BUCYRUS — Dalton took its recent football success to the mats as the Wayne County school captured the team title, edging Bluffton 182.5 to 171, in the 36th annual Bucyrus Invitational Saturday at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

The host Redmen finished third with 125 points. Mohawk was sixth at 82.5 and Upper Sandusky seventh at 79.5.

Redmen head coach Shane Kokensparger was pleased with the pool-style event.

“We have 14 teams. Triway and Scott and Dalton are new teams. We see Toledo Scott again Wednesday (in a dual meet). Ashland brought 17 kids and a lot of other teams are here. Some schools, like McComb and Mohawk, are struggling with numbers right now,” he said.

Grady Weber (120) and Sawyer Cooper (138) both return for Bucyrus and both finished in second place. Harper Boggs (106) and Clayten Lawson (126) took third.

Another returning letterwinner Andy Case took third at 157. Maurico Martinez finished fifth at 165, along with Kadan Vaughn (132). Logan Evans (215) picked up a fourth-place finish.

“We won a dual last week over Willard 43-30 and started out at the Jimmy Mac Invite last weekend. It was a fun dual in front of their student body. It was very electric.

“The season is two weeks shorter and not everyone was at weight or super healthy. Grady was under the weather and couldn’t perform. This weekend Hayden Butcher, our 175-pounder, is out sick,” Kokensparger said.

Others are performing well in the early going.

“Sawyer gave up five points early and fought back to get a major decision at the dual. Grady’s first match of the year he wins to a district qualifier 8-6 in overtime.”

“Andy is 8-1 with 8 pins so far today. He’s put in a lot of work. He started at 177. He started working at Baker’s and he put on an additional 25 pounds. He’s been watching his diet and doing the right things. Hopefully, he’ll get down to 144 eventually.”

Several Redmen wrestlers have dropped a weight class.

“We have a good problem, like five or six 190-pounders and five or six 215-pounders,” Kokensparger said. “A lot of them are first-year wrestlers. I see them in the hallways and get them out. Our depth is good.”

The Bucyrus program has been rebuilt over the past few years and the numbers reveal that.

“Twenty-four kids in our program; that’s not bad. The middle school program is growing. Matt Makeever has taken over as head coach over there. They have 12 kids and just finished third in their first tournament and the biddy program is good. We have about 20 or so elementary kids coming over on Tuesdays and Thursdays for practice,” Kokensparger said.

“We’re trying to build something. The school has given me every resource financially that we’ve needed. We do a lot of fund-raising in-house. We got a new mat, practice and wall mats in the wrestling room.”

BUCKS REBUILDING: Buckeye Central head coach Rocky Ranker has a team composed of five freshmen, one of whom placed second in the tourney.

Elijah Cline (150) won his first three matches, two by pin, before falling to a strong Bluffton wrestler in the finals.

“We’re starting fresh. As eighth graders they had a big year. It’s hard all being freshmen with no leadership without the upper classmen. But they’re all eager and ready to go, definitely in the practice room every day,” Ranker said.

“The numbers are coming back. In our biddy program, we had 43 kids in the room the last couple weeks.”

Building numbers is a challenge for a small school.

“We’ve got the lowest numbers in the Crawford County area. The basketball coach and I work together every day. I’m not going to pull them from basketball. We are trying to get the kids into sports.”

Tye Craft, Owen Hatten, Jayden Ash, and Parker Adelman are the other young Bucks competing this season.

“I’ll sign them up for some jayvee tournaments this season since they’re all freshmen. In two weeks, we go to River Valley for a jayvee and I think they’ll do really well there and that’ll build their confidence big-time,” Ranker said.

WOUNDED WARRIORS: Mohawk head coach Brad Rice brought just seven wrestlers to the tournament due to injury and illness.

“We got a couple of kids banged up and got stitches and staples from banging heads at practice and sickness going around.”

The Warriors return several veterans with mat experience.

“We got Evan England, who placed fifth at district last year (144 pounds) and was a state alternate. He’s a senior leader. We’ve got Lane Kraft, Donnie Johnson, and Coby Butler. So, we’ve got a good core senior group again,” Rice said. “Juniors Lance Frankart, Anthony Studer and Braylan Mullholand. We picked up some other juniors to help fill spots on the team. They’re a little green with experience, but they’re here today wrestling and looking good.”

Mohawk wrestled in a triangular with Edison and Port Clinton earlier in the week.

“It was an eye-opener. It’s like all right, we know what we need to change in practice. The kids took the challenge in practice and we’re starting to see the improvement in just wo days.”

