7 Pirates compete at district meet

By Cort Reynolds

ROSSFORD __ Seven Bluffton High School wrestlers battled for a spot in the state tournament at the Div. III district meet in Rossford, February 28-March 1.

Five of the seven Pirates won their first match Friday, with four of them then losing in the second round. Only sophomore Mason Shank advanced to the semifinals with two straight wins Friday in the 285 lbs. division.

Shank finished fourth in the heavyweight class Saturday to make it to the state event. Sophomore Evan Grothause ended up sixth in the 190 lbs. bracket.

A top-four finish at districts in any weight class qualified a wrestler for the state tournament at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus March 7-8.  READ MORE

Delta won the district team championship with 216 points. Milan Edison finished a distant second with 119.5 points. Liberty Center edged Monroeville for third, 97-96.

Bluffton finished a solid 17th out of 45 teams with 34 points.  

At the heavyweight division, sophomore Shank won his first bout Friday by a 4-3 decision over Montpelier junior Logan Pontious.

In the quarterfinals, he pinned freshman Joel Smith of Milan Edison in 1:41 to reach the final four on Saturday. Against fellow one seed and Swanton senior Evan Smigelski in the semifinals, Shank lost a 5-1 decision.

Shank won his consolation semifinal bout 3-1 over Eastwood senior Colton Oberhouse to advance to the third-place match.

Top seed Brycan Dunlap of Monroeville then pinned Shank at 4:39 to capture third place. Shank ran his record to 40-9 as he finished fourth.

Grothause won his first match Friday in the 190 lbs. bracket with a 2-1 decision over senior Cole McStoots of Sherwood Fairview. 

In the quarterfinals against Monroeville senior Brencyn Evans, Grothause was pinned in 3:41 to fall into the consolation bracket. In his first match there, he won a 6-2 decision over Jackson Gayheart of Seneca East.

Grothause then won his next match Saturday by a close 8-6 decision over Reid Blankenmeyer of Carey. Patrick Henry junior Trent Johnson then defeated him, 7-2.

In the fifth-place bout, Woodmore junior Michael Seeger of Wooster pinned Grothause in 2:08. He finished his season with a 34-13 mark.

Pirate freshman Ronald Kaufman won his first match Friday in the 106 lbs. bracket by technical fall, 17-0. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Eastwood sophomore Gabe Brough by an 8-4 decision.

In his first consolation bracket match, Kaufman squared off against Columbus Grove freshman Zaine Schroeder and won 16-0 by technical fall. In the next round, he lost a 9-3 decision to Archbold sophomore Brooks Miller to be eliminated.

Kaufman finished his season with a 31-8 record.

At 113 lbs., freshman Alex Nance won his initial match Friday by a 12-1 majority decision over Swanton freshman Brytan Toczynski. In his quarterfinal bout, Nance dropped a 6-3 decision to Northwood sophomore Isaac Ramirez.

In his first consolation bracket bout vs. Lakota freshman Carson Quaintance, Nance lost a 6-0 decision to be ousted from the tournament.

He finished his freshman season with a 26-15 record.

Freshman Hephaestion Weyer triumphed in his first 126 lbs. bracket match over Millbury Lake junior Brody Barton by pin at 5:51.

In the quarterfinals Friday, Weyer dropped a 9-5 decision to Defiance Tinora senior Jacob Bishop. In his first consolation bout, Weyer lost a 4-2 decision to junior Deacon Lacy of Seneca East.

Weyer ended his season with a 21-12 record.

A pair of Bluffton grapplers lost their first two bouts Friday to be eliminated. Senior Jett Blackburn lost his first match at the 150 lbs. tourney to senior Dominic Graziani of Defiance Tinora by pin at 3:09. 

In his first consolation bracket bout, Blackburn fell by decision 16-2 to freshman Jaxon Davidson of College Western Reserve. Blackburn ended his season with a 31-17 record.

Pirate sophomore Branden Cross dropped his first match Friday in the 120 lbs. class by a 10-3 decision to junior Gabe Stevens of Swanton. In his first consolation bracket bout, Cross lost a 4-1 decision to Millbury Lake senior Mason Snyder.

Cross finished his season with a fine 31-14 mark.

PLACERS BY WEIGHT CLASS

106 Pound Placers (place, wrestler, year, season record, result)
1st Ethan Powell 10, Genoa Area (49-3), Fall 1:40
2nd Jose Figueroa 11, Willard (39-8)
3rd Braedyn Tammarine 11, Liberty Center (43-4), tf20-4
4th Gabe Brough 10, Eastwood (41-7)
5th Brooks Miller 10, Archbold (46-12), Dec 7-1
6th Wyatt Martin 10, South Central (37-9)

113 Pound Placers
1st Scotty Fuller 11, Genoa Area (49-3), tf19-2
2nd Lars Soles 11, Archbold (47-9)
3rd Mason Hermes 10, Milan Edison (47-9), Fall 1:51
4th Isaac Ramirez 10, Northwood (29-12)
5th Lucas Summerfield 10, Coll Western Reserve (35-10), Default
6th Cole Bishop 10, Port Clinton (37-17)

