WILMINGTON — It was only a second-round match at the Division II Southwest District wrestling tournament at Wilmington’s Rodger O. Borror Middle School gym, but it could easily have been a match on the second or third day of the state tournament.
Clinton-Massie’s 152-pound dynamo Davey Tunon went toe to toe with St. Paris Graham’s Joey Sanchez. Tunon led early, then lost the lead, but rallied with a takedown and nearfall in the closing seconds to post a 6-2 win, much to the delight of the partisan hometown crowd.
“That was one of the cooler matches I’ve coached in this year,” said CM head man Spencer Running.
As Tunon walked off the mat and out of the gym, chants of “Davey, Davey, Davey” went through the jam-packed gym.
“That was pretty exhilarating,” Tunon said after the match. “It definitely feels great, that’s for sure.”
Tunon will face Trevon Ward of Norwood in the semifinal round.
In the double elimination event, 10 other county wrestlers remain in contention.
Wilmington’s Jacob Boldman is unbeaten after two matches and has moved into the semifinal round at 132 pounds — 6-1 over Micah Marshal of Chaminade-Julienne and 11-4 over Ezra Lee of Urbana.
Boldman will face Ryan Thomas of St. Paris Graham in his semifinal match Saturday.
The other nine wrestlers are all in the consolation bracket of their respective weight classes.
Massie’s Nathan Allgyer dropped his first 106-pound match to Iams of Ross, 10-3, then came back for a 6-3 win over Ream of Springfield Shawnee.
Matt Asher of Massie posted a pin in 52 seconds in his first match 113 pounds but lost in the quarterfinal round 4-3 to Jake Gentry of Ross.
Bryson Mills of CM was defeated by Thomas at 132 by a pin in 67 seconds then came back to win a 3-2 UTB over Jacob Kube of Goshen.
Zack Dillow of CM was decisioned by Yima Nyamor of Wyoming 6-4 in his first match then recorded a technical fall over Mike Osterfeld of Alter, 15-0.
Isaac Allen of WHS decisioned Gavin Clark of New Richmond 7-3 in his opener at 145 pounds, but then was pinned in 5:19 by Mac Altom of Eaton in the quarterfinal round.
Bryant Bergefurd of WHS at 160 pounds dropped his match to Garrett Jordan of Graham in the first match. He bounced back with a 12-2 win over Preston Bressler of Talawanda in the consolation round.
At 160, Ross Lennon of Massie was decisioned by Drew Moore of Eaton 5-1. He then knocked off Ryan Buckley of New Richmond 9-4 in his next match.
Anthony Tissandier of Clinton-Massie was decisioned by Chase Sayers of Ross 9-7 in his first match at 170 then came back to pin Lane Harshbarger of Alter in 2:08.
At 195, RJ Tolliver of Wilmingtno won by pin in 4:58 over Justin Peterson of Kenton Ridge then ran into Graham’s Kavan Sarver in the second round and lost 20-5.
Four wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament by losing their first two matches Friday.
Wilmington’s Cameron Smart dropped his two matches at 106, 18-3 to Colton Robins of Reading and by pin in 4:12 to Lacey of Greenville.
Massie’s Christian Poynter lost his two 145-pound matches Friday — by pin to Noah Pitman of Wyoming and then by pin by Mitch Current of Ben Logan.
Gage Smith of WHS at 220 lost to Mikey Addis of Norwood by pin in 4:53 and then was defeated by technical fall by Matt Todd of Eaton 18-3.
Wesley Lunsford of WHS at 285 was pinned by Colvin Turner of Franklin in 1:07 and by Jake Pugh of Batavia in 1;33.