By Sam Brauen www.blufftonpirates.com
(TROY) - Senior Deandre Nassar continued his undefeated season by capturing the district title in the 182 class in dominating fashion. 

With the win, Nassar advanced to the OHSAA state wrestling meet for the third straight year, joining an elite list for past Pirates to have accomplished this feat. 

Nassar picked up a 15-4 victory over Versailles Derek Cain in the opening match and followed that up with a pin of Claymont Northeast’s Luke Rayburn at the 5:34 mark in the third period.  Deandre led 21-7 when he ended the match via pin.  

On Saturday in the semifinals, Deandre won a 16-4 decision over Miami East’s Jaret Winner to advance to the finals against a familiar foe, Danny Rosales of Ottawa-Glandorf.  The two wrestlers met for the fourth time this season and Nassar again was victorious, this time by an 8-1 count.  

Nassar improved to 44-0 on the season and will look to join Josh Falk, Brian Edwards and Tom Falk as Pirates who went undefeated for an entire season with a state championship. 

To further the historic context, Nassar joins the following list of accomplished Pirate wrestlers that advanced to the State Meet in at least three straight seasons: Tom Falk (4 years), Josh Falk (4), Zach Wilson (4) and Mark Falk (3). 

If Deandre stands atop the podium in Columbus, he will join Pirate State Champions Tom Falk, Mark Falk, Steve Smith, Brian Edwards, Josh Falk and Justin Shannon.  

The future remains bright for Bluffton wrestling as several Pirate wrestlers advanced to districts.  Although they did not finish in the top four to advance to the state meet, they had very successful seasons and will gear up for next year.

Sophomores Tayton Kleman, Jeremy Sturgeon and Josh Mehaffie ended their season at the district meet and will continue be leaders next season. Freshmen Kaden Basil and Jackson Wilson also saw their opening year campaign come to an end after advancing out of Sectionals.