straka (E), 4:41.
Reach Max Householder at 419-335-2010