120 Pound Placers
1st Tyler Barnes 11, Delta (36-8), Dec 6-4
2nd Owen Patchen 10, Monroeville (23-5)
3rd Xander Gfell-King 11, Milan Edison (30-7), Fall 2:45
4th Diton Farnsworth 12, South Central (45-8)
5th Wyatt Thieroff 10, Woodmore (37-9), Fall 4:49
6th Trey Weirauch 10, Archbold (46-13)

126 Pound Placers
1st Adam Mattin 12, Delta (34-1), Forfeit
2nd Bodee Miller 11, Oak Harbor (41-9)
3rd Joshua Cornell 12, Port Clinton (40-8), Fall 2:53
4th Jacob Bishop 12, Tinora (25-10)
5th Quentin Cox 12, Milan Edison (30-21), Fall 1:56
6th Landon Massie 12, Liberty Center (26-22)

132 Pound Placers
1st Owen Patrizi 11, Mohawk (36-9), md8-0
2nd Richard Flores 12, Delta (33-16)
3rd Grady Phelps 9, Riverdale (43-2), Dec 6-2
4th Will Pask 12, Liberty-Benton (41-11)
5th Qwintin Howard 10, Ashland Crestview (24-10), tf16-0
6th Gavin Shropshire 12, Eastwood (41-11)

138 Pound Placers
1st Abe Hermes 12, Milan Edison (48-6), Dec 7-6
2nd Ben James 10, Sandusky SMCC (48-8)
3rd Brant Kirian 11, Mohawk (22-6), Dec 2-1
4th Chase Godwin 11, Swanton (35-15)
5th Nolan Rittenhouse 10, Tinora (34-12), Fall 2:21
6th Carl Warner 12, Delta (28-18)

144 Pound Placers
1st Landon Lintermoot 12, Delta (34-13), Fall 3:01
2nd Peyton Schafer 12, Elmwood (38-5)
3rd Drake Munroe 12, Coll Western Reserve (36-9), Forfeit
4th Antonio Salazar 12, Gibsonburg (44-6)
5th Jace Cornell 10, Port Clinton (34-16), Default
6th Paul Westrick 12, Tinora (28-15)

150 Pound Placers
1st Landen Roeder 12, Monroeville (45-8), Fall 2:24
2nd Gavin Cornell 11, Port Clinton (40-7)
3rd Tyler Abbey 10, Genoa Area (44-10), Dec 4-2
4th Lane Thacker 12, Lakota (36-3)
5th Parker Cone 12, Delta (33-19), Dec 4-3
6th Jordan Hertel 10, Carey (42-9)

157 Pound Placers
1st Jackson Bartels 12, Liberty Center (23-3), md15-2
2nd Max Mossing 12, Evergreen (34-8)
3rd Rafael Gross 10, St. Paul (47-3), Dec 4-1
4th Brady Losie 12, Oak Harbor (32-9)
5th Luke Clement 11, Genoa Area (40-10), Dec 8-3
6th Mazin Rukieh 12, Swanton (24-14)

165 Pound Placers
1st Braxton Quaintance 12, Lakota (42-0), Fall 0:41
2nd Landon Rich 11, Woodmore (38-13)
3rd Lane Lopez 10, Delta (33-13), Dec 5-1
4th Connor Sterling 12, Elmwood (32-15)
5th Michael Holtsberry 12, Swanton (30-18), md12-0
6th Lance Frankart 12, Mohawk (20-11)

175 Pound Placers
1st Luke James 12, Milan Edison (42-0), tf17-2
2nd Kaden Bish 10, Mohawk (31-4)
3rd Aiden Helmke 12, Tinora (33-4), Dec 5-1
4th Grant Bomer 12, Lakota (38-9)
5th Gunner Taylor 9, Delta (29-17), Fall 4:37
6th Colin Bates 12, Liberty-Benton (43-9)

190 Pound Placers
1st Connor Sintobin 12, Delta (40-9), Dec 4-2
2nd Malakii Pinkleton 11, Port Clinton (41-5)
3rd Brencyn Evans 12, Monroeville (42-7), tf21-0
4th Trent Johnson 11, Patrick Henry (43-9)
5th Michael Seeger 11, Woodmore (33-12), Fall 2:08
6th Evan Grothause 11, Bluffton (33-12)

215 Pound Placers
1st Cam`ron Kirtz 12, Swanton (37-10), Dec 2-1
2nd Cass Chiesa 12, Delta (40-10)
3rd Parker Bixler 10, Archbold (49-12), Dec 7-5
4th Alex Young 11, Seneca East (41-10)
5th Clayton Seel 12, Liberty Center (31-16), Fall 3:33
6th Noah Robinson 12, Plymouth (40-8)

285 Pound Placers
1st Evan Smigelski 12, Swanton (32-3), Dec 3-1 SV
2nd Logan Sifuentes 11, Liberty Center (30-5)
3rd Brycen Dunlap 11, Monroeville (45-11), Fall 4:39
4th Mason Shank 10, Bluffton (40-9)
5th Colton Oberhouse 12, Eastwood (40-9), Dec 10-3
6th Cameron Bagent 12, Calvert (42-12)