Kaufman wins 120 lbs. title

By Cort Reynolds

VAN BUREN__The Bluffton High School wrestling team finished a strong seventh out of 35 teams at the two-day Van Buren Invitational on Saturday, January 24.

The Pirates scored 111 points at the event, just one behind sixth-place Paulding. Woodmore won the tournament with 248 points. Delta edged Liberty Center for second place, 200.5-194. Allen East came in fifth with 130.

Top-seeded freshman Ronald Kaufman went 5-0 on the day to win the 120 lbs. weight class title for Bluffton. He won his first two matches by pin, then captured a technical fall bout in the quarterfinals, 15-0.

Kaufman won his semifinal by default, then took the title bout over Allen East’s Langston McClain via pin in 4:51.

Seeded second, Pirate junior Mason Shank finished third in the heavyweight/285 bs. division.

Shank won his first two matches by pin before being pinned in the semifinals. In the consolation semis, he took a 4-2 decision to advance to the third-place match.

In that bout, he won by pin in just 92 seconds to finish third and go 4-1 in the tournament. 

Junior Branden Cross took sixth in the 126 lbs. division. He won his first match by tech. fall 20-3, then lost in round two by a 5-4 decision. Cross then won two matches in the consolation bracket by pin, followed by a 16-0 TF victory.

He then lost 12-1 in the consolation semifinals and came up short in the fifth-place bout to Stevens again, 4-0. He ended up 4-3 in the tourney.

Sophomore Hephaestion Weyer finished 3-3 at 144 lbs. He lost the fifth-place match to end up sixth, losing by an 8-4 decision in the final bout.

Freshman Hunter Beasley fashioned a 3-2 record in the 138 lbs. bracket. Sophomore Jesus Rivera also sported a 3-2 record in the 175 lbs. division.

Sophomore Andrew Brodman went 1-2 in the 132 lbs. class. Freshman Kohen Anderson also was 1-2 at 165 lbs.

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Bluffton wrestles at the LCC tournament Jan. 30-31.