Returning state qualifier Clayton Davidson took to the mat for the first time this season on Saturday and after shaking off the rust he cruised to the 160 pound championship of the 2014 Rebel Invitational Tournament at Willoughby South on Saturday.
Davidson was one of six Kirtland wrestlers to place at the tournament and the Hornets finished fifth overall with 139 ½ points.
Perry won the event with 300 points while Olmsted Falls was second with 279 ½, Nordonia was third with 213 and South was fourth with 212 ½.
Davidson went 4-0 in pool wrestling with a pair of decisions and two pins. He pinned Shaker Heights’ Dontrell Person in 1 minute, 46 seconds in the championship bout.
“He wrestled really well,” said Kirtland coach Scott Francis. “He was a little rusty his first couple matches but that’s what’s nice about pool tournaments. You can get away with that. He really came on in his last couple matches with 160 being a pretty good weight class there. There were some good kids and he wrestled some really nice matches.”
Mike Calvert finished 4-1 overall to place second at 132 pounds.
Calvert pinned all three of his pool wrestling opponents then dropped a 20-5 decision to South’s Antonio Mitchell in the championship bout.
“He wrestled a really nice tournament,” Francis said of Calvert. “He ran into the kid from South, who is really smooth. He’s one of the fastest high school wrestlers I’ve ever seen. Mike has rolled around with him before out of season. He could tell when the kid was getting ready to shoot but he couldn’t stop it. The kid was so fast.”
Evan Francis finished 3-1 in pool wrestling then defeated South’s Dylan Dusi, 8-2, in the 138 pound third place match.
Francis nearly earned a spot in the championship bout but gave up a late reversal and was pinned by North Olmsted’s Geoffrey Gedeon with 36 seconds left in his final pool match. Gedeon went on to finish second.
“Evan was winning the match,” Coach Francis said. “He just ran out of gas in the third period. He tried outlasting the kid and the kid turned him and he had no fight whatsoever.”
Brendan Williamson lost his final pool wrestling match by just one point then rebounded to beat Perry’s Eric Somogyi, 10-4, for third place at 106.
He lost 6-5 to Olmsted Falls’ Michael Shaw in his final pool bout.
“Brendan had a really nice tournament,” Francis said. “He had one match he lost by a point. He was coming out from underneath switching on the kid coming around for a reversal but he ran out of time and lost by a point right there. He didn’t have much trouble winning third place. He wrestled a really nice tournament and for being early in the season here he looks really tough.”
Chris Sakenes went 3-2 to finish fourth at 170 pounds.
A senior, Sakenes is undersized at 170 but will remain competitive as long as he continues to be aggressive.
“He was giving up 15 pounds but he never stops moving,” Francis said. “He’s got a pretty good stance and he keeps moving and you do that and you’ve got a chance. That’s what he does. He doesn’t stop. He just keeps moving and something is eventually going to happen if you keep moving.”
Anthony Porter finished fifth at 220 pounds.
He pinned Lakewood’s Majde Ali in 42 seconds in the fifth place bout.
“He had a good tournament,” Francis said. “It’s the first time he was getting out there and wrestling and going five matches in one day, and they ran it pretty quick too, he had to get out there and wrestle his matches and he did a nice job. It’s his first time at 200 and he adjusted to a new weight class.”
Mike Petterson finished 1-3 at 113, Daniel Jahnke was 0-4 at 120 and Dylan Choe was 1-3 at 285 for the Hornets.
Other local champions included South’s Spencer Dusi (106), Isaac Henderson (126), Mitchell (132) and Nik Urban (285) and Perry’s Josh Romano (145) and Kyle Kremiller (195).
2014 Rebel Invitational Results
Team Scores:
1. Perry 300
2. Olmsted Falls 279.5
3. Nordonia 213
4. Willoughby South 212.5
5. Kirtland 139.5
6. North Olmsted 128.5
7. Westlake 123
8. Cuyahoga Heights 117
9. Lakewood 101.5
10. Shaker Heights 92
11. Willoughby South B 47.5
12. Clearview 44
106
1st Spencer Dusi (WS) Fall Time 4:55 Michael Shaw (OF)
3rd Brendan Williamson (K) 10-4 Erik Somogyi (P)
5th Jimmy Brenneman (N) Fall Time 2:08 Josh Trexler (NO)
113
1st Cam Duvall (N) 6-2 Miguel Morell (CL)
3rd Alex Kho (OF) 2-1 Zach Bubuonic (P)
5th Michael Leach (OF) Fall Time 1:50 Dalvin Canant (L)
120
1st Andre Lowery (SHTS) 4-0 Brady Toth (P)
3rd Lance Hansen (WS) 7-3 Kevin Kelly (NO)
5th Matt Seleman (N) 7-5 Mike Farkas (WSB)
126
1st Isaac Hendershot (WS) Fall Time 0:34 Trey Combs (CHTS)
3rd Will Rodriguez (L) 5-3 Luke Chokan (NO)
5th Jason Bellissimo (P) 4-3 Brady Stang (OF)
132
1st Antonio Mitchell (WS) 20-5 Mike Calvert (K)
3rd Josh Jaeckin (OF) Fall Time 0:19 Clayton Meyer (P)
5th Andrew Nicholson (L) Fall Time 1:58 Zeyad Nooman (NO)
138
1st Tyler Biggs (NO) 6-2 Geoffrey Gedeon (P)
3rd Evan Francis (K) 8-2 Dylan Dusi (WSB)
5th Ryan McNeill (WS) 15-8 Austin Isaac (N)
145
1st Josh Romano (P) 12-11 Josh Pappas (WEST)
3rd Mitchell Dailey (OF) 15-0 Joey Rodriguez (L)
5th Brett Shamblin (N) 11-2 Jesse Woodall (CHTS)
152
1st Brice Locklear (OF) 4-3 Nick Sbrocco (P)
3rd Nick Frye (CHTS) 11-10 Nick Collica (N)
5th Chris Gwynn (WS) Fall Time 1:46 Billy Abdelhady (WEST)
160
1st Clayton Davidson (K) Fall Time 1:46 Dontrel Person (SHTS)
3rd Ben Huff (CHTS) 2-1 Bryce Fetterman (OF)
5th John Miller (P) 3-1 Jacob DeJesus (N)
170
1st Tony Caraffi (OF) 11-4 Evan Schenk (P)
3rd Mahmoud Mustafa (WEST) Fall Time 0:45 Chris Sakenes (K)
5th Johnny Iannetta (N) Fall Time 2:23 Nick Katasaras (WEST)
182
1st Anthony Perrine (N) Fall Time 2:23 Josh Johnson (SHTS)
3rd Steve Hayes (WEST) Fall Time 4:33 Will Hopkins (CHTS)
5th Mike Iler (OF) Fall Time 2:22 Ethan Bixel (P)
195
1st Kyle Kremiller (P) 8-2 Alec Winston (NO)
3rd Spencer Linville (OF) 8-2 Tommy Bowles (WEST)
5th Chad McDaniel (CHTS) Fall Time 2:12 Zach Almedia (L)
220
1st Noel Caraballo (OF) Fall Time Nick Bina (N)
3rd Sean Scherl (WS) 8-5 Mo Mustafa (WEST)
5th Anthony Porter (K) Fall Time 0:42 Majde Ali (L)
285
1st Nik Urban (WS) 8-4 Brandon Truhn (P)
3rd Patrick Simon (OF) Fall Time 3:25 Alec Camelli (N)
5th Nick O'Brein (WSB) Fall Time 3:27 Christian Lassiter (SHTS)