LORAIN — While a good performance on the opening night of the sectional wrestling tournament can help build confidence, it was a surprisingly human outing by St. Edward that seemed to have 11 other teams at Southview High walking with some spring in their steps.
The Eagles have won 31 straight Division I sectional titles and captured 13 of 14 individual championships last season. They had a 52-point lead after the first night of wrestling last year, yet lead Southview by just 8.5 points heading into today’s competition.
“Mentally, (wrestling against St. Edward) can be intimidating,” Amherst 119-pounder Josh Meade said. “But once you get on the mat, your instincts take over and they become just another team.”
Meade was one of several area wrestlers to score a victory over St. Edward on Friday night. He pinned John Cobos, an Avon Lake resident and state qualifier, midway through the second period to advance to this afternoon’s semifinals. Meade also scored a first-period pin over North Olmsted’s Jake Rhinehelder in the opening round.
“Coming in I knew it was going to be tough,” Meade said. “There’s a lot of good kids at my weight class at this sectional. The pin (against Cobos) was a surprise. I honestly expected it to go all three periods. I knew I was in for a tough match against him.”
St. Edward is still the obvious front-runner, but after the dominating performance the Eagles put up in the Saints gymnasium last year even a solid performance — the Eagles advanced 10 to the semifinals — feels like a bit of a letdown.
One Eagle who hasn’t lost a thing from last season is two-time state champion Collin Palmer, who needed just nine seconds to pin North Ridgeville’s Dominic Rogers in their 135-pound quarterfinal.
“I snapped him down and it was over,” said Palmer, a junior who lives in Columbia Township. “There really wasn’t much to it. I got a nine-second pin when I was younger but it’s been awhile.”
On the other side of Meade’s bracket, Avon Lake sophomore Kevin Brunner was putting on a quick-pin clinic and he was doing it against some tough competition.
Brunner downed Admiral King’s Juan Lugo in 52 seconds during the first round, then defeated Elyria’s Kodie Egnor with a pin at 1:03 in the quarterfinals.
“I was really nervous going into that second match,” Brunner said. “I wrestled (Egnor) last year and won 9-0, but he’s been training with (Elyria coach Erik) Burnett and Steve Mitcheff over there, so he’s obviously gotten a lot better.”
The Day 1 performance has provided a bit of redemption for Brunner, who had a stellar 20-win freshman season ended by a two-and-out showing at sectionals.
“My season just fell apart,” Brunner said. “I’m looking to make up for it this year. It’d be nice to get out (of sectionals) and win some matches at districts.”
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

TEAM STANDINGS: St. Edward 89.5, Southview 81, Elyria 75.5, Westlake 51, Amherst 49, Avon Lake 45.5, North Ridgeville 40, Olmsted Falls 38, Midview 34.5, Lakewood 25, North Olmsted 21, Admiral King 13.

