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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
By JOSHUA KEERAN
Sports Editor
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — In an upset of sorts, the Wapakoneta varsity wrestling team went from finishing fourth in the Western Buckeye League tournament last week to nearly winning the Division II Lima Shawnee sectional tournament on Saturday at Shawnee High School.
The battle for the sectional crown began with a trio of teams in the running, but by the time the finals rolled around, the race for the title was a two-team fight between Celina and Wapakoneta. In the end, the Bulldogs narrowly took the top spot with 172.5 points, while the Redskins finished with 171.
“We wrestled very well and actually exceeded our expectations as to where we thought we would end up,” Wapakoneta varsity coach Jason Rostorfer said. “Up and down the lineup, all of our guys won big matches for us. We lost by a point-and-a-half which is tough, but we’ll definitely take it.”
Following up Celina and Wapakoneta in the team standings were Elida (147.5), Bath (135.5), Shawnee (124), Van Wert (117.5), St. Marys (114), Upper Sandusky (95.5), Fostoria (75) and Kenton (71).
One thing is for sure, Wapakoneta in no way was handed the runner-up title. Instead, the Redskins left everything on the mat and as a result had more champions (four) than any other school.
Winning titles for Wapakoneta were freshmen Jake Beemer (112-pound weight class), Caden Mauk (130) and Logan Erb (215), as well as senior Tyler Shipp (171).
“The younger guys came through for us,” Rostorfer said. “We had three freshman champions, and I don’t think we’ve ever had that before.”
In the 112-pound weight division, Beemer destroyed the competition by pinning all three grapplers that crossed his path. He pinned Fostoria’s Nick Capetillo in 5:34, pinned Bath’s Tommy Mault in 51 seconds in the semifinal match and pinned Celina’s R.J. Baskett in 1:43 for the title.
“Jake’s title match was huge because he got the ball rolling for us,” Rostorfer said. “He wrestled that kid two other times and both times they were really close matches. He just went out there and wrestled really tough and pinned the kid.”
After winning his first match of the day over Kenton’s Tyler Taylor via a pin at the 3:32 mark, Mauk pulled out two victories in the closing seconds to claim the title in the 130-pound weight class.
In the semifinals, Mauk needed overtime to outlast St. Marys’ Jordan Price by a 7-5 decision. Price had owned Mauk this season, defeating him earlier in the season and then again in the WBL tournament.
With a sectional title at stake, Mauk trailed Fostoria’s Jeff Lorah for most of the match until Mauk tied the score with 10 seconds left and then just before the clock reached zero, Mauk was awarded 2 points and a 4-2 victory.
“Caden had a huge day,” Rostorfer said. “In the finals, he beat a kid that pinned him at the Findlay Tournament in December.”
The march to a sectional title in the 171-pound division for Shipp turned out to be similar to Mauk’s.
After pinning Celina’s Austin Trisel to open the day, Shipp narrowly got past St. Marys’ Paul Lauth by a 4-3 decision. In the title match, Shipp fought his way to a 2-1 decision over Van Wert’s Matt Noggle.
“Tyler had kind of a rough weekend last week, but came back to win this week,” Rostorfer said.
“He beat the kid who beat him last week when it mattered, so it was good to see that rebound.”
In the 215-pound weight class, Erb might have been sporting an Ohio State swimming t-shirt, but once on the mat, the energetic freshman proved to be far too quick and powerful for his competition. He claimed a 13-5 major decision over Shawnee’s William Corbett in the opening round before earning a 12-5 decision over Celina’s Mitch Miracle in the semifinals. In the title match, Erb defeated Van Wert’s Adam Custer for the second straight week, this time via an 8-2 decision.
“We knew Logan was going to be pretty solid at the beginning of the year after watching him in middle school and after what he did at the junior high state tournament. He’s kind of ahead of the curve as to where we thought he would be at this time,” Rostorfer said. “He always wrestles hard, and it’s fun to watch him wrestle because he can score at any time, which makes it interesting.”
Also in the running for a sectional title for Wapakoneta was junior Mitchell Beemer in the 135-pound weight class. The oldest of the two Beemer’s on the squad, Mitchell won his opening match by pinning Upper Sandusky’s Brandon LeMaster at the 2:38 mark.
In the semifinal match, Mitchell earned a 6-5 decision over Fostoria’s Chance Markoff.
Mitchell’s day on the mat came to an end without another match as he was unable to make a go at it in the title bout.
“Mitch defaulted because of an injury,” Rostorfer said.
Also placing in the top four for Wapakoneta and consequently qualifying for district were junior Lucas Poppe (140), sophomore Jon Carpenter (145) and junior Kenneth Long (160).
“The last couple of years we were down a little, so it’s nice to see us getting our numbers back up with eight in the district tournament,” Rostorfer said.
In the 140-pound division, Poppe won his first match via an 8-4 decision over Fostoria’s Jake Solether.
Poppe, however, dropped his next match to Elida’s Andrew Leis by a score of 5-3.
Poppe rebounded in a big way by defeating Celina’s Ben Sutter by an 8-5 decision, and took third place when Upper Sandusky’s Kyle Burbaugh defaulted.
Joining Poppe with a third-place finish for Wapakoneta was Long.
After defeating Van Wert’s Cory Hirschy by a 5-3 decision, Long dropped into the consolation bracket after falling to Elida’s Cody Green via a 10-6 decision.
Long, however, dominated the lower bracket by cruising past Bath’s Jeremy Chandler (9-1 major decision) and destroying Shawnee’s Beau Bowdle for third place with a 15-2 major decision victory.
In the 145-pound weight class, Carpenter lived up to the never say die attitude of the Redskin team as he was pinned by Shawnee’s Ryan Rider in his first match. Carpenter, though, caught fire in the consolation bracket and managed to place fourth.
Carpenter pinned St. Marys Devin Roseberry in 1:36 and pinned Fostoria’s Sam Shiff in 2:32 to qualify for districts. Carpenter lost his bid for a third-place finish when Celina’s Alex Dues pinned him in 51 seconds.
Two other Redskin grapplers nearly missed making the awards podium.
In the 103-pound weight class, Nathan Conaway finished sixth and Brad Fleck took sixth in the heavyweight division.
Also earning points for Wapakoneta were freshman Michael Neu (119) and junior Tanner Zwiebel (125).
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 )
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