Nine area wrestlers claim sectional titles

PLYMOUTH — The Edison wrestling team won a Division III sectional team championship on Saturday and will advance eight competitors to the district tournament next week. The Chargers totaled 191.5 points to easily finish ahead of Seneca East (156) and Western Reserve (152) among the 14 teams. The top four individuals on Saturday at Plymouth High School advanced to the Rossford district, set for March 6-7. The top four at the district will qualify for the OHSAA state championships in Columbus. Edison had a pair of champions in freshmen Cohen Reer (106 pounds) and Brayden Barker (120). Reer (41-2) had a bye, then needed 1:10 to pin Crestview's Sean Nolan before a 19-3 win via technical fall over Willard's Jose Figueroa (34-5) in the finals. Barker (33-14) pinned Plymouth's Thomas Winegardner (36-10), who placed third, with a fall in 3:26. He pinned Western Reserve's Chance Warthling late in the match at 5:28 in the first-place matchup. Also moving on for Edison as second-place finishers were Xander Gfell-King (29-9) at 132, Josiah Walbom (24-16) at 157, and Joel Smith (26-11). Urijah Ojeda (14-14) at 113, AJ Crabtree (17-10) at 126, and Bentley Illuzzi (22-8) placed third for the Chargers. The third-place Roughriders had two individual champions in Lucas Summerfield (39-7) at 113 and Jaxson Davidson (33-5) at 138. Summerfield pinned Seneca East's Dane Wilson in 1:49 and defeated South Central's Wyatt Martin (39-6) with an 8-1 decision for first place. Davidson pinned Lucas' Xavier Hall in 1:21 and Crestview's Brayden Parrigan in 5:02 to reach the finals, where he had a win by default over Willard's Luke Slone (37-7). Also advancing for Western Reserve were second-place finishers Anthony Lierenz (36-9) at 126 and Landen Barnhart (32-11) at 144. Colton Lutz (29-10) was third at 106, as was Kohler Graves at 150. Monroeville and St. Paul each had a pair of champions among its placers. At 132, Owen Patchen (14-2) pinned New London's Tate Mitchell in 44 seconds, then beat Crestview's Dylan Burge with a 17-1 technical fall before edging Gfell-King, 4-2, in the finals. Heavyweight Brycen Dunlap (34-9) pinned South Central's Reese Hamilton in 1:09, then posted a 9-1 major decision over St. Paul's Cam Coetzee (25-15), who placed third. In the finals, he pinned Edison's Smith in 48 seconds. Carter Roeder (138) placed fourth to also advance for the Eagles. Zeke Dvorak at 150 and Rafael Gross at 165 were champions for the Flyers. Dvorak (28-14) opened with a pin in 3:11 over Buckeye Central's Kayne Wagner, followed by a 21-4 win by technical fall over Western Reserve's Graves. He then pinned Edison's Cohen Dawson in 4:54 and scored a 16-1 technical fall over Seneca East's Cal Geary in the finals. Gross (40-5) pinned Buckeye Central's Dominick Fernanandes in 35 seconds and South Central's Justin Gillum in 3:17 to reach the finals. He then claimed a 10-0 major decision over Seneca East's Bentley Gayheart. Also advancing for St. Paul was Landon Kennebeck (22-12), who was fourth at 157. South Central and Plymouth also each had an individual champion. For the Trojans, Greyson Fisher (40-7) took first at 157. Fisher posted a pair of technical falls by scores of 16-1 and 19-4 over Crestview's Louscius Whitesel and St. Paul's Kennebeck. He added an 18-1 technical fall over Edison's Walbom in the finals. Also advancing for the Trojans included Jaxson Strickland (22-10), who was third at 144. Plymouth's Ben Trimmer (31-11) won the 144-pound weight class. Trimmer beat Edison's Granstyn Yamanouchi by fall in 2:41, followed by a 19-2 technical fall win over Grady Weber of Bucyrus. He then won a tight 7-5 decision in the finals over Western Reserve's Barnhart. Also for the Big Red, Isaiah Miller (20-18) was second at 175. New London advanced four wrestlers to the district, including Hunter Chandley (36-7), who was second at 190. He was joined by third-place finisher Ethan Koch (165) and fourth-place finishers David Hostetler (150) and Keith Squire (215). Also advancing for Willard were Logan Williams, who was third at 157, and Jackson Steinmetz, who placed fourth at 132. DIVISION II Norwalk moves on five The Truckers will have five wrestlers compete at their host Div. II district next week after they placed in the top four on Saturday at the Galion sectional. Aldynn Metzger (26-10) placed second at 126 for Norwalk, as did Gavin Lepley (30-7) at 165. Earning third for the Truckers was Cooper Gee (37-9) at 285. Nico Helton (29-7) placed fourth at 175, along with Victor Negrete (13-16) at 138. As a team, Norwalk placed seventh out of 11 teams with 93.5 points.