Sports
It is the thrill before the drill.
It’s league championship weekend for most local wrestling teams, the last action in the regular season before sectionals start across the state on Feb. 17.
The Ohio Heritage Conference (at Greeneview) and the Central Buckeye Conference (at Bellefontaine) will hold their league championship tournaments Saturday.
There is expected to be no change at the top in either tournament. Mechanicsburg is looked at as the strong favorite in the OHC.
“Even though the OHC conference tournament is the smallest tournament we compete in every year, it is a focus of ours,” said Indians coach Brady Hiatt. “We’ve had very good success here in the past, winning six times total — five of the last six years.
“The tourney is important for the guys and the community. Gives them some ‘bragging rights’ over our closest rival schools. This is also the first tourney in our end-of-the-year run, so its important for us to begin the final four weeks wrestling well.”
Northeastern, a perennial contender, probably isn’t this year.
“The OHC title should go to Mechanicsburg,” said Jets coach Ed Rhoades. “Northeastern is shooting for a top three placement.
“The key for Northeastern in this format is to not give pins, and get pins where ever possible. The dual meet format can benefit by having a nearly complete team. Northeastern has only six wrestlers with league experience on this young team,” he said.
In the CBC, no one is likely to even challenge 11-time Division II state champion Graham. The battle is for second.
“It’s a five-team race for the runner-up spot,” said Northwestern coach Harry Husted. “Out of Bellefontaine, Kenton Ridge, Ben Logan, Indian Lake and us, any one can come out with second. Honestly, I like our match-ups going in.
“And we’ve got to not just win at league, then lose at sectionals, like we have in the past,” he continued. “Win it in dominating fashion the first time so they’ll be more confident the second time around. Devin (Rogers, 106), Oakes (Sam, 220), Brandon (Rogers, 182) all have finalist possibilities. Then we need our other guys to place. Up and down our lineup, we’ve got placement potential.”
Added Cameron Doggett, whose Cougars should battle host Bellefontaine for the Kenton Trail Division title: “We’re going there to wrestle the best we can, hoping we can win our division. I’m just hoping everyone comes to wrestle.”
A pair of firsts: Speaking of conference tournaments, Springfield got its first two conference champions when senior Darryl Grayson (182) and sophomore Devin Nye (220) both won titles at the Greater Western Ohio Conference tourney on Saturday.
“That was a historic moment for Springfield,” said Wildcats coach Virgil Goodwine. “When you get to the finals, there’s no breaks. You’ve got to take what you can get. Those guys worked hard for what they got.”
With Grayson at 42-1 this year and Nye at 39-1, the two provide one of the most lethal heavyweight duos in southwestern Ohio.
On the way up: Triad, a traditional bottom-dweller in the OHC, finished fourth out of 10 teams at its own invitational this past Saturday with 163 points.
The Cardinals had two champs — Tanner Stengel (132) and Seth Maurice (145) — plus six other placers: runners-up David Keeran (138) and Scott Instine (145), third-placers Andrew Zirkle (126), Thad Miller (138) and Damian Boldman (152) and fourth-placer Chris Miller (182). Central was third with 178 points, while Bellefontaine won with 304 points.
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