PERRY–Chagrin Valley Conference schools advanced 12 wrestlers to the semifinals round at the Division III Perry District Tournament.
The host Pirates are in the hunt for the team title after three rounds of wrestling. Perry finished Day 1 in fourth place with 46 ½ points. Rootstown is currently in the lead with 61 points.
Berkshire (7th, 33), Beachwood (16th, 21), Crestwood (T20th, 18), and Kirtland (T20th, 18) finished the first day among the top 20 teams at the tournament.
Perry advanced four wrestlers into Saturday’s semifinals.
Riley Rowan opened the tournament with a pin and then he edged Black River’s Joe Dennis in the quarterfinals, 5-3. He’ll wrestle Northwestern’s Trent Sigler in the semifinals.
Brock Christian pinned both of his first two opponents as he cruised into the 132-pound semifinals where he’ll face off with Rootstown’s Nick Malek. All four of the 132-pound semifinals are ranked among the top 15 by Borofan. Christian is ranked third, Malek is 15th, and the other two semifinalists—Waynedale’s Cade Schmeltzer and Chalker’s Landen Duncan—check in at sixth and fourth, respectively.
Chris Bezzeg lived on the edge during the preliminary rounds. He won his opener, 13-9, and then edged Cleveland Central Catholic’s Leon Harrison in the semifinals, 9-8. He’ll wrestle Berkshire’s Johnny Heiden in the semifinals.
Domenick LaMacchia used a 44-second pin and a 16-1 technical fall to advance to the semifinal round where he’ll wrestle South Range’s Jacob Starkey, the state’s eighth-ranked wrestler.
Other CVC wrestlers who won their first two bouts and will compete in Saturday’s semifinals include Beachwood’s Joshua Greenwood and Uzonna Nzekwe; Berkshire’s Colin Hering, Johnny Heiden, and Josh Brown; Crestwood’s J.P. Wrobel; and Kirtland’s Gaetano Savelli and Louka Babic.
Hering won by fall and claimed a 2-0 decision in the 113-pound quarterfinals. He’ll wrestle Rootstown’s Will McEwuen in the semifinals.
Wrobel pinned his first two opponents, but he’ll be tested in the semifinals as he faces Mapleton’s Brock Durbin. Wrobel is the third-ranked wrestler in the state while Durbin comes in at No. 4. Both are two-time state qualifiers. Durbin placed sixth in the state last winter.
Heiden wrestled to the whistle in keeping alive his district championship hopes. Trailing Crestwood’s Drake Rennecker, 3-2, Heiden recorded a reversal as time expired to punch his ticket to the semifinals. Heiden opened the tournament with a 32-second pin. He’ll go back-to-back against CVC opponents as he’ll match up with Perry’s Bezzeg in the semifinals.
Brown, ranked fifth in the state, recorded a technical fall and a 7-5 decision to set up his showdown with No. 5 Jake Lyons of Tuslaw in the 150-pound semifinals.
A win by Brown could set up an all-CVC final for the 150-pound title as Beachwood’s Joshua Greenwood will wrestle South Range’s Tyson Seesholtz in the bottom half of the bracket. Seesholtz is ranked seventh while Greenwood is 16th. Greenwood advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 win in the first round and a major decision in the quarterfinals.
Savelli opened the tournament with a pin and then he defeated Cardinal’s Josh Ripley in the 165-pound quarterfinals, 5-0. Savelli will wrestle Rootstown’s Cody Coontz in the semifinals.
Babic was cruising at 175 pounds, but some late dramatics might have served as a wakeup call heading into the semifinals. He opened the tournament with a 38-second pin, and then was leading in his quarterfinals bout before Orrville’s Jack Waldron threw Babic to his back. Babic worked his way out of the jam to win 15-8. He’ll wrestle Saline Southern’s Wyatt Morris in the semifinals.
Nzekwe won by fall and a major decision in advancing to the 215-pound seminal round where he will wrestle South Range’s Christopher Colucci.
Seven CVC wrestlers opened the tournament with a win but fell into the consolation bracket after dropping their quarterfinals bout.
That group includes Beachwood’s Caleb Greenwood (144); Berkshire’s Alex Munn (157); Cuyahoga Heights’ Copper Kucia (106), Zander Mooney (113), and Zach Zoladz (150); and Perry’s Ryan Brubaker (165) and Kenny Walker (285).
After dropping their first bouts of the tournament, six CVC wrestlers will try to earn a state berth the hard way—by winning at least three straight matches to place among the top four.
They began that journey with a win in the first round of consolation wrestling.
Crestwood’s Kade Rotter (120), Chagrin Falls’ Hunter Blair (126), and Berkshire’s Amadeus Kosova (144) each bounced back from their first-round losses with a pin in the consolation round while Perry’s Drew Smith (144) won 10-6 and Beachwood’s Eric Steckner (175) won, 6-3.
