Eleven Division III local wrestlers headed to state Monday February 25 2008
TOLEDO — Monroeville’s Fab Four all captured district titles over
the weekend.
Sophomore Logan Stieber at 119 pounds and Hunter Stieber 103, Cam
Tessari 112 and Chris Phillips 171 each won their weight class
during the Division III district wrestling tournament Saturday at
Owens Community College.
They will be joined by St. Paul senior Chris Doughty, Western
Reserve senior J.J. Boyce, New London senior Bret Essenmacher,
Edison juniors Tim Majoy and Craig Ritz and South Central sophomore
Payton Oney and junior Nick Hamilton at the state tournament, which
is scheduled for Thursday to Saturday at The Ohio State University’s
Schottenstein Center.
Both Stiebers and Phillips remain undefeated for the season.
Hunter Stieber pinned Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic’s David
Harrington in just 1:03 for his title.
Logan Stieber, a state champ at 103 last season, gained a fall at
1:32 over Hopewell-Loudon’s Mitchell Dandurand and Phillips
registered a 15-0 tech fall over Boyce for his championship.
Tessari blanked Delta’s Jonny Tolson 4-0 for his crown.
The efforts gave the Eagles third place in the final team
standings with 128 points. Eastwood took first with 138.5 points,
followed by SMCC at 134.5.
“All seven wrestled well,’’ Monroeville coach Scott Bauer said.
“Logan is just lights out this time of year. He goes out and takes
care of business. This weekend was no different just an outstanding
weekend and he got his second district title. Hunter also really
tends to business four pins in four matches a district title he is
looking really sharp heading into this weekend.
“Cam wrestled solid smart matches all weekend two pins and tech
fall to get to the finals and then wrestled smart to win his
title,’’ Bauer added. “Chris has stepped up the pace heading into
state he had a pin and three tech falls en route to a district title
he controlled and dominated every match this weekend.”
Cal Clark at 140, Lance Johnson 125 and Kyle Schafer 135 also
competed for the Eagles.
“At 140, Cal went 2-2 but gained valuable experience at the district
level. He has really improved throughout the year and is already
making plans to wrestle this summer to be ready for next year,’’
Bauer said. “Lance had a real good tournament some medical issues
really hurt this weekend he was up early in both the matches he lost
btu was unable to finish strong due to circumstances he can't
control, so I am sure he is disappointed he did not qualify, but he
had a good season.
“Kyle Schafer wrestled very well this weekend, I hate this time of
year for the seniors who don't finish the way they want it’s always
tough to stomach your last match and Kyle took it pretty hard, but
he has had one of those seasons where he has been dealing with
injuries and he never really was able to get into a rhythm. Kyle has
been a pleasure to coach for four years and we will really miss him
next year. He always give 110 percent and as a coach that is all
you can ask for, he had a real nice career for us.”
Oney, Essenmacher and Hamilton all reached the finals of their
weight class, but came up short of titles.
Oney lost to SMCC’s Troy Opfer 13-6 at 125, Essenmacher fell to
SMCC’s Mark Costello by a 19-3 major decision at 130 and Hamilton
was pinned by Otsego’s Jacob Southwick in 4:26 at 285.
“South Central wrestling had a very good weekend,’’ coach Ken
Johnson said. “As a team we placed 11th out of 51 teams. This is the
highest place finish for our team in school history. It was
obtainable due to a great effort out of all five participants.
“Payton went 3-1 on the weekend. He wrestled very strong all weekend
and despite finishing second he wrestled very well against
three-time state placer Troy Opfer. Anthony Ferber (130) also had an
exciting time. He was 2-3 placing sixth. We had high hopes he could
defeat Bret Essenmacher of New London in the 1/4 finals (which he
had two times earlier in the year).
“Jordan Smith, 135, was 0-2, but gave it his best Friday night.
Jared Chandler (145) had a very good showing as well. He was 2-2
over the days. Again the 1/4's were tough, and he came up on the
losing end 6-2 to runner up Betts of Elmwood.
“Nick Hamilton wrestled equally as well as Oney. I can say that as a
coaching staff we are very proud of these young guys. They all
wrestled tough the entire weekend showing a great deal of heart and
pride.”
Wildcats coach James Toukonen was pleased with Essenmacher’s
district performance.
“Bret’s been wrestling really well the past few weeks,’’ Toukonen
said. “He is peaking at the right time of the year. One thirty was a
loaded weight class this weekend.
“The Patrick Henry wrestler was 44-0 and did not place. It is a
testimony to how well he (Essenmacher) is wrestling to place second
at that weight.”
Majoy a 112 and Craig Ritz at 215 both finished third to get their
spots. Major collected a 12-6 decision over SMCC’s Jim Pavia and
Ritz defeated Woodmore’s Travis Ault 10-4 for their spots.
Doughty dropped a 6-2 decision to Bucyrus’ Kody Charlton for
third-fourth, but a pin in the consolation semi-finals cemented his
bid.
“I’ve been looking forward to going to the state for a long time now
and I’m really excited to make it,” Doughty said.
Edison’s Ryan Neuberger (140) and St. Paul’s Michael Cawley (145)
are alternates after finishing in fifth position. The top four in
all 14 weight classifications advance to the Schottenstein Center
Thursday afternoon.
