PLYMOUTH — Grant Dowell had his sights set on advancing.
The 138-pound Bucyrus senior pinned Liam Kuhn (Ashland Crestview) in 3:00 to punch his ticket to the finals in the Division III sectional wrestling here Saturday.
Dowell, now 47-3, wrestled well, losing to Ashton Homan of Monroeville via pin at 5:40.
“I want to make it to state, so I just had to try my best and push through everything. I have been working on what I know I’m good at and improving on little things that I need to get better at,” Dowell said.
“My strength is better this year. I’m pretty good at technical wrestling. I know I can make it out. I’ve got to perform for myself and the people there supporting me,” he said.
The semifinal win was a grueling battle until Dowell put Kuhn on his back.
“He is long and hard to wrestle. I did my best to get it done,” Dowell said.
Redmen coach Shane Kokensparger got four wrestlers into the semifinal round but lost one to an arm injury during his quarterfinal bout against Plymouth’s Andrew Miller.
“Dalton Barker got injured, unfortunately. Everybody except Barker is still alive,” he said prior to the finals.
Kokensparger said there are 5 or 6 projected state champions at this sectional.
“A bunch of top 3, top 4 kids are here, compared to Van Buren where they aren’t even filling all weight classes. It’s a battle.”
Edison is a traditional power, along with Monroeville, and the host Big Red Vikings.
“Davy Hermes runs a tremendous program over at Edison. He’s got his boys at 113 and 120 and his nephew at 157. They’re not an all-around team as they’ve been in the past but they’ve got enough good kids to compete,” Kokensparger said.
Seneca East’s Parks brothers, Nicholas at 120 and Nathan at 126, both advanced.
“We’re running in second place right now behind Edison. They got a lot of heavy hitters. As of now we only got one guy knocked out of the tournament,” Mohawk coach Brad Rice said.
“We’re placing at least 11, you want at least 4 higher to move on next week. The competition is unbearable, 144 is one where you have two of the top guys in the state. A lot of guys kinda bounced around to stay out of that weight class.”
The Warriors finished a close second to Monroeville. A total of 13 teams took part and the top four in each weight class advance to district competition next weekend.
Seneca East was fifth and Bucyrus seventh.
“With the likes of Monroeville, Edison and even St. Paul, it’s good competition,” Wise said. “It gets our kids ready for districts.”
Jace Margraf got a technical fall to reach the finals, downing Jaden Hedrick of Crestview in 2:22. Brother Kael at 165 did the same over Jack Stephens of Crestview, 17-0.
Teammate Braylan Mullholand set a school record for pins with 35 by virtue of his win at 190 over Lucas’ Rayden Caudill (3:30).
“He beat Chad Sowers’ record of 33 back in like 2001-02. He’s been wrestling pretty hard. Trevor Johnson (175) is another one of our loyal guys. He’s just wrestling good and wrestling smart, doing what he needs to do to get through,” Wise said.
“We’ve got three freshmen in our lineup, Liam Pursell at 126, Brant Kirian at 132 and Braxton Frisch at 138. They came out of a loss and were able to bounce back and get wins. And getting experience and keep getting better.”
Dominic Hemmer also won a title at 285 by default.
Kokensparger has rebuilt the Redmen program in two years.
“Bucyrus is not known for having a strong program in recent years. It did back when (Matt) Makeever and Chad Redmon were there. Now is the time to build it back up,” he said.
“We have to put forth the effort in the summer as well as competing in these tournaments. With a school of 300 kids, we share our kids with other sports; they all play three sports. Just need time to get them in the wrestling room. But summer is critical to the up bringing and understanding of the sport,” Kokensparger said.
Team Score
- Monroeville 178.0
- Mohawk 175.5
- Mil. Edison 154.5
- Plymouth 140.0
- Seneca East 127.0
- Ash. Crestview 125.0
- Bucyrus 89.5
- St. Paul 72.0
- South Central 67.0
- Huron 51.0
- Lucas 39.0
- Coll Western Reserve 28.0
- New London 19.0
First Place
106 Xander Gfell-King (Mil. Edison) pin Niko Cuturic (St. Paul) 0:45
113 Abe Hermes (Mil. Edison) maj. dec. Diton Farnsworth (South Central) md14-6
120 Max Hermes (Mil. Edison) pin Nicholas Parks (Seneca East) 2:26
126 Casper Caizzo (St. Paul) maj. dec. Nathan Parks (Seneca East) md13-2
132 Hunter Vogus (Monroeville) Default Ben Trimmer (Plymouth) Default
138 Ashton Homan (Monroeville) pin Grant Dowell (Bucyrus) 5:40
144 Hayden Kuhn (Ash. Crestview) dec. Marcus Medina (Mil. Edison) 5-3
150 Kohen Horvath (Mil. Edison) dec. Jace Margraf (Mohawk) 6-1
157 Brencyn Evans (Monroeville) dec. Duke Hermes (Mil. Edison) 6-0
165 Kael Margraf (Mohawk) dec. Hayden Berry (South Central) 7-1
175 Trevor Johnson (Mohawk) pin Brandon Smith (South Central) 3:49
190 Colton Sparks (Plymouth) dec. Braylan Mullholand (Mohawk) 4-2
215 Noah Robinson (Plymouth) pin Caleb Cunningham (Ash. Crestview) 2:34
285 Dominic Hemmer (Seneca East) Default Evan Trevino (Huron) Default
Third Place
106 Anthony Lierenz (Coll Western Reserve) pin Cameron Blasetzky (Monroeville) 3:32
113 Cameron Wagers (Plymouth) dec. Dylan Burge (Ash. Crestview) 14-10
120 Jacob Hill (Huron) pin Cole Hughes (Ash. Crestview) 4:34
126 Andrew Miller (Plymouth) pin Liam Pursell (Mohawk) 3:54
132 Brant Kirian (Mohawk) pin Wyatt Harrison (New London) 2:49
138 Liam Kuhn (Ash. Crestview) dec. Cayle Pope (Plymouth) 7-5 OT
144 Landen Roeder (Monroeville) dec. Evan England (Mohawk) 6-3
150 Will Bischoff (Seneca East) dec. Benjamin Seitz (Monroeville) 8-4
157 Brandt Goon (Ash. Crestview) pin Zach Miller (Plymouth) 0:59
165 Blake Martin (Seneca East) dec. Jack Stephens (Ash. Crestview) 3-2
175 Tristan Nickoli (St. Paul) dec. Alex Young (Seneca East) 8-1
190 Rayden Caudill (Lucas) pin Levi Beard (Monroeville) 1:55
215 Brycen Dunlap (Monroeville) dec. Coby Butler (Mohawk) 3-1 OT
285 Damon Mauk (Lucas) dec. Peyton Barnhart (Monroeville) 3-2