MEDINA — And then there was one.
When the day began Saturday at the Division II sectional wrestling tournament at Highland High School, 15 area wrestlers had chances to win titles.
Only Avon’s Nick DiFrancesco came away a winner, taking home the 125-pound trophy after turning back Elyria Catholic’s Josh Taylor, 4-2.
“I’ve never wrestled (Taylor) or Elyria Catholic before,” DiFrancesco said. “So I was nervous about that. Plus, I didn’t sleep very well last night. But once I got out on the mat, I calmed down and slowed the match down to a pace I wanted to wrestle at.
“I’m looking forward to taking the next step and competing at districts. Obviously, I’d like to win and I am going to approach it like that. No matter what happens, it is going to be a learning experience.”
Although DiFrancesco is the only area wrestler to win his weight class, he won’t be the only one advancing to the district tournament in Fostoria. Eighteen other area wrestlers will join him, including seven from Vermilion.
“If someone told me I would have seven going to districts, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Vermilion coach Tony Budka, whose Sailors finished sixth. “I figured we’d have three, maybe four. We have wrestled better the past week than we did at our conference tournament.
“I am on cloud nine. We have two freshmen, two sophomores, a junior and a pair of seniors going. We are a young team and I am ecstatic about how well they did today.”
One of the freshmen going is Budka’s son Anthoney.
Budka lost his 135-pound semifinal match to Highland’s Logan Gresock, but came back to take third with a 2-0 decision over Avon’s Nate Russian.
“I’m excited for myself, our team and my dad,” Budka said. “I never would have guessed that we would have seven going forward. I think it’s a real tribute to our work ethic and our coaches.”
Joining Budka are Alex West (103), Andrew Squires (130), Ryan Shupe (145), Ryan Kohl (160), Vinnie Mannino (189) and Kris Horton (HVY).
“We had a pretty good day,” Avon coach Joe Mauser said. “Five are going on to districts and we had eight place out of 10 wrestlers. I think if you set high expectations it tends to show in your matches. Our goals are to continue to move forward and we’ll work hard to make that happen.”
EC, which had a strong first day, fell off the pace during Day 2 and only three Panthers are moving on. In perhaps one of the big upsets of the tournament, EC’s Dane Szente lost to Padua’s Andy Baker 6-4 in the semifinals. Szente rebounded with a 10-5 decision over Brookside’s Nick Rados, another district qualifier, for third place.
“My semifinal was just a bad match,” Szente said. “I beat (Baker) two weeks ago in conference. But today I wasn’t using any of my shots on him. I just kept trying to force the same move, going for the barrel.”
Keystone’s Anthony Chizmadia advanced after placing second in the heavyweight class.
“I could have done a lot better,” said Chizmadia. “I wasn’t mentally ready. I was there physically but mentally I was somewhere else. I’m going to regroup and focus on getting ready for next week.”
Contact Hans Schneider at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

TEAM STANDINGS: Highland 230.5, Padua 185.5, Holy Name 181.5, Rocky River 137, Fairview 123.5, Vermilion 123, Avon 110, Buckeye 86, Elyria Catholic 73, Keystone 43, Brookside 37, Bay 36.5, Firelands 35.5.
103 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Andrew Romanchik (P) pinned Alex West (V), 5:28; THIRD-PLACE: Dan Mirman (H) dec. James Brooks (HN), 8-5;
112 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Bart Young (H) tech. fall Carlton Wadkins (Buckeye), 27-10; THIRD-PLACE: Anthony Feller (RR) dec. Justin Farrell (FV), 7-0.
119 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Collan DaFonseca dec. Drew Liechty (FV), 2-0; THIRD-PLACE: Jake Rininger maj. dec. Matt Mahoney (RR), 12-0
125 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Nick DiFrancesco (A) dec. Josh Taylor (EC), 4-2; THIRD-PLACE: Pat Mahoney (RR) dec. Steve DeSciscio (P), 3-0.
130 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Anthony Melillo (P) dec. Doug Hayes (HN), 10-3; THIRD-PLACE: Brad Kaplan (FV) pinned Andrew Squires (V), :43.
135 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Logan Gresock (H) maj. dec. Matt Szucs (HN), 14-5.; THIRD-PLACE: Anthoney Budka (V) dec. Nate Russian (A), 2-0.
140 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Aaron Sulzer (HN) dec. Jon McKee (H), 6-0; THIRD-PLACE: Alex Tabar (A) pinned Danny Accorti (EC), 2:47.
145 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Seamus Szucs (HN) dec. Ryan Shupe (V), 12-8; THIRD-PLACE: Paul Garcia (F) dec. Matt Mylechraine (A), 15-9.
152 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Steve Timoteo (H) forfeit win over Corey Carlo (FV); THIRD-PLACE: Ryan Pischel (HN) dec. Tony Andrich (P), 2-1.
160 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Riley Kilroy (P) dec. Ben Brown (H), 3-0; THIRD-PLACE: Ryan Kohl (V) pinned Sam Crawford (FV), :23.         
171 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Mark Voll (RR) dec. Andy Baker (P), 4-2; THIRD-PLACE: Dane Szente (EC) dec. Nick Rados (Brookside), 10-5.
189 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Adam Voll (RR) pinned Mark Gaydosh (P), 3:32; THIRD-PLACE: Frank Viancourt (HN) pinned Vinnie Mannino (V), 3:54.
215 — CHAMPIONSHIP: Tyler Houska (H) dec. Steve Shubeck (FV), 9-2; THIRD-PLACE: Cody Carrow (Buckeye) pinned Joe Gatto (P), 2:59.
HVY — CHAMPIONSHIP: Dale English (HN) pinned Anthony Chizmadia (K), 1:52; THIRD-PLACE: Kris Horton (V) pinned Kevin Reisdorff (A), 1:57. 

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