Berkshire, Cardinal, Chagrin Falls and West Geauga traveled to Perry High School to compete for CVC titles on Jan. 27 and 28.
Match photos click here.
Berkshire, Cardinal, Chagrin Falls and West Geauga traveled to Perry High School to compete for CVC titles on Jan. 27 and 28.
The Badgers wrestling team won the CVC Valley Division title, and five Geauga County wrestlers — Josh Brown, Brian Denamen, Colin Hering, Zander Joltin and Alex Munn — won individual titles.
In winning the division title, Berkshire had six wrestlers place: Brown, Kason Greenwood, Johnny Heiden, Hering, Munn and Danny Tiller.
“CVC is always a good tournament,” Badgers Head Coach Adam Lange said. “A lot of good teams, lot of good kids in this tournament. Very pleased with the way our guys wrestled, and overall very happy.”
Individually for the Badgers, Hering (ranked 10th in state, 26-6 on the season) claimed the 106 pound title, Brown (ranked 6th in the state, 18-0 on the season) won the 150 pound weight class, and Munn (26-7 on the season) got the victory at 157 pounds.
“During the match, I was just looking to score points and try and get a pin to help out the team,” Hering said.
Brown discussed his run to the title.
“I dropped to 150 this week,” he said. “I thought I would be stronger at that weight, quicker. Got out here yesterday, got some wins in. Really had to pick it up and be serious coming into the semis.
“We had a tough match in the finals. Totally respect my opponent, he wrestled well, I wrestled well, and I came out on top.”
Brown has now won three tournament titles in the past month, the others claimed during Defiance Border Wars and Berkshire’s Battle for the Belt. Earlier in the season, he also won a title at Beachwood’s Ron Madow Memorial Invitational.
Munn talked about his strategy and how the finals match unfolded.
“Really just keep breathing and keep moving, make sure I could score off of his shots,” he said. “He took a good ankle pick. I kind of defended, and I saw he was getting tired, so I tried to crank on his shoulder and work him out. He started to get a little gassed.”
For West Geauga, two Wolverines wrestlers won earned individual CVC titles, eight wrestlers placed, and the team finished second overall behind Perry.
Justin Artino, Ethan Bartlett, Dan Donofrio, Caden Kaleal, Anderson Louden and Christopher Paradise all placed, in addition to Denamen and Joltin winning titles.
“We had a great round in the semis,” West Geauga Coach Carmen Russo said. “We had six in the semis and went 6-for-6. To be honest, that’s hard to do in any tournament, let alone the CVC with 20 teams and some good competition. So the fact that we went 6-6 in getting those guys to the finals, I was just pleased.”
Denamen won a challenging semifinals match to claim his title.
“I had one match that went into overtime, 4-4, got a takedown and won the match,” he said. “Then the championship match started off with an ankle pick., and then I pinned the guy in the first.”
Joltin also recalled his match.
“Pinned my first (opponent),” he said. “Second one was the semifinals, a decent match, won 6-1, and then in the finals I won 9-2.”
Chagrin Falls and Cardinal also saw wrestlers place at the CVC tournament.
Placing for the Tigers were Hunter Blair, Jay McGinnis and Michael Moissis.
Placing for the Huskies were Josh Ripley and Andrew Tucholski.
The OHSAA wrestling sectionals begin the week of Feb. 20.
