SPORTSINK.COM PHOTO
Stow-Munroe Falls wrestling champions at the Hudson Holiday Tournament were: (left) Gage Finegan (195) and Connor McMahon (160).
HUDSON, Ohio – To win a high school varsity wrestling tournament, especially in Ohio, is not an easy thing to do.
On Saturday night, at the Hudson Holiday Tournament, Stow-Munroe Falls junior 195-pounder Gage Finegan won his first.
“It’s really exciting,” Finegan said. “I don’t have any words to describe it. Unbelievable.”
Weighing in at only 184, Finegan edged Copley’s Gabe Dorsey 2-0 in the quarter-final round, defeated Parma’s Aziz Lykins 11-2 in his semifinal and then outlasted Dakota Hill of New Philadelphia 3-2 in the championship final.
“Gage has come out of nowhere,” Stow coach Randy Jenkins said. “He has been working hard this year. He is up a weight class also, so to win this at that weight, I’m very proud of him.”
Also excited for Finegan was Stow senior 160-pound champion Connor McMahon. The Bulldogs had two champions at Hudson. McMahon has a stack of championship plaques at home, but he savored his teammate’s victory nearly as much as Finegan.
And if winning a 17-team wrestling tournament is difficult, how unlikely is it to be named the Most Valuable Wrestler of the Tournament?
They only pick one.
For this year’s Hudson Holiday Tournament that one is Copley’s 138-pound dynamo Zach Walker.
"It's a great experience," Walker said. "I couldn't do this without everybody pushing me in the room."
Walker's Most Valuable award recognized the difficulty of his weight class and the intangibles he brings to a relatively inexperienced Copley squad.
Walker defeated Beachwood's Ryan Harris 3-1 in his semifinal and Crestwood's Nick Fejedelem 6-4 in the final.
The quality at 138 was best illustrated when Cuyahoga Falls 2011 state qualifier Colin Taylor lost 5-4 in both his semifinal and third-place matches.
That result spoke volumes.
"Yesterday, I'm glad I had a hard match from a kid from (Warren) Howland, a really tough kid, to get my blood moving," Walker said.
For a Copley squad which graduated eight seniors out of its starting lineup, including state champion Sam Wheeler, leadership is paramount and Walker is just the man to fill the void.
"Right now we're trying to rebuild our team," Walker said. "I'm mentoring the guys like they did for me when I was their age."
Parma, team champion of the Aurora Invitational earlier this season, nosed out Copley for fourth place, but seventh-year Indians' coach Jim Dies was not disappointed.
"We had a great day today," Dies said. "We had 14 wins and four losses today overall. We had a really, really good day all day long. We won a lot of close matches and guys wrestled their butts off."
Copley had champions in Matt Nedolast (145) and Isaiah Wheeler (182), in addition to Walker.
"I've told the guys, 'It's not a couple of years in a row of being good and then going back,'" Dies said. "We're going to stay up in the pack."
Another team not about to fade into the background is Crestwood. The Red Devils graduated five of seven state qualifiers from last season's team which placed sixth at the Division II state meet.
Coach Dave Wrobel's squad finished third at Hudson and had champions in Jake Zemaitis (106) and Dylan Kager (132) and a runner-up in Conner Nemec (113).
Norton coach Eugene Leonard has a freshman to watch. Sean Rutherford lost to Copley's Wheeler in the 182-pound championship final 6-4, but Leonard is encouraged by his rookie's progress.
"He's had great success in youth and at the junior-high level," Leonard said. "The biggest step is strength. He's a freshman wrestling at 182 pounds. He was a very strong middle schooler, but he's just a very average strength kid. The stuff he did in middle school is not going to work well now because these kids have man strength.
"We're going to get him to wrestle like a lightweight instead of a heavyweight."
Host Hudson had a runner-up in Michael Coleman (145).
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1.
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Maple Heights (MH)
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185.50
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2.
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Howland (HOW)
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172.00
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3.
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Crestwood (CREST)
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152.50
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4.
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Parma (PAR)
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123.00
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5.
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Copley (COP)
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121.00
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6.
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Beachwood (BEACH)
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107.00
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7.
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New Philadelphia (NP)
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105.00
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8.
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Cuyahoga Falls (CF)
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98.00
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9.
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Hudson (HUD)
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96.00
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10.
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Stow (STOW)
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89.00
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11.
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Streetsboro (STREET)
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79.00
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12.
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Westlake (WEST)
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74.00
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13.
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Aurora (AUR)
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72.50
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14.
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Norton (NORT)
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71.00
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15.
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Brunswick (BRUN)
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69.00
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16.
