MEDINA — It’s a sectional tournament with some local flavor to it.
The opening day of the Division II sectional wrestling tournament at Highland High ended with 15 area wrestlers still having a sectional title within their grasp. And while the general consensus was that things have gone according to plan, the local team with the most wrestlers still alive with a chance for a title might be a surprise — Vermilion.
The Sailors have five wrestlers in the semifinals and that was a pleasant surprise for coach Tony Budka.
“I’m pretty pleased with what we got right now,” said Budka, whose team is in sixth place. “We have 103 (Alex West), 130 (Andrew Squires), 135 (Anthoney Budka), 145 (Ryan Shupe) and 160 (Ryan Kohl) still alive. Plus we still got other kids going in the consolation bracket.
“The one surprise of the five is probably Squires. He has really come on the past couple of weeks. It was like a light clicked on and he has really taken his wrestling to the next level.”
As if having five wrestlers in the semifinals isn’t enough to bring a smile to Budka, he has the added treat of one of the five being his freshman son Anthoney. However, the joy of his son advancing also brings the challenge of being both the coach and parent.
“Usually I don’t sit in the chair when he wrestles so I don’t put any added pressure on him,” Budka said. “But, he asked me this week to start sitting in the chair.”
“I think he deserves to sit in the chair,” Anthoney said. “Personally, going to sectionals I have been looking forward to having him there. I grew up watching my dad coach and I wouldn’t want him any other place than in that chair when it’s my turn on the mat.”
Right behind Vermilion are Avon and Elyria Catholic.
The Eagles — sitting seventh — have title hopes for Jake Saladonis (103), Nick DiFrancesco (125) and Alex Tabar (140).
“I think we’re doing as expected,” Eagles coach Joe Mauser said. “I don’t think we won any that we should have lost or lost any that we should have won. We lost a tough one at 135 (Nate Russian). He beat the kid by one point last week, and lost (Friday night) by two.
“You always want to win the close ones but sometimes you don’t.”
EC — sitting eighth — has four wrestlers in the semifinals, although it could have been five had Trent Szente (160) not lost a heartbreaker.
“Tonight went well, as expected,” EC coach Kent Horton said. “The one surprise was Trent. He was dominating the match and right at the end got thrown on his back. So that was a tough one to take.
“But, we still have 112 (Joey Cavaceci), 125 (Josh Taylor), 140 (Danny Accorti) and 171 (Dane Szente) going. Dane and Josh are looking really strong in their classes and I like where we are sitting.”
Keystone sophomore Anthony Chizamadia, who placed fifth last year, moved into the semifinals with a 36-second pin of Brookside’s Brett Harmon.
“Having the experience last year was a big help,” Chizmadia said. “It gave me the confidence to go out there and let it fly. I know what to expect this time around.”
Contact Hans Schneider at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

TEAM STANDINGS: Highland 105, Padua 71.5, Holy Name 69, Fairview 61.5, Rocky River 53, Vermilion 44, Avon 37, Elyria Catholic 36, Buckeye 31, Bay 22.5, Keystone 21, Brookside 19, Firelands 11.5.

QUARTERFINALS

103 — Jake Saladonis (A) dec. Tyler Geise (Bay), 2-1; Alex West (V) dec. Zack Hollo (RR), 4-3; Andrew Romanchik (P) maj. dec. James Brooks (HN), 9-0; Dan Mirman (H) tech. fall Alex Nelson (Fairview), 20-4.
112 — Bart Young (H) pinned Nick Barr (HN), 3:52; Anthony Feller (RR) pinned Justin Farrell (Fairview), 3:25; Joey Cavaceci (EC) dec. Joe Romano (P), 16-11; Carlton Wadkins (Buckeye) pinned Matt Koethe (V), 1:43.             
119 — Jake Rininger (H) pinned Justin Gross (V), 1:35; Collan DaFonseca (P) pinned Matt Mahoney (RR), 4:33; Drew Liechty (Fairview) pinned Jake Thomas (Buckeye), :43; Nick Nelson (Bay) tech. fall Mike Pritt (Brookside), 16-0.
125 — Pat Mahoney (RR) pinned Jordan Smith (K), 4:39; Nick DiFrancesco (A) dec. Kyle Sharp (Bay), 7-2; Josh Taylor (EC) pinned Tim Birt (Fairview), 5:43; Steve DeSciscio (P) pinned Andrew Young (Buckeye), 1:36.
130 — Anthony Melillo (P) tech. fall Gage Riley (Buckeye), 15-0; Andrew Squires (V) pinned Tyler Lewis (A), 4:27; Doug Hayes (HN) tech. fall Matt Metzger (K), 17-0; Brad Kaplan (Fairview) pinned Jim Bede (H), 1:55.                  
135 — Logan Grescock (H) pinned Matt Sustar (P), 2:42; Anthoney Budka (V) dec. Nate Russian (A), 8-6; Matt Szucs (HN) pinned Kyle Nickel (Bay), 3:56; Brett Eppler (Fairview) pinned Alex Vandolov (Firelands), 1:47.              
140 — Aaron Sulzer (HN) pinned Alex DiFranco (Fairview), :51; Alex Tabar (A) pinned Zach Novosielski (Firelands), 3:08; Danny Accorti (EC) maj. dec. James Gerken (K), 15-2; Jon McKee (H) pinned Anthony Kerwin (Buckeye), 1:50.                  
145 — Seamus Szcus (HN) pinned Tyler Bloniak (H), 1:56; Zack Lacure (Bay) dec. Alex Ross (K), 12-10; Paul Garcia (Firelands) pinned Eric Platt (P), 1:40; Ryan Shupe (V) Matt Mylechraine (A), 1:35.                 
152 — Corey Carlo (Fairview) pinned Mark Seifert (Bay), 1:34; Ryan Pischel (HN) dec. Tom Andrich (P), 3-2; Tucker Gregor (Buckeye) pinned Russell Lynch (RR), 3:42; Steve Timoteo (H) tech. fall Christian Perkins (K), 18-3.                  
160 — Riley Kilroy (P) pinned Kyle Miller (Buckeye), 2:44; Sam Crawford (Fairview) pinned Austin Tackett (Brookside), 1:30; Ryan Kohl (V) pinned Trent Szente (EC), 5:26; Ben Brown (H) pinned Cody Prewitt (K), 1:20.                 
171 — Dane Szente (EC) pinned Caanon Lorek (Fairview), 3:28; Andy Baker (P) dec. Mike Coleman (HN), 6-0; Nick Rados (Brookside) pinned Alex Phillips (H), 3:10; Mark Voll (RR) pinned Noah Pensinger (A), 1:38.                  
189 — Adam Voll (RR) dec. Vinnie Mannino (V), 4-1; Frank Wiancourt (HN) pinned Frank Baffa (Fairview), 3:10; Mark Gaydosh (P) pinned Nate Carson (EC), :42; Ted Bodnar (H) dec. Zac Maxworthy (Buckeye), 11-8.                    
215 —Tyler Houska (H) pinned Matt Kiessling (A), 4:07; Joe Gatto (P) pinned Jordan Kasper (Brookside), 1:28; Cody Carrow (Buckeye) pinned Zach Drews (EC), 2:31; Steve Shubeck (Fairview) dec. Harlen Page (Bay), 10-7.  
HVY — Matt Crowder (H) pinned Kris Horton (V), 4:35; Dale English (HN) pinned Danny Quallich (Buckeye), 1:33; Kevin Orris (RR) pinned Don Shumitsh (Fairview), :56; Anthony Chizmadia (K) pinned Brett Harmon (Brookside), :36.

TODAY’S SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS

103 — Saladonis vs. West; Romanchik vs. Mirman. 112 — Young vs. Feller; Cavaceci vs. Wadkins. 119 — Rininger vs. DaFonseca; Liechty vs. Nelson. 125 — Mahoney vs. DiFrancesco; Taylor vs. DeSciscio. 130 — Melillo vs. Squires; Hayes vs. Kaplan. 135 — Gresock vs. Budka; Szucs vs. Eppler. 140 — Sulzer vs. Tabar; Accorti vs. McKee. 145 — Szucs vs. Lacure; Garcia vs. Shupe. 152 — Carlo vs. Pischel; Gregor vs. Timoteo. 160 — Kilroy vs. Crawford; Kohl vs. Brown. 171 — Szente vs. Baker; Rados vs. Voll. 189 — Voll vs. Viancourt; Gaydosh vs. Bodnar. 215 — Houska vs. Gatto; Carrow vs. Shubeck. HVY — Crowder vs. English; Orris vs. Chizmadia. 

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