Perry defeated West Geauga and Benedictine on the way to clinching a Division II regional title and earning a spot in next weekend’s state duals.
The Pirates opened the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches’ Association regional tournament on their home mat with a 45-33 win over West Geauga. Then they defeated Benedictine in the regional championship match, 54-18.
“It was great,” said Perry coach Dan Trentanelli. “The boys, and the girls because we weighed in the girls, were ready to go, and they were confident. After talking to some of the kids, even my sons, they were like, ‘You coaches were more nervous about this than us,’ so they had a lot of confidence coming in.”
Against West Geauga, the Pirates opened the match with pins from Jimmy Trentanelli at 106 and Hunter Kline at 113 and a Landon Rusnak decision at 120 to take a 15-0 lead.
West Geauga’s Zander Joltin recorded a 17-2 technical fall at 126 to cut the Wolverine deficit to 15-5, but the Pirates won the next five weight classes by fall to seal their win.
Anthony Trentanelli (132), Lucas Spring (138), Chris Bezzeg (144), Chance Schlauch (15), and Drew Smith (157) each flattened their opponent leading to an insurmountable 45-5 lead.
West Geauga won the final four weight classes with Brian Denamen winning by decision at 165, Austin Wheatley (175), Nasir Levy (190), and Maveric Milnar (285) won by fall, and Blake Welker picked up a forfeit at 215.
“West G has a good squad but our guys were really prepared,” Coach Trentanelli said. “I think they mostly prepared for West G just because they saw those guys at the (Chagrin Valley Conference) tournament, and West G had a good showing there as well. That was on their mind, and we wrestled well. I felt like when Landon Rusnak beat (Caden) Kaleal at 120 was a turning point and he kind of got the ball rolling after that. Once we hit 165, we put our backups in after that because we wanted to be ready for Benedictine.”
The Pirates had little trouble downing Benedictine in the championship match.
Jimmy Trentanelli and Kline both received forfeits, and Cooper Schlauch recorded a pin at 120.
Benedictine’s Devion Coffin won by decision at 126 but the Pirates again used a five-match winning streak to pull away from their opponents.
Anthony Trentanelli won by major decision at 132, Spring recorded a technical fall at 138, Bezzeg clinched a 13-6 decision at 144, Chance Schlauch pinned his way to a win at 150, and Eddie Cooney won by forfeit at 157.
Benedictine won back-to-back decisions at 165 and 175 and recorded a pin at 215.
Perry’s Chuck Thomas won by forfeit at 190 and Trent Taylor pinned his opponent at 285.
With the regional win, the Pirates will wrestle in the state duals at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus on Feb. 8.
West Geauga defeated Padua in the consolation bout, 43-29.
Kaleal (120), Joltin (126), Danny Sizler (144), and Welker (215) recorded pins for the Wolverines. Nick Kreischer (132) and Levy (190) recorded forfeits, and Quentin Artino (157) and Milnar (285) won by decision.
Trinity competed at the Division III regional at Lake Catholic.
The Trojans dropped a 41-40 decision to Tuslaw in the semifinals but bounced back with a 58-20 win over Dalton in the third-place match.
Derion Williams went 2-0 at 106 with a pin and a technical fall. Xavier Pearson recorded two pins at 120, Mekhi Davenport picked up a pair of forfeits at 120, and Duane Ricks won by fall and picked up a forfeit at 126. Jamicheal Burks (144) recorded a pin and decision, and Cameron Carter went 2-0 with two forfeits at 190.
