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Coventry's Austin Shields placed second in the 113-pound weight class of the North Canton Hoover Division II Sectional and will wrestle at the Alliance District meet this weekend.

Portage Trail Conference Metro Division wrestlers will be well-represented at the Alliance Division II District tournament this weekend (Feb. 24-25).

There’s no denying how much success the seven Metro Division schools have seen as there are 39 wrestlers competing from Coventry, Crestwood, Field, Norton, Ravenna, Springfield and Streetsboro.

Coventry leads the Metro Division as the Comets have eight wrestlers in the district tournament. Streetsboro and Norton both placed seven wrestlers, and Crestwood placed six individuals. Field has five, while Ravenna (four) and Springfield (two) round out the pack.

Along with the wrestlers competing in Alliance, Kent Roosevelt’s John Spurney (170 pounds) will take on Division I competition at Mentor.

Field’s T.J. Fox, the top-ranked wrestler in the 145-weight class at Alliance, was the champion of his weight class at the Alliance District last season prior to the runner-up title at the state meet. 

Fox finished in first place in his weight class at the West Branch sectionals as his team finished fourth.

The top four finishers in each weight class at the district will advance to the state meet held at Columbus.

Action begins on Friday at 3 p.m. and will continue on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the finals beginning at 6 p.m.  

Lady Panthers conclude successful conference run

Norton’s girls basketball team (15-4) finished its Metro Division schedule with a 12-2 record. 

The Panthers’ two conference losses came against the 20-0 Ravenna Ravens, who ranked second in the final Associated Press Division II state poll.

In the first meeting Norton  pushed the Ravens into overtime before falling 55-49. In the second meeting, the Panthers dropped a one-point decision, the closest game Ravenna has played all season.

Friday night showdown to determine if Rough Riders can become outright champs

After the Kent Roosevelt boys basketball team, the only Division I school in the conference, fell to Hudson 69-68 on Tuesday, the Rough Riders dropped to a dismal 1-5 non-conference record.

Although the Rough Riders may enter the postseason a bit weary because of out-of-conference experiences, Kent Roosevelt has had a successful conference season.

The Rough Riders (13-6, 12-1) have secured at least a share of the PTC Metro Division crown and can secure the outright title with a win at Norton on Friday.

Norton (15-4, 11-2) defeated Streetsboro (12-7, 10-3) on Tuesday, knocking the Rockets out of the race for first place, while securing sole possession of the second position.  A win against Kent Roosevelt would create a share of the conference title.

As the game is an expected sellout, no tickets will be sold at the door.

Red Devils’ wrestling keeps momentum rolling following PTC Title

Crestwood, the outright Metro Division champion after a dominant regular season, finished third at the West Branch sectional en route to placing six athletes in the Alliance District.

The Red Devils stomped the field at West Branch last season but graduated five state-qualifiers, making a repeat performance quite the tough task.

Junior Dylan Kager (132), the three-time PTC champion who leads the team with 36 victories this season, was one of three Crestwood wrestlers who placed first at the sectional.  Jake Zemaitis (106) and Josh Hillier (126) rounded out the Crestwood first-place athletes, while Conner Nemec (113) placed second, and Garrett Garardi (152) and Kenn Jackson (182) placed third.