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Archbishop Hoban (AH)
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36.50
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17.
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Jackson Milton (JM)
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16.00
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106-5
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Andrew Petersen (AUR)
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Brett Thomas (BRUN)
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Dec 8-2
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106-3
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Billy Buehl (HUD)
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Nico Lucarelli (HOW)
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Dec 1-0
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106-1
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Jake Zemaitis (CREST)
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Mitch Hanna (CF)
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M.D. 11-2
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113-5
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Matt Laick (AUR)
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Andrew Spreng (WEST)
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Dec 9-5
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113-3
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Chayse Csongedi (PAR)
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Cole Oldham (CF)
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Dec 6-0
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113-1
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Samuel Gross (BEACH)
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Conner Nemec (CREST)
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Dec 9-5
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120-5
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Dylan Hartwig (STOW)
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Sean Armstrong (AUR)
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Dec 5-2
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120-3
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Chris Dynowski (STREET)
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Jake Trotter (PAR)
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Dec 4-2
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120-1
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J.R. Perry (HOW)
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Aaron Friedman (BEACH)
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Fall 3.55
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126-5
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Josh Hillier (CREST)
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Tyler Smith (NORT)
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Forf
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126-3
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Jaron Robertson (MH)
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Alex Cornicelli (HOW)
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Dec 6-5
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126-1
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T.J. Levitsky (PAR)
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Mo Farraj (WEST)
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M.D. 11-2
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132-5
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Dejon Moss (MH)
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David Docherty (PAR)
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Dec 11-9
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132-3
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Jason Tomayko (COP)
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Zack Baratko (STREET)
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Dec 5-0
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132-1
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Dylan Kager (CREST)
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Andrew Hamilton (HOW)
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T-Fall 17-2
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138-5
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Gabe Stark (HOW)
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Joey Schmidt (BRUN)
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Def
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138-3
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Ryan Harris (BEACH)
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Colin Taylor (CF)
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Dec 5-4
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138-1
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Zach Walker (COP)
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Nick Fejedelem (CREST)
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Dec 6-4
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145-5
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Melvin Johnson (MH)
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Patrick Moore (NP)
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M.D. 9-1
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145-3
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Robby Klose (HOW)
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Michael Belknap (AH)
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Fall 3.39
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145-1
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Matt Nedolast (COP)
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Michael Coleman (HUD)
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M.D. 9-0
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152-5
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Adam Jeffries (JACK)
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Hunter Massey (STOW)
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Dec 8-2
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152-3
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Cody Davis (HOW)
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Garrett Gerardi (CREST)
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Dec 8-7
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152-1
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Grant Blumenthal (BEACH)
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Delorean Stafford (MH)
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M.D. 9-1
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160-5
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David B. Whisler (HOW)
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Austyn Wilson (CF)
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M.D.12-0
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160-3
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David Shapiro (BEACH)
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Logan Paul (WEST)
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Dec 5-1
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160-1
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Connor McMahon (STOW)
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Richard Robertson Jr. (MH)
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Dec 2-1
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170-5
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Vinny Marinucci (WEST)
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Tyler Drass (HOW)
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Dec 5-4
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170-3
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Lionel Coleman (MH)
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Joey Repasky (CF)
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Dec 3-1
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170-1
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George Bollas (AUR)
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Tyler Hughes (BRUN)
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Dec 5-3
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182-5
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Arieus Towns (MH)
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Chris Ashburn (STREET)
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Forf
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182-3
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Mark Barrow (NP)
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Justin Halaska (PAR)
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Dec 5-4
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182-1
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Isaiah Wheeler (COP)
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Sean Rutherford (NORT)
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Dec 6-4
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195-5
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Josh Grodesky (HOW)
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Larenz Robertson (MH)
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Dec 13-10 OT
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195-3
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Aziz Lykins (PAR)
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Gabe Dorsey (COP)
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Dec 3-1
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195-1
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Gage Finegan (STOW)
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Dakota Hill (NP)
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Dec 3-2
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220-5
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Dan Garner (STOW)
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Joelewis Washington (AH)
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Dec 4.46
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220-3
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Marc Trommer (HUD)
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Justin Goss (CREST)
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Dec 4-2
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220-1
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Almonte Patrick (MH)
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Bubba Baker (STREET)
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Dec 7-3
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285-5
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John Glas (NORT)
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Peter Mougey (HUD)
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Fall 2.49
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285-3
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Tim Reagan (BRUN)
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Sam Creque (STREET)
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Dec 6-2
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285-1
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Aaron Pipkins (MH)
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Mark Castillo (NP)
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Dec 8-3
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