Firelands Conference championships Saturday in Norwalk

NORWALK — St. Paul High School will host the 53rd annual Firelands Conference wrestling championships on Saturday. Action is set to begin at 10 a.m. inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium. Doors open at 8:30 a.m., with all tickets set at $6 each. After winning the conference title last season for the first time in 21 years, Monroeville appears to again be in strong position to repeat. Of the 14 wrestlers who appear in the Feb. 8 edition of the borofanohio.net state rankings, five of them wrestle for the Eagles — who are currently projected to finish with the fifth-most points at the Division III state championships. The Eagles are paced by returning All-Ohioans Ashton Homan (138 pounds) and Hunter Vogus (132). Homan is ranked No. 1 in the state in his weight class, while Vogus ranked is second. Also for Monroeville, Landen Roeder (144) is 27th; Ben Seitz (150) is 25th; and Brencyn Evans (157) is 21st. Seven state-ranked FC wrestlers are looking at potential head-to-head matches at the tournament, where the semifinals are expected around noon, with the finals set for around 2 p.m. No match could be bigger, however, than at 126 pounds. Defending state champion Casper Caizzo, who didn't wrestle this season until Jan. 5, is ranked No. 6 at the weight. Ranked No. 4 in the weight class is Mapleton's unbeaten Brock Durbin (29-0), while the weight also features No. 11-ranked Andrew Miller from Plymouth. At 144, Monroeville's Roeder is in the same weight as Crestview's No. 3-ranked Hayden Kuhn, who is attempting to become the 14th four-time FC champion. Plymouth's Noah Robinson (22nd) and Crestview's Caleb Cunningham (19th) are both at 215. Also for Plymouth, Colton Sparks (36-1) is ranked No. 3 in the state at 190, while Cam Wagers is 12th at 113. Medals will be awarded for the top four in each weight class. The first-place team will receive 14 medals and a plate for their plaque. At the conclusion of the meet, the eight coaches will vote for Most Valuable Wrestler for the upper and lower weight classes, along with Coach of the Year.