KIRTLAND—No. 2 seed Kirtland defeated Newbury, 51-25, and Liberty, 61-18, in the 2015 OHSAA State Dual Wrestling Tournament Division III, Region 19B quarterfinals on Friday and will wrestle top-seeded Girard in the first round of the regional semifinals at Rootstown next Wednesday.
The Hornets recorded 18 wins, 13 by pin, and lost just four matches in the two duals.
“We came out a bit sluggish in the first match,” said Kirtland coach Scott Francis. “If we don’t go out and wrestle better against Liberty we don’t get the result we had out there. The guys definitely wrestled better matches in the second match of the night.”
Brendan Williamson (106), Mike Petterson (113), Dan Jahnke (120), Gus Mormino (132), Evan Francis (138), Chris Brown (145), Chris Sakenes (152), Clayton Davidson (160) and Dylan Diemer (285) all went 2-0 for the Hornets. Blake Andonian (126) and Anthony Porter (195) split two matches.
Williamson, Mormino, Francis, Brown and Sakenes all pinned both of their opponents on the night.
Jahnke won both of his matches by decision. He defeated Newbury’s Mike West, 7-5, then recorded a dramatic 10-9 win over Liberty’s James Zimbardi in one of the dual’s swing matches.
Zimbardi jumped out to an 8-1 lead before Jahnke slowly worked his way back into the match. A Jahnke escape and takedown cut Zimbardi’s lead to 8-4 then the Liberty wrestler went on the defensive and was called for stalling three times.
Jahnke received one point on each of the first two stalling calls and two points on the third to tie the match at 8-8 with 21 seconds left in the third period. After the third stalling call Jahnke chose to resume wrestling in the bottom position and his reversal gave him a 10-8 lead.
“If there’s one kid on the team that we can count on just to wrestle a smart match it’s him,” Coach Francis said. “He’s done it a few times this year where he’s taken a kid that really wasn’t being aggressive and worked the situation to his advantage, which he did right there.”
Zimbardi would escape with nine seconds left but Jahnke held on for the win.
“He stuck with it out there,” Francis said. “We’re really happy when one of our guys go out there and Dan showed a lot of guts out there and that’s what won the match.”
Kirtland won 11 of 14 matches against Liberty. Two of the Hornets’ losses were by forfeit and they recorded eight pins in the win.
“I think that’s part of dual match wrestling,” Francis said. “That’s what’s been missing for a while. When a team gets on a roll, what one wrestler does affect the next and the next and the next. Wrestling has kind of gotten away from that and I think these dual matches are helping to get back to that.”
- Photo Gallery (Photos by Kirtland senior Clarice Aquila)
- Video: Daniel Jahnke Interview
- Video: Kirtland 51, Newbury 25
- Video: Kirtland 61, Liberty 18
FIRST ROUND
Kirtland 51, Newbury 25
106 Brendan Williamson 11 (Kirtland) pin Robert Couch 9 (Newbury) 1:33
113 Mike Petterson 12 (Kirtland) won by forfeit
120 Dan Jahnke 10 (Kirtland) dec. Mike Weston 9 (Newbury) 7-5
126 Alex Lampert 9 (Newbury) pin Blake Andonian 10 (Kirtland) 3:45
132 Gus Mormino 10 (Kirtland) pin Vinny Polito 10 (Newbury) 5:01
138 Evan Francis 12 (Kirtland) pin Caleb Krizner 10 (Newbury) 0:33
145 Chris Brown 11 (Kirtland) pin John Chambers 9 (Newbury) 3:25
152 Chris Sakenes 12 (Kirtland) pin Shawn Flannery 11 (Newbury) 3:00
160 Clayton Davidson 12 (Kirtland) won by forfeit
170 Tom McKale 10 (Newbury) won by forfeit
182 Mike Fenstermaker 12 (Newbury) won by forfeit
195 Kade Marker 10 (Newbury) dec. Anthony Porter 12 (Kirtland) 8-6
220 Joe Ule 10 (Newbury) maj. dec. Dylan Choe 11 (Kirtland) 9-1
285 Dylan Diemer 12 (Kirtland) won by forfeit
SECOND ROUND
Kirtland 61, Liberty 18
106 Brendan Williamson 11 (Kirtland) pin Christian Kojowski 9 (Liberty) 0:40
113 Mike Petterson 12 (Kirtland) pin Mustafa Farah 10 (Liberty) 3:29
120 Dan Jahnke 10 (Kirtland) dec. James Zimbardi 10 (Liberty) 10-9
126 Blake Andonian 10 (Kirtland) pin Ben Sattler 10 (Liberty) 1:09
132 Gus Mormino 10 (Kirtland) pin Ray Molica 10 (Liberty) 1:08
138 Evan Francis 12 (Kirtland) pin Ernie Turner 12 (Liberty) 2:53
145 Morgan Weinreber 10 (Liberty) won by forfeit
152 Chris Brown 11 (Kirtland) pin Alec Coman 10 (Liberty) 1:44
160 Chris Sakenes 12 (Kirtland) pin Mouad Elouaddi 9 (Liberty) 0:46
170 Clayton Davidson 12 (Kirtland) maj. dec. Logan Weinreber 12 (Liberty) 10-1
182 Pat Sturgeon 12 (Liberty) won by forfeit
195 Anthony Porter 12 (Kirtland) pin Gavin Nicol 12 (Liberty) 0:42
220 Brandon Rios 11 (Liberty) over Dylan Choe 11 (Kirtland) DQ
285 Dylan Diemer 12 (Kirtland) won by forfeit
DANIEL JAHNKE INTERVIEW
KIRTLAND 51, NEWBURY 25
KIRTLAND 61, LIBERTY 18
