Bluffton  5th at tourney, 5 advance to districts

By Cort Reynolds

VAN BUREN__The Bluffton High School wrestling team finished fifth at the rugged Div. III sectionals hosted by Van Buren on Saturday, February 28.

Three Pirates captured individual weight class crowns, and five grapplers advanced to the district tournament next weekend with top-three finishes.

Mohawk won the sectional team crown with 166 points. Elmwood edged host Van Buren by a point for third, 148.5-147.5. Patrick Henry finished fourth (135.5), followed by Bluffton with 122 points.

Pirate junior Mason Shank was the top seed in the 215 lbs. class and lived up to that billing. He had a first-round bye, then registered two pins to advance to the championship round.

In the title bout vs. third-seeded junior Christopher of Elmwood, Shank won an 11-1 majority decision to grab the sectional championship.

Shank advances to the district tourney with a 40-6 record.

At the 120 lbs. division, second-seeded sophomore Ronald Kaufman went undefeated and won the title.

He had a first-round bye, then pinned his quarterfinal foe in 75 seconds. In the semifinals he recorded an 11-0 majority decision shutout win to reach the finals.

In the championship bout against top seed Fisher Montgomery of Carey, Kaufman recorded a 3-1 decision win to capture the title.

Kaufman qualified for the district tournament with a 38-4 record.

Junior top seed Branden Cross rolled through the 126 lbs. bracket with a 3-0 record.

He received a first-round bye and then won his QF match by pin in 3:50. In the semis, Cross won by technical fall at 17-0. In the championship match, he pinned third-seeded freshman Wade Trout of Arcadia in 1:46.

Cross enters the district meet with a 35-9 record.

Sophomore Jesus Rivera was seeded second in the 175 lbs. class. He got a first-round bye, then advanced to the finals with two decision wins by scores of 11-8 and 20-8.

In the championship bout vs. top-seeded junior Kaden Bish of Mohawk, Rivera lost by technical fall at 21-5 to end up 2-1 in the tournament.

He advances to district competition with a 21-14 record after coming in second at sectionals.

Sophomore Hephaestion Weyer was seeded fifth in the 138 lbs. class and fashioned a 4-1 record to come in third place.

Weyer lost his quarterfinal match to Patrick Henry senior Layke Schwiebert by a close 6-5 decision to fall into the consolation bracket.

He then rebounded to win two matches by pin, and took another by an 8-1 decision to reach a third-place rematch bout against Schwiebert. 

Weyer avenged the loss with a 6-1 win to finish third and make it to district with a 30-16 season mark.

Sophomore Andrew Brodman went 2-2 at 132 lbs. with a 21-10 decision win to end his season 15-15.

At 150 lbs., senior Micah Rehm finished 1-2 with a 17-0 technical fall win to end his season 17-18.

Freshman Kohen Anderson was 1-2 in the 165 lbs. class with a pin to end his season 11-18.

In the heavyweight class, freshman Brody Schneck went 0-2 to end his season 8-14.

Freshman Hunter Beasley went 0-2 at 144 lbs. to end his season 10-21.

Freshman Parker Kimmel competed in the 157 lbs. division, but suffered a first-round injury and a forfeit loss in the consolation bracket to end his campaign with seven wins.

Top four finishers in each weight class qualified to the Rossford Div. III district tournament March 6-7. The fifth-place finishers are alternates in case of injury or illness.

Shank finished fourth in the 285 lbs. heavyweight class last year at the Rossford district tournament.

VB Sectional Top 6 Placers
106 Pound Placers
1st Zechariah Patterson 11, Elmwood (17-8), md 13-4
2nd Kayden Robinette 10, Patrick Henry (22-11)
3rd Chandlar Derck 10, Arcadia (26-13), Fall 0:31
4th Ryder Endicott 9, Calvert (19-20)
5th Jack Bennington 9, Mohawk (11-17), Bye

113 Pound Placers
1st Griffin Zarse 10, Columbus Grove (23-13), md17-3
2nd Dante Fabrizio 10, Calvert (34-19)
3rd Zyven Smith 12, Cory-Rawson (22-14), Fall 2:17
4th Jackson Genzman 9, Van Buren (8-19)
5th Lance Clouse 10, New Riegel (12-18), Forfeit

