CHESTERLAND — West Geauga’s wrestling team delivered a historic performance Saturday, edging Chagrin Valley Conference rival Perry, 33-31, in the Division II regional championship to send the Wolverines to the state duals for the first time in program history.
“I think it shows how hard the kids are working and how much growth they’ve had,” West Geauga coach Joe Joltin said. “And for the program, it just shows everybody’s invested, from top to bottom. From the administration, the principal, the athletic director, superintendent, the facilities managers, the maintenance crew, I mean everybody, just from top to bottom, is just invested into the program and to help us keep achieving what we’re trying to accomplish. It shows how invested we are and how hard everyone’s working.”
The dual began at 215 pounds and immediately set the tone for a back-and-forth battle. Sophomore Cole Welker earned a tight 2-0 decision over Perry’s Max Odorcic before heavyweight Trent Taylor answered with a 2-1 decision against Maveric Milnar to swing momentum back to the Pirates.
Perry struck first at the lower weights when Abby Cornwell pinned Vlad Yusenko at 106, but West Geauga regained control with back-to-back forfeits from Clayton Graham at 113 and Anthony Rini at 120. Perry’s Cooper Schlauch responded with a 12-4 major decision over Caden Kaleal at 126, followed by a Perry forfeit win from Jimmy Trentanelli at 132 that kept the dual within reach.
Senior Zander Joltin provided one of the day’s biggest moments, battling through overtime for a 9-6 sudden-victory decision over Landon Rusnak at 138. Daniel Russell followed with a first-period pin at 144 to push the Wolverines ahead, but Perry continued to counter as Dante Villalobos edged Danny Sizler 7-6 at 150 and Chance Schlauch pinned Dean Horvath at 157.
West Geauga senior Brian Denamen shifted the momentum again with a pin of Miles Osburn at 165, while Perry’s Antonius Bertone answered with a 4-1 decision over Austin Wheatley at 175 to set up the deciding stretch of the dual.
That left the meet hanging in the balance at 190 pounds, where junior Blake Welker delivered the defining performance with an 11-2 major decision over Jackson Bezzeg.
“I told him to go out and wrestle it like any other match,” Joltin said. “We felt good about that match, and Blake’s a good wrestler. He’s a junior, he’s an upperclassman, so we’ve been here in these pressure situations before, maybe not with the dual meet hanging in the balance to go to state duels, but as far as pressure situations, you can’t worry too much about the moment. All you can do is control what you can control. Go out and wrestle your match. Score points.”
The Wolverines held on through the final weight to secure the two-point victory, capping a dramatic dual that featured six pins, two major decisions and multiple one-score matches.
Joltin said facing Perry a week earlier at the Chagrin Valley Conference tournament helped prepare his team for the lineup chess match.
“We were looking at matchups and their lineup,” Joltin said. “Perry’s a really good team, and they’re really well-coached, and they always come ready to wrestle. We got to look at them at the CVC tournament, but knowing the flexibility that they have with the depth that they have at a lot of weights, we knew that they were going to be mixing it up. We did our best to kind of try to figure out where they were going to put guys. They definitely threw us a couple of curve balls, but our guys are pretty much where our guys are. We didn’t really have many moves to make, so the next thing to do is just go out and wrestle.”
West Geauga will learn its opponent for the state duals later this week as the Wolverines prepare for the biggest stage the program has ever reached.
Perry advanced to the regional final with a 39-31 semifinal win over Padua Franciscan earlier in the day. The Pirates collected forfeits at 113, 120, 165 and 175, while Cooper Schlauch earned an 8-3 decision at 126. Landon Rusnak (138), Dante Villalobos (150), Chance Schlauch (157), Jackson Bezzeg (190), Keagan Cole (215) and Trent Taylor (285) each secured victories by pin to power Perry into the championship matchup.