QUARTERFINALS

103 — Uland Ralston (S) tech. fall Moe Rabah (W), 16-1; Rex Rozar (NR) dec. Kyle Sykes (M), 7-5; Evan Potts (AL) pinned P.J. Mueller (OF), 3:31; Gus Sako (SE) pinned Wes Foor (A), :40.
112 — Steve Mitcheff (E) pinned Tom DiMarino (NO), 1:06; Narcisco Inchaurregui (S) dec. Blake Jardonek (AL), 4-2; Connor Dempsey (W) maj. dec. Matt Zepp (NR), 15-4; Jamie Clark (SE) pinned Chris Gerhart (M), 1:00.
119 — Nick Lawrence (W) pinned Nate Hart (NR), 3:41; Kevin Brunner (AL) pinned Kodie Egnor (E), 1:03; Josh Meade (A) pinned John Cobos (SE), 3:31; David Gyorfi (S) tech. fall Joe Hough (OF), 15-0.
125 — Mike Varga (OF) pinned Jon Kirallah (NO), 1:07; Danny Urbin (AL) dec. Anthony Salupo (SE), 6-0; Zeno Inchaurregui (S) pinned John Whipkey (NR), :51; Austin DeChant (E) pinned Kevin Pierce (W), 2:41.
130 — Nick Sulzer (SE) tech. fall Adrian Marcial (S), 19-2; Naseem Merhi (W) dec. Nick Ramsey (AK), 8-5; Brandon Morgan (A) pinned Mike Gessner (NO), 4:57; Dalton McHenry (E) maj. dec. Jared Wise (M), 10-0.
135 — Collin Palmer (SE) pinned Dominic Rogers (NR), :09; Chaz McGrain (OF) dec. Mike Daniels (AK), 5-3; Brandon Perrott (E) tech. fall Sheldon Stuckart (NO), 16-0; Pat Duffy (L) maj. dec. Derek Zimmerman (A), 16-2.
140 — Neil Birt (SE) pinned Sean Escolas (W), 4:26; Tony Sclimenti (AK) dec. Cody Dieckman (OF), 3-0; Tony Martinez (S) maj. dec. Alex Basinski (A), 14-5; Chase Churchill (E) pinned Adam Davis (M), 1:15.
145 — Bobby Cruz (S) pinned J.D. Hackman (W), 1:46; Connor Suba (SE) pinned Thaer Zayed (NO), :18; Ramon Castoneda (A) dec. Peti Tapolyai (L), 3-0; Phillip Egnor (E) maj. dec. Matt Phillips (NR), 10-2.
152 — Zack Goins (E) pinned Josh Parker (S), 3:05; Sean Pincura (M) pinned Alex Feador (NO), 2:22; Cory Martinson (SE) pinned Jeremy George (AL), 1:45; Devin Henry (W) pinned James Mees (NR), 3:16.
160 — Mark Tomanek (AL) tech. fall Brad Spreng (W), 20-5; Paul Findley (S) dec. Jordan Smith (M), 8-6; Chris Kelly (NO) pinned Vinny Fox (L), 4:27; Derek Lozano (NR) dec. Jason Gott (E), 3-2.
171 — Brian Roddy (SE) pinned Jeff Pye (AK), :16; Shane Friend (NR) dec. Ben Kovach (AL), 7-2; Jose Martinez (S) pinned Mitchell Fadenholz (E), 1:08; Aaron Winemiller (A) dec. John Dever (W), 8-1.
189 — Ryan Nelisse (E) pinned John Flesher (NR), :29; Brandon Dean (M) pinned Dustin English (S), 5:08; Nate Rychlik (SE) dec. Justin Stump (A), 5-3 (OT); Joe Goff (OF) dec. Gabe Wiles (NO), 6-4.
215 — Ryan Smugala (W) pinned Matt Cadrette (A), 3:38; Mike Green (SE) dec. Jerry Knapp (OF), 5-3; Gahad Suleiman (AK) maj. dec. Jack Motyka (NR), 15-7; Nick Santana (S) dec. Caleb Borden (AK), 4-2.
HVY — Greg Byrd (NR) pinned Marlowe Burton (S), 5:02; Andrew Brumenschenkel (A) dec. Adrian Adams (E), 3-1; Quentin Watson (AK) pinned Patrick Flesher (AL), 2:57; Zach Laird (OF) maj. dec. Mark Horton (SE), 15-5.

TODAY’S SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS

103 — Ralston vs. Rozar; Potts vs. Sako. 112 — Mitcheff vs. N. Inchaurregui; Dempsey vs. Clark. 119 — Lawrence vs. Brunner; Meade vs. Gyorfi. 125 — Varga vs. Urbin; Z. Inchaurregui vs. DeChant. 130 — Sulzer vs. Merhi; Morgan vs. McHenry. 135 — Palmer vs. McGrain; Perrott vs. Duffy. 140 — Birt vs. Sclimenti; Martinez vs. Churchill. 145 — Cruz vs. Suba; Castoneda vs. Egnor. 152 — Goins vs. Pincura; Martinson vs. Henry. 160 — Tomanek vs. Findley; Kelly vs. Lozano. 171 — Roddy vs. Friend; Martinez vs. Winemiller. 189 — Nelisse vs. Dean; Rychlik vs. Goff. 215 — Smugala vs. Green; Suleiman vs. Santana. HVY — Byrd vs. Brumenschenkel; Watson vs. Laird.

 

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