Kirtland senior Will Davidson will make one more run at a state title after placing among the top four at the 2022 Division III Garfield Heights District on Saturday.
Davidson, who placed third at the state tournament last winter, finished third at 132 pounds.
He opened the tournament with a first-period pin and then needed overtime to dispatch of Waynedale’s Jake Sunderberg in the quarterfinals, 10-8. A 3-2 loss to eventual champion Raymond Cmil of South Range dropped Davidson into the consolation semifinals.
Davidson pinned Berkshire’s Johnny Heiden in two minutes, 28 seconds to advance to the third-place match where he closed out the tournament with a 4-0 win over Sundberg.
Gaetano Savelli, Louka Babic, and Brennon Braud each placed sixth for the Hornets.
Savelli opened the tournament with a pin at 144 pounds and then dropped into the consolation bracket following a loss to Hawken’s Jacob Hlifka in the quarterfinals. He then recorded a decision and a pin before dropping his final two bouts of the tournament.
Babic used two pins to reach the 165-pound semifinals and then dropped three straight to finish sixth.
Braud lost his 190-pound opener, 4-3, to Mogadore’s Tyler Knight, a four-time state qualifier. Two pins and a major decision earned him a spot on the podium but Braud lost to Knight for a second time in the consolation semifinals, 6-3, and then he defaulted in the fifth-place match.
State tournament pairings will be released on Sunday.