120 Pound Placers
1st Ronald Kaufman 10, Bluffton (38-4), Dec 3-1
2nd Fisher Montgomery 9, Carey (41-4)
3rd Clayton Giesige 9, Patrick Henry (38-11), md12-1
4th Hayden Walters 10, Cory-Rawson (33-9)
5th Phelan Jacobus 9, Calvert (31-19), Forfeit

126 Pound Placers
1st Branden Cross 11, Bluffton (35-9), Fall 1:46
2nd Wade Trout 9, Arcadia (22-15)
3rd Payne Stoops 9, Carey (34-11), tf16-0
4th Carter Gray 10, Patrick Henry (20-25)
5th Alex Coldren 10, Liberty-Benton (18-17), tf18-1

132 Pound Placers
1st Zachary Schafer 11, Elmwood (30-11), md11-0
2nd Ashtin Gallagher 9, McComb (21-17)
3rd Myer Kirian 11, Mohawk (33-12), md10-2
4th Cooper Hanna 9, Van Buren (39-14)
5th Kelan Derck 12, Arcadia (32-11), md12-4

138 Pound Placers
1st Grady Phelps 10, Riverdale (36-3), tf16-1
2nd Brant Kirian 12, Mohawk (24-4)
3rd Hephaestion Weyer 10, Bluffton (30-16), Dec 6-1
4th Layke Schwiebert 12, Patrick Henry (27-12)
5th Evan Strausbaugh 10, Elmwood (34-11), Fall 1:38

144 Pound Placers
1st Owen Patrizi 12, Mohawk (38-6), tf19-4
2nd Brooks Hill 12, Van Buren (42-8)
3rd McKoy Morlock 12, Elmwood (31-12), tf16-0
4th Waylon Hertel 9, Carey (30-19)
5th Colton Smith 11, McComb (20-14), Dec 8-1

150 Pound Placers
1st Brody Gallagher 11, McComb (27-6), md18-6
2nd Kale Price 11, Arcadia (36-3)
3rd Liam Pursell 12, Mohawk (17-8), Fall 1:36
4th Johnnie Omlor 12, Van Buren (30-22)
5th Ryken Ziegler 11, Elmwood (21-20), Dec 8-4

157 Pound Placers
1st Jordan Hertel 11, Carey (44-4), tf23-3
2nd Isaiah Hook 12, Hopewell-Loudon (29-18)
3rd Troy Johnson 12, Mohawk (16-5), Fall 2:35
4th Jimmy Eisentrager 12, Liberty-Benton (21-16)
5th Tommy Basinger 12, Van Buren (31-18), Fall 2:23

165 Pound Placers
1st Ben Beard 12, Liberty-Benton (41-8), md11-2
2nd Drew Phillips 12, Van Buren (42-8)
3rd Braxton Frisch 12, Mohawk (37-8), Fall 0:16
4th Jake Bostelman 11, Patrick Henry (15-11)
5th Brady Atkins 11, Carey (23-23), tf15-0

175 Pound Placers
1st Kaden Bish 11, Mohawk (41-4), tf21-5
2nd Jesus Rivera 10, Bluffton (21-14)
3rd Aden Bates 11, Liberty-Benton (16-14), Fall 1:29
4th Hunter Baumbarger 9, Carey (11-11)
5th Timothy Kessler 10, New Riegel (14-18), md13-4

190 Pound Placers
1st Trent Johnson 12, Patrick Henry (37-2), tf17-1
2nd Kydin Reed 11, Riverdale (32-9)
3rd Landon Miller 12, Van Buren (38-11), Fall 2:21
4th Baylee Maag 9, Columbus Grove (19-16)
5th Cash Lee 12, Calvert (34-18), Dec 7-1

215 Pound Placers
1st Mason Shank 11, Bluffton (40-6), md 11-1
2nd Christopher Clark Jr. 11, Elmwood (28-12)
3rd Maddyx Vermillion 12, Liberty-Benton (10-4), Fall 1:25
4th Andrew Jones 10, Calvert (31-16)
5th Luke Martin 9, Van Buren (31-15), Fall 0:17

285 Pound Placers
1st Kaydin Hedges-Sawinski 11, McComb (19-15), Fall 0:46
2nd Zach Altvater 11, Arcadia (23-10)
3rd Cole Seifert 10, Calvert (27-19), md11-0
4th Boden Lanham 11, Elmwood (16-15)
5th Jack Basinger 10, Van Buren (21-25), Forfeit