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Waterloo senior Nick Hermann (top) defeated his Southeast opponent, but the Vikings lost PTC meets to the Pirates and the Streetsboro Rockets.
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – In the movies, Colin Taylor would have won the final match on Senior Night and been carried off the mat on the shoulders of his Cuyahoga Falls teammates as they celebrated a win over Medina and a share of the division championship.
Instead, Taylor will have to be satisfied with the 128th win of his career -- an impressive 6-0 decision – coming against highly touted Medina 138-pounder Matt Hammer.
Taylor did his part on Thursday, but by the time the baton got to him the meet was decided.
Visiting Medina (5-4, 3-2) rallied for a 34-27 dual win, after trailing 24-3. When it came time for the featured match of the night, the Bees were leading 34-24.
“I wish I could have contributed more,” said Taylor, a 3.91 GPA student and a member of the concert band. “(Hammer) is a really good kid and a nice athlete. It’s a good victory. I really wish the team could have won.”
A state qualifier last year, Taylor’s goals for this season are pretty straight forward: make it to Columbus and make it on the podium.
Topping Hammer is a good confidence boost as the Northeast Ohio Conference Championships and Division I sectionals loom on the horizon.
“(Hammer) is a really good scrambler and he’s good on his feet,” Taylor said. “So, I just wanted to slow the match down.”
The way the meet played out did not surprise either coach.
“We had opposite teams,” Medina coach Chad Gilmore said. “(Cuyahoga Falls) coach Wilson and I talked and we knew it was going to come down to the last match or so. Getting a pin at heavyweight and a pin at 03 (06) – those were huge. It got the momentum going.”
Medina junior 285-pounder James Duke began the surge for the Bees with a pin of Samson Demand in 2:38. Duke’s pin sliced the Black Tigers’ lead to 24-9 and started a string of six straight wins for the Bees.
“Having anything positive to do with Medina is everything to me,” Duke said. “I love my school. I love the wrestling team and I love what I do.”
Duke said his record now is about 13-10.
“What I just did really helped us out and I’m really thankful to God that He gave me the opportunity to wrestle.”
A disconsolate coach Craig Wilson tried to find the silver lining for his Black Tigers (12-6, 2-3).
“This knocks us right out of everything right now,” he said. “We thought it was going to be a three-way tie (in the NOC River Division) with everybody having two losses.
“It played out how we thought it would play out. We knew exactly when we were going to stop winning and when they were going to start winning. We told our kids we needed to get pins and we can’t get pinned. We gave up four pins and that's 12 bonus points.”
Falls was without senior captain B.J. Rhodes (broken hand) at 132 pounds. He might have been able to get the match to Taylor within striking distance.
As it was, Medina’s Matt Hogue registered a pin to make it 34-24. The meet began at 145.
Medina 34, Cuyahoga Falls 27
106: Jeff Geiger (M) p. Vito Galizio, 3:15. 113: Ryan Hornack (M) d. Cole Oldham, 8-5. 120: Zach Getto (M) m.d. Jake King, 12-0. 126: J.J. Koenig (M) p. Aaron Oser, 0:28. 132: Matt Hogue (M) p. Keegan Eastman, 3:44. 138: Colin Taylor (CF) d. Matt Hammer, 6-0. 145: Justin Hamer (M) d. Joe Criss, 6-1. 152: Bucky Hendershot (CF) d. David Yisreal, 3-1. 160: Austyn Wilson (CF) d. Alex Albert, 2-0. 170: Joey Repasky (CF) p. Josh Quesenberry, 3:42. 182: Drew Pasture (CF) d. Trevonte Morman, 6-3. 195: Justin Port (CF) d. Austin Peak, 7-0. 220: Rudy Ware (CF) p. Mike Kopacz, 1:22. 285: James Duke (M) p. Samson Demand, 2:38.
In other wrestling meets:
Highland 73, Cloverleaf 6. The Hornets improved to 7-2 (5-2 SL) by winning 13 of 14 weight classes against the Colts.
At 145 pounds Thomas Gabyak pinned Joe Kruggel in 2:42. Lazar Vilimomovic (160) pinned Tyler Dobbins in 1:33. Also winning by pin for Highland was Zach Blessing who won in 1:43 over Cloverleaf’s Luke Cipullo in the 195-pound match.
Other winners for Highland: James Kunzler (132) def. Chase Werner 18-3, Domenic Ravanelli (138) def. Ryan Pascal 6-1 and Colin Rinniger tech. fall Jake Saffle 20-4.
Marko Vilimonovic (106), Amanda Kosik (113), Frank Ravanelli (120), Zac Balski (126), Adam Kluk (170), Nick Corvo (182) and Joe Crowder (285) all won by forfeit.
Cloverleaf’s lone win came from Kyle Jenkin who pinned Derek Kaznoch in 4:10 in the 220-pound match.
Wadsworth 63, Nordonia 7. The Grizzlies improved to 7-0 in Suburban League dual meets with the win over the Knights.
Jordan Schleigh (113), Kagan Squire (132), Chris Baughman (145), Cody Gordon (152), Tim Kniple (170), Brett Spinelli (220) and Nick Tavanello (285) all won by pin for Wadsworth, who inched closer to its 20th straight Suburban League championship.
Also winning for the Grizzlies: Connor Gray (106), Mathias Zollinger (120), Dusten Cart (126), C.J. Edwards (160), Alex Carrell (182, forfeit) and Hayden Frisby (195).
Brookside 57, Buckeye 16. 106: Madison Burns (Br) by ff; 113: Aiden Wonder (Br) p. Thomas Harrington, :54; 120: Brandon Bellman (Br) d. Brandon Nagy, 6-2; 126: David Petrucci (Br) p. Ryan Fowler 3:34; 132: Devin French (Br) d. Mike Keith, 15-11; 138: Ian Standen (Br) p. Anthony Kisiday, 3:23; 145: Matt Thomas (Br) d. Stefon Inman, 10-5; 152: Alex Wilk (Bu) by ff; 160: Christian Quiles (Br) by ff; 170: Jake Thayer (Bu) by ff; 182: Zack Fries (Br) by ff; 195: Gio Taw (Br) p. Josh Camper, :33; 220: Tyler Carrow (Bu) m.d. Ivan Mendoza, 9-1; 285: Josh Amburgey (Br) by ff.
Buckeye 40, Lutheran West 36. 106:Jacob Ressler (LW) by ff; 113: Tim Mecklenburg (LW) p. Harrington, 1:33; 120: Nagy (B) m.d. Bryce Deblock, 14-6; 126: Fowler (B) p. Ryan Rusnak, 3:44; 132: Keith (B) p. Nicole Swanson, :19; 138: Kisiday (B) d. Chance Huey, 4-0; 145: Inman (B) m.d. Maxwell, 13-4; 152: C.J. McNamee (LW) by ff; 160: Andrew Liese (LW) by ff; 170: Thayer (B) t.f. Ryan Moore, 27-12; 182: Gabriel Petkac (LW) by ff; 195: Camper (B) by ff; 220: Carrow (B) p. Kristian Bremer, 3:33; 285: Zach Prah (LW) by ff.