Hurricane pulls off improbable SBAAC wrestling triumph

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GOSHEN — With eight of 10 wrestlers placing, the Wilmington High School wrestling team pulled off the improbable Saturday by winning the SBAAC Wrestling Championship tournament at Goshen High School.

The title is the first league championship in wrestling since 2010, coach Kelly Tolliver said.

“We won key matches and head to head matches with Massie, Blanchester, and/or Western Brown,” Tolliver said. “At various times through the day it was a toss-up between any of those teams. We had no room for mistakes; it was a narrow path all day.

“With only 10 (wrestlers), you’re in the mindset, and we’ve had this limitation that has kept us from winning other tournaments this year, that you just don’t have enough bodies. We knew our numbers made it almost impossible to put together a first-place (finish) with the quality of teams we were up against.

“But these guys just made it happen. They wanted it and they got it.”

Tolliver was named American Division coach of the year. Jon Woodward of Goshen was the wrestler of the year, as voted on by league coaches.

WHS finished with 147 while Clinton-Massie was runnerup at 140.

“This was a difficult win,” said Tolliver. “I don’t think anyone saw us coming until later in the day and it was like ‘Wilmington is in the lead, how is this happening’?”

The Falcons had champions at 145 (Braden Rolf), 182 (Colton Doyle) and 220 (Joe Baughman).

Rolf had two close decisions en route to a pin in 3:46 in the championship match against Gage Berwanger of Blanchester.

Doyle, bidding to return to the state tournament, was impressive with just two matches, a 13-second pin and a 16-2 trouncing in the title bout.

Baughman won a wild and woolly match against Gary Powell of Western Brown for the title, 13-12.

Wilmington champions were at 132 (Thane McCoy), 160 (Thad Stuckey) and 285 (Brett Brooks).

McCoy, Tolliver’s vote for wrestler of the year, edged Johnson over Clermont Northeastern 8-7 to win the weight class.

Stuckey had three relatively easy wins (pins in 1:22 and 2:45 and a 14-4 decision in the finals) to win his championship.

Brooks, a first-year wrestler, lost his first match of the season, Tolliver recalled, and now is heavyweight champion after winning 3-2 in the finale.

SUMMARY

Feb 6, 2021

SBAAC American Div. Wrestling

TEAM

Wilmington 147, Clinton-Massie 140, Western Brown 128, Batavia 111, Goshen 51.5, New Richmond 47.

Wilmington

120: Carson Hibbs pinned Powell (CM) 3:42; dec Rowland (WBG) 7-2; was dec by Sauter (BA) 10-4. Finished second.

132: Thane McCoy pinned Westendorf (G) 1:27; pinned Curless (BL) 1:19; dec Johnson (CN) 8-7. Finished first.

138: Jaden Snyder pinned Moore (CN) 5:43; was pinned by Rostetter (NR) 0:41; was dec by Eppert (BA) 8-6. Did not place.

145: Peyton Keniston was pinned by Berwanger (BL) 0:33; dec Braden (CN) 8-4; was pinned by Wright (WB) 3:41. Did not place.

152: Alex Hudson was pinned by Williams (BT) 3:20; pinned Martin (BA) 0:41; dec Ross (NR)7-3; dec Paine (WBG) 11-3. Finished third.

160: Thad Stuckey pinned Martin (CM) 1:22; pinned Kennedy (NR) 2:45; dec Groeber (CN) 14-4. Finished first.

170: Gage Davis pinned Wilson (CN) 0:51; was pinned by Conover (BL) 0:53; pinned Darnell (BT) 0:37; pinned Groh (CM) 0:29. Finished third.

182: Brayden Smith pinned Grigsby (BT) 1:53; was pinned by Kellerman (WBG) 1:38; pinned Burkholder (NR) 1:34; dec Lanham (BL) 3-1. Finished third.

220: PJ McKnight pinned Manz (BA) 3:00; was pinned by Powell (WB) 0:22; pinned Owens (G) 0:34; pinned Foster (NR) 3:50. Finished third.

285: Brett Brooks pinned Weil (WB) 5:45; dec Shelton (BA) 3-2. Finished first.

Clinton-Massie

106: Cody Lisle dec Fischer (NR) 14-10; was pinned by Smith (BL) 2:40; pinned Moore (WB) 4:43. Finished third

113: Cole Moorman pinned Wainscott (G) 2:46; was pinned by Hurt (WB) 0:57; pinned Jacobs (NR) 1:00; pinned Rack (EC) 2:16. Finished third.

120: Miley Powell was pinned by Hibbs (WI) 3:42; pinned Reynolds (G) 1:16; was pinned by Case (CN) 4:16. Did not place.

126: Grant Moorman pinned Hamm (BL) 1:40; was pinned by Kulbe (BA) 5:15. Finished second.

132: Ethan Johnson was dec by Curless (BL) 10-3; pinned Linder (NR) 2:21; pinned Westendorf (NR) 4:48; was dec by Battista (WB) 18-2. Did not place

138: Tate Cole was pinned by Darlington (WB) 1:01; was pinned by Eppert (BA) 1:42. Did not place.

145: Braden Rolf dec Whittington (BT) 8-3; dec Wright (WB) 9-7; pinned Berwanger (BL) 3:46. Finished first.

152: Brodie Green was pinned by Williams (BT) 1:42; pinned Morgan (CN) 1:37; was pinned by Day (WB) 2:58. Did not place.

160: Matt Martin was pinned by