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Dalton 182.5 2. Bluffton 171 3. Bucyrus 125 4. Kenton 105.5 5. McComb 99 6. Mohawk 82.5 7. Upper Sandusky 79.5 8. Findlay 68 9. Ashland 66.5 10. Triway 57.5 11. Scott 46 12. Monroeville 43.5 13. Buckeye Central 28 13. Northwood 28

INDIVIDUAL PLACINGS Pool Format

106: 1st: Ethan Houmard (Dalton) dec. Cameron Blasetzky (Monroeville) 6-0 3rd: Prince Pratt (Scott) pin Harper Boggs (Bucyrus) 0:17 5th: James Wills (Bucyrus)

113: 1st: Abraham Baldwin (Upper Sandusky) pin Axl Ryder (Dalton) 1:22 3rd: Wyatt Knauss (Bluffton) pin Isaac Ramirez (Northwood) 1:37 5th: Parker Snider (Findlay) pin Douglas Brummett (Scott) 0:56

120: 1st: Branden Cross (Bluffton) dec. Grady Weber (Bucyrus) 12-1 3rd: Ashton Miller (Scott) 126: 1st: Brody Gallagher (McComb) pin Clayten Lawson (Bucyrus) 0:39 3rd: Myer Kirian (Mohawk) dec. Brice Pelton (Ashland) 11-8 5th: Joseph Springer (Northwood) maj. dec. Harrison Brien (Kenton) 12-4

132: 1st: Keith Harvey (Triway) maj. dec. Karson Davis (Kent) 12-3 3rd: Nevin LaRue (Ashland) pin Robert Palmer (Findlay) 0:50 5th: Kadan Vaughn (Bucyrus) pin Trevor Blankenship (Mohawk) 2:05

138: 1st: Sam Ediger (Dalton) pin Sawyer Cooper (Bucyrus) 1:56 3rd: Michah Rehm (Bluffton) pin Colton Smith (McComb) 0:47 5th: Daltin James Taylor (Findlay) over Chase Eaton (Findlay) injury 0:00 144: 1st: Isaac Krueger (Monroeville) dec. Jett Blackburn (Bluffton) 10-3 3rd: Cooper Huston (Findlay) pin Ryker Frazier (Triway) 2:06 5th: Hezekiah Ramirez (Mohawk) dec. Landon McGhee (Ashland) 6-2

150: 1st: Kizer Young (Bluffton) pin Elijah Cline (Buckeye Central) 3:12 3rd: Troy Johnson (Mohawk) pin Kaiden Eaton (Bucyrus) 2:21 5th: Kolten Helton (Mohawk) dec. Joseph Smith (Upper Sandusky) 4-3

157: 1st: Anthony Hunt (Kenton) dec. Ethan Lewis (Upper Sandusky) 6-4 3rd: Andy Case (Bucyrus) pin Aiden Pelfrey (Dalton) 1:06 5th: Jagger Hyatt (Triway) pin Dylan Painter (Bluffton) 0:27

165: 1st: Wilson Grubb (McComb) pin Donald Johnson (Mohawk) 2:40 3rd: Ethan Kohli (Bluffton) pin Caden Trivette (Dalton) 3:58 5th: Maurico Martinez (Bucyrus) dec. Blake Compton (Upper Sandusky) 4-3

175: 1st: Greyson Siders (Dalton) pin Kaden Russell (Dalton) 4-1 3rd: Seth Ryder (Dalton) dec. Evan Grothause (Bluffton) 5-3 5th: Evan Elliott (Kenton) pin Marquan Young (Scott) 3:36

190: 1st: Jack Waldron (Dalton) pin Kyle Basil (Bluffton) 0:48 3rd: Kail Vince (Upper Sandusky) pin Brett Scampitilla (Ashland) 1:59 5th: Conner Crunkilton (Ashland) pin Jared Manns (Kenton) 1:33

215: 1st: Owen Deweese (Ashland) pin Matthew Handell (Kenton) 1:32 3rd: Mason Shank (Bluffton) pin Logan Evans (Bucyrus) 2:18 5th: Drayston Martin (Ashland) pin Matthew VonBonin (Dalton) 0:52.

285: 1st: Cohen Riggenbach (Dalton) pin Parker Nelson (Findlay) 2:48 3rd: Jacob Herrera (Ashland) pin Brison Laubis (Kenton) 2:17 5th: Aiden Burkhammer (Ashland) dec. Brayden Coolbaugh (Triway) 1-0

Full results at https://www.trackwrestling.com/