NORTH RIDGEVILLE — An undefeated regular-season conference schedule wasn’t enough to satisfy North Ridgeville.
The Rangers (10-2) pinned a 48-21 loss on Midview on Thursday night to go 7-0 in dual meets inside the West Shore Conference. But they will have to wait until the conference tournament Feb. 9 to see if they can claim the West Shore title.
“Running the table in the conference is great, but we still have to do something in the tournament,” Rangers coach Ed Haller said. “We have to finish in the top two or three if we want to win the conference.”
Midview and North Ridgeville are young teams, so the future looks bright for both.
“We have a really young team,” Midview coach Don Carmel said. “When you start out knowing you’re 12 points down and having to come back makes it hard. I thought we had a couple of matches that could have gone either way, but unfortunately didn’t go ours. I’m looking for us to have a very good tournament next week.”
After starting with two forfeits and a pin by freshman Nate Hart, the Rangers jumped out to a 21-0 lead following sophomore John Whipkey’s 3-2 decision over freshman Josh Ayers at 125 pounds.
Whipkey and Ayers are outstanding wrestlers, which was obvious Thursday night. Whipkey had a takedown in the first period for a 2-0 lead, but Ayers used two escapes, one in the first and one in the second period, to go into the third period tied at 2. Whipkey was able to escape Ayers’ hold in the last 30 seconds and hang on for the win.
Midview’s first points came at 130 as junior Jared Wise defeated freshman Brandon Mundell 7-2.
Following wins at 135 (sophomore Matt Smith) and 140 (freshman Mike Mees), the Rangers held a 27-3 lead.
The Middies quickly cut into that lead with pins at 145 and 152. Freshman Adam Davis moved up from 140 to 145 to take on junior Mike Mendez, who was wrestling for the first time this year. Davis took Mendez to the mat in 3:51. One of only four seniors on the Midview team, Sean Pincura, added a pin over senior Matt Phillips to cut the Rangers lead to 27-15.
Junior Derek Lozano added a win at 160 for the Rangers followed by pins by junior Shane Friend (171) and sophomore John Flesher (189). Friend pinned sophomore Josh Carr in 51 seconds while Flesher pinned sophomore Jeff Miller in 1:33.
Midview junior Brandon Dean moved up to 215 pounds and pinned Rangers senior Jack Motyka in 3:44. Motyka was wearing a face mask after suffering an eye injury last weekend in a tournament.
The final match of the night was a highlight for the Rangers as state qualifier Greg Byrd returned to the mats following academic problems. Byrd made quick work of Kevin Patrick, pinning him in 1:04.
North Ridgeville will finish the regular season at Southview next Thursday.
Results:
103: Rex Rozar (NR) Forfeit; 112: Matt Zepp (NR) forfeit; 119: Nate Hart (NTR) pin Chris Gerhart 4:00; 125:John Whipkey (NR) dec. Josh Ayers 3-2; 130: Jared Wise (M) dec. Brandon Mundell 7-2: 135: Matt Smith (NR) dec. Mitch Eppich 5-2: 140: Mike Mees (NR) dec. Dan Pierce 6-0; 145: Adam Davis (M) pin Mike Mendez 3:51; 152: Sean Pincura (M) pin Matt Phillips 2:23; 160: Derek Lozano (NR) dec Chris Stefek 8-3; 171: Shane Friend (NR) pin Josh Carr :51; 189: John Flesher (NR) pin Jeff Miller 1:33; 215: Brandon Dean (M) pin Jack Motyka 3:44; HVY: Greg Byrd (NR) pin Kevin Patrick 1:04.
 

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