BEACHWOOD—Cardinal entered the championship round of the 2015 OHSAA Division III Sectional Wrestling Tournament at Beachwood High School just 2 ½ points behind first place Kirtland and 2 ½ points ahead of third place Pymatuning Valley.
When the dust had settled, the Huskies had won just three of nine placement matches to drop into third place overall.
“We got beat by good kids,” said Cardinal coach Jeff Zeigler. “We didn’t win as many in the finals as we should have. Kirtland still had a lot of numbers ahead of us and Pymatuning Valley wrestled well too. They had a lot of kids in the consolations that wrestled well. We didn’t win the head to head matches but we’re moving on. “
Trent Mast won the 113 pound championship while Ian Mast (126), Brandon Neikirk (132) and Khaleel Samir (152) finished second. Bryn Havel (170) was third and Brandon Nevison (120) and Donovan Drebus (182) placed fourth. The top four finishers in each weight class earned a berth in next weekend’s Division III district tournament at Garfield Heights.
Craig Shanower was fifth at 138 and will be a district alternate while Andrew Bolton finished sixth at 160.
Trent Mast finished the tournament with a 3-0 record and two pins. He defeated Brookfield’s Gavin Miglets, 3-1, in the championship bout.
“He did a nice job,” Zeigler said. “He wrestled a smart match. He wasn’t overly aggressive but the kid was solid. The kid from Brookfield we hadn’t seen before so Trent did a nice job to win the match.”
Mast, who improved to 31-5, will wrestle Columbia sophomore Zack Shaffer (22-20) in the first round at districts.
Ian Mast was 2-1 with a pair of pins. He dropped a 5-0 decision to Garrettsville Garfield’s Logan Kissell in the championship match. It was his third loss to Kissell this season.
“Kissell is tough,” Zeigler said. “He’s a strong kid. Ian has lost five matches now and three of them are to Kissell. He’s just got to move on. Kissell is now on the other half of the bracket and sometimes you end up on the right side of the bracket. We’ll see.”
Mast, 29-5, will wrestle Northwestern freshman Brandon Feist (16-5) in the first round at districts.
Neikirk recorded back-to-back pins, including one that avenged an earlier season loss to Kirtland’s Mike Calvert, to reach the finals at 132. He dropped the championship bout to Grand Valley’s Cody Rhoads, 9-2.
He’ll wrestle Northwestern junior Kyle Cayse (41-6) in the first round at Garfield Heights.
Samir pinned his quarterfinals opponent then defeated Wickliffe’s Russell Horacek, who finished fourth, 10-4, in the semifinals. Kirtland’s Chris Sakenes caught Samir in a headlock in the championship match.
“That match could have gone either way,” Zeigler said. “He got stuck in a head and arm and nobody likes to get stuck in that. It’s not easy to get out of.”
Samir, who improved to 18-11 on the year, will wrestle Independence senior Tanner Hadick (28-13) in the first round of the district tournament.
“There has been a real commitment out of him the last couple of weeks,” Zeigler said. “He’s been focused and working hard in practice. He’s got some goals and we’ve talked about them. He’s going to districts and that was one of his goals. Now we just have to readjust and get him to the next level.”
Havel pinned Brookfield’s David Hackett in 34 seconds in the 170 pound third place bout and Shanower avenged a one point loss to Grand Valley’s Eduardo Hernandez in the 138 pound quarterfinals by beating Hernandez, 11-4, for fifth place.
Pymatuning Valley’s Chad Brown forfeited the third place match due to a concussion. Should he not be cleared for next weekend’s tournament Shanower would fill the vacant spot.
“Craig kind of sealed his fate,” Zeigler said. “He lost then came back and beat the kid for fifth. He still might be alive. The Pymatuning Valley kid has a concussion and if he can’t get cleared Craig would get slid in and he really deserves it. He needs to be there and wrestle, especially now as a junior. He showed his true colors for fifth and sixth to come back and beat the kid solidly. We’ve just got to keep him focused.”
TEAM SCORES
1. Kirtland 156.0; 2. Pymatuning Valley 138.0; 3. Cardinal 132.5; 4. Newbury 103.5; 5. Gar. Garfield 102.0; 6. Grand Valley 94.0; 7. Hawken 87.0; 8. Brookfield 86.0; 9. Wickliffe 75.0; 10. Berkshire 57.0; 11. Beachwood 51.0.
First Place
106: John Kumher (Berkshire) Default Guy Peart (Gar. Garfield) Default;
113: Trent Mast (Cardinal) dec. Gavin Miglets (Brookfield) 3-1;
120: Louis DeMarco (Hawken) dec. Mitch Skleres (Pymatuning Valley) 1-1 UTB;
126: Logan Kissell (Gar. Garfield) dec. Ian Mast (Cardinal) 5-0;
132: Cody Rhoads (Grand Valley) dec. Brandon Neikerk (Cardinal) 9-2;
138: Corey Cox (Hawken) dec. Evan Francis (Kirtland) 7-5;
145: Chris Brown (Kirtland) dec. Nathan Rasmussan (Grand Valley) 6-2;
152: Chris Sakenes (Kirtland) pin Khaleel Samir (Cardinal) 1:51;
160: Clayton Davidson (Kirtland) pin Bryce Randall (Brookfield) 3:29;
170: Gaige Willis (Pymatuning Valley) dec. Tom McKale (Newbury) 6-0;
182: Josh Bialosky (Beachwood) pin Mike Fenstermaker (Newbury) 3:25;
195: Kade Marker (Newbury) tech. fall Alan Haavisto (Wickliffe) tf22-7;
220: Zach Hackett (Brookfield) dec. Steven Dodge (Pymatuning Valley) 6-1;
285: Austin Mathis (Grand Valley) pin Patrick Sheridan (Wickliffe) 1:19.
Third Place
106: Jake Buttari (Wickliffe) pin Robert Couch (Newbury) 3:46;
113: Mike Petterson (Kirtland) maj. dec. Alex Hanson (Berkshire) md12-4;
120: Ryan Finney (Gar. Garfield) maj. dec. Brandon Nevison (Cardinal) md9-0;
126: Ben Kitay (Beachwood) dec. Michael Miller (Hawken) 7-2;
132: Mike Calvert (Kirtland) pin Dacoda Randall (Brookfield) 2:34;
138: Matt Kuzniakowski (Gar. Garfield) forfeit Chad Brown (Pymatuning Valley) Forfeit;
145: John Chambers (Newbury) pin Max Boise (Hawken) 3:49;
152: Gary Baker (Pymatuning Valley) pin Russell Horacek (Wickliffe) 1:27;
160: Ryan Sito (Pymatuning Valley) pin Bradley Turner (Grand Valley) 2:02;
170: Bryn Havel (Cardinal) pin David Hackett (Brookfield) 0:34;
182: Brandon Muha (Pymatuning Valley) pin Donovan Drebus (Cardinal) 3:38;
195: Anthony Porter (Kirtland) pin Leonard Udell (Pymatuning Valley) 3:21;
220: Joe Ule (Newbury) dec. Dylan Choe (Kirtland) 2-1;
285: Tony Urban (Berkshire) pin Jaret Wright (Pymatuning Valley) 3:42.
Fifth Place
106: J.P. Hlifka (Hawken) pin Devin Felix (Grand Valley) 2:00;
113: Mathew Schoenbeck (Pymatuning Valley) Bye Add 2pts (5th Place by Bye) Bye;
120: Dan Jahnke (Kirtland) pin Mike Weston (Newbury) 4:30;
126: Dominic Billie (Wickliffe) pin Alex Lampert (Newbury) 1:38;
132: Jacob Hanson (Berkshire) dec. Noah Hiem (Gar. Garfield) 6-1;
138: Craig Shanower (Cardinal) dec. Eduardo Hernandez (Grand Valley) 11-4;
145: Ben Nowark (Gar. Garfield) maj. dec. Ethan Crecraft (Brookfield) md10-2;
152: Harry Ankers (Hawken) pin Matthew Henry (Beachwood) 0:52;
160: Austin Mangeri (Gar. Garfield) pin Andrew Bolton (Cardinal) 2:06;
170: Brett Whitely (Grand Valley) Bye Add 2pts (5th Place by Bye) Bye;
195: Justin Albaugh (Beachwood) pin Hunter Baumiller (Brookfield) 2:18.
