BURTON—Perry won three individual championships and landed seven others among the top four in winning the team title at the Division III sectional wrestling tournament at Berkshire on Saturday.
The Pirates finished with 232 ½ points while Pymatuning Valley finished second with 162.
“The boys wrestled well,” said Perry head coach Dave Rowan. “We were excited coming into (Division III) and to see what would work out for us. They came to wrestle. They did a good job; we lost some matches, but we won some big matches too. I was real happy with the performance.”
Perry’s individual champions included freshman Chance Schlauch at 126 pounds, senior Brock Christian at 132, and junior Domenick LaMacchia at 157.
Schlauch, who improved to 25-6 on the year, recorded three pins and a decision on the way to punching his ticket to next weekend’s district tournament.
“I am excited for districts,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what it’s like.”
Christian cruised to the sectional title with two quick pins and a technical fall in the championship bout.
He’s looking to make his third trip to the state tournament after placing seventh as a sophomore and third as a junior. Christian is 7-3 in state tournament bouts.
LaMacchia avenged a loss to Berkshire’s Alex Munn in the semifinals of the Chagrin Valley Conference championships last month on the way to winning his sectional title.
Munn won that bout 8-6, but LaMacchia turned the table and beat Munn 9-5 in the sectional championship match.
“I think my conditioning was better and I just think I performed really well,” he said. “I knew my endurance was my strong suit, so I just used that as my advantage and just outwrestled him I guess throughout the whole match.”
Perry’s other district qualifiers—any wrestler who placed among the top four at sectionals—included Riley Rowan (2nd, 120), Chris Bezzeg (3rd, 138), Drew Smith (3rd, 144), Ryan Brubaker (2nd, 165), Antonius Bertone (4th, 175), Nolan Leben (3rd, 215), and Kenny Walker (2nd, 285).
Calvin Peters (150) and Trent Taylor (190) both placed fifth for the Pirates and will serve as district alternates.
Other CVC wrestlers to win sectional titles included Berkshire’s Josh Brown (150), Kirtland’s Louka Babic (175), and Beachwood’s Uzonna Nzekwe (215).
District qualifiers from the conference include Beachwood’s Caleb Greenwood (2nd, 144), Josh Greenwood (2nd, 150), and Eric Steckner (3rd, 175); Berkshire’s Colin Hering (2nd, 113), Johnny Heiden (2nd, 138), Amadeus Kosova (4th, 144), and Alex Munn (2nd, 157); Chagrin Falls’ Jonathan McGiness (4th, 113) and Hunter Blair (4th, 126); Grand Valley’s Trevor Mullen (4th, 215); and Kirtland’s Eddy Podojil-Schlesinger (3rd, 113), Ian Borthwick (3rd, 132), and Gaetano Savelli (3rd, 165).
