Kirtland closed out the regular season on Friday with a sweep of Glenville, Avon Lake and host Villa Angela-St. Joseph.
The Hornets knocked off Glenville, 48-21, then beat Avon Lake, 44-30. They closed out the evening with a 51-21 win over VASJ to improve to 20-7 on the season.
“We wanted the guys to go out there and get some matches in; that was the main goal,” said Kirtland coach Scott Francis. “Overall, we’re really happy with the way the guys wrestled. It was a good primer going into next week.”
The 20 dual wins didn’t happen by accident.
Francis and his wrestlers set high goals for the season, which included advancing to the OHSAA state duals tournament in Columbus. The Hornets won Region 19 to earn a spot in last weekend’s Elite Eight, where they were defeated by Mechanicsburg.
“In past years we’ve gone to dual meets and we just worried about getting kids matches and we didn’t worry about the results of the dual meets,” Francis said. “This is the first year our guys really wanted to win all 27 of those matches. We put an emphasis on winning as a team and going out early in the season trying to get guys to fill out weight classes knowing we had chance to get to the state dual tournament.”
Mike Petterson, Daniel Jahnke, Blake Andonian, Evan Francis, Chris Brown and Clayton Davidson all went 3-0 for the Hornets on Friday while Gus Mormino was 2-0 and Peter Jahnke and Anthony Porter both finished the night at 2-1. Chris Sakenes also won a match.
Petterson record a pin and two forfeits at 113 while Daniel Jahnke stuck two of his opponents and earned a forfeit at 120. Petterson ended the regular season at 19-18 while Jahnke heads into the postseason with a 22-19 mark.
Andonian had a pair of pins and a forfeit at 126 and Mormino earned an 8-2 decision against Avon Lake and drew a forfeit against Glenville. Andonian closed out the regular season with an 18-10 record while Mormino is 12-16.
Francis had a pin and two forfeits at 138 while Peter Jahnke drew two forfeits while splitting time at 145 and 152. Francis finished the regular season at 37-5 with 23 pins and Jahnke is 2-1.
Brown pinned two of his opponents and recorded a technical fall against the other at 145 and 152 and Davidson had a pin, a forfeit and won by injury default at 170. Both of Porter’s wins at 195 were by fall. Brown closed out the regular season with a 19-15 record while Davidson remained perfect at 39-0 with 22 falls. Porter is 22-12.
Davidson, a returning state qualifier, becomes just the third Kirtland wrestler to go undefeated in the regular season. Rob Turner, who did it twice, was 36-0 in 1998 on his way to winning the 285 pound state championship and Royal Brettrager went undefeated until the 2010 district championship match. He went on to finish third at the state tournament.
“He made high goals this year,” Francis said of Davidson. “He definitely wants to get back down to the state tournament and I’m sure his goal is to get on the podium.”
The Hornets return to action on Saturday, Feb. 28 when they travel to Beachwood for the Division III sectional tournament. Wrestlers who place among the top four in their respective weight classes advance to the district tournament the following weekend.
Kirtland 51, Villa Angela-St Joseph 21
106: Double Forfeit 113: Mike Petterson (K) by forfeit; 120: Daniel Jahnke (K) pinned King Seyou, 1:15; 126: Blake Andonian (K) pinned Carl Chaney, 0:48; 132: Joe Tromba (VASJ) dec. Mike Calvert, 4-2; 138: Evan Francis (K) by forfeit; 145: Peter Jahnke (K) by forfeit; 152: Chris Brown (K) pinned Joe Martin, 1:06; 160: Clayton Davidson (K) inj. default over Marcel English; 170: Chris Sakenes (K) dec. Danny Cervenik, 5-2; 182: Kevin Mullin (VASJ) by forfeit; 195: Anthony Porter (K) pinned Nick Follet, 2:16; 220: Jacob Kozak pinned Dylan Choe, 0:42; 285: Matt Villegas (VASJ) by forfeit.
Kirtland 44, Avon Lake 30
106: Double Forfeit 113: Mike Petterson (K) pinned Antonio Campo, 0:35; 120: Daniel Jahnke (K) pinned James Spoerl, 0:36; 126: Blake Andonian (K) pinned Brett Parks, 2:32; 132: Gus Mormino (K) dec. Jake Burger, 8-2; 138: Evan Francis (K) pinned Andrew Harvey, 0:57; 145: Chris Brown (K) tech. fall Chris Stepak, 18-3; 152: Rubeen Salem (AL) pinned Peter Jahnke, 2:44; 160: Clayton Davidson (K) pinned Tristen Olivencia, 0:59; 170: Jason Barnicle (AL) pinned Chris Sakenes, 3:31; 182: Cutter Briggs (AL) by forfeit; 195: Anthony Porter (K) pinned Erik Kneip, 1:42; 220: Maxwell Wittman (AL) pinned Dylan Choe, 3:18; 285: Andrew Pierce (AL) by forfeit.
Kirtland 48, Glenville 21
106: Double Forfeit 113: Mike Petterson (K) by forfeit; 120: Daniel Jahnke (K) by forfeit; 126: Blake Andonian (K) by forfeit; 132: Gus Mormino (K) by forfeit; 138: Evan Francis (K) by forfeit; 145: Chris Brown (K) pinned Brian Downing, 1:45; 152: Peter Jahnke (K) by forfeit; 160: Clayton Davidson (K) by forfeit; 170: Isaac Gambrell (G) dec. Chris Sakenes, 15-8; 182: Da’Shon Bush-Pierce (G) by forfeit; 195: Avery Gambrell (G) pinned Anthony Porter, 4:14; 220: Joshua Rush (G) pinned Dylan Choe, 5:32; 285: Double Forfeit.
