Cross 4^th, Shank 5th

By Cort Reynolds

DEFIANCE__The Bluffton High School wrestling team competed well in the rugged 49-team Tri-State Border Wars tournament at Defiance December 29-30.

The Pirate grapplers finished in 25^th place at the 10^th edition of the massive two-day tournament which featured schools from Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. 

Archbold won the team championship over second-place Yale (Mich.), with Eastside (Ind.) third and tournament host Defiance fourth.

Four Bluffton matmen ended up on the podium with top-eight showings.

Junior Branden Cross finished fourth in his 126 lbs. weight class to post the top Pirate showing.

Junior Mason Shank came in fifth place in the heavyweight division. Shank defeated Archbold’s Parker Bixler 1-0 to win the fifth-place match.

Sophomore Ronald Kaufman ended up seventh in the 120 lbs. division.

Sophomore Braylin Freels-Aller finished eighth in the 215 lbs. class. Eli Berner of Defiance Ayersville took a 13-2 major decision over Freels-Aller in the seventh-place bout.

Archbold led the field with 136 points after the first day of competition as they sent seven wrestlers into Tuesday’s semifinal round.

By the end of day two, Archbold had held on and won the team title over second-place Yale (Mich.) by a 225-191 margin. Three Archbold wrestlers won individual titles and three others were runners-up in their weight class.

Host Defiance finished fourth with 154.5 points. Two-time Border War champion George Eggers of Napoleon won the 215 lbs. crown with a 13-11 title bout decision victory that helped his team finish fifth with 143 points.  

Bluffton is slated to wrestle in the Fremont Invitational on Saturday, January 3.

Third-Place Match

126 — Branden Cross (Bluf) was defeated  

Fifth-Place Match

285 — Mason Shank (Bluf) defeated Parker Bixler (Arch), 1-0.

Seventh-Place Matches

120 -    Ronald Kaufman (Bluf) wins

215 — Eli Berner (Ayer) major decision over Braylin Freels-Aller (Bluf), 13-2.

Defiance Border War Tournament score leaders:

1^st Archbold 225 points

2^nd Yale (Mich.) 191

3^rd Eastside (Ind.) 173.5

4^th Defiance 154.5

5^th Napoleon 143…

25^th Bluffton 64 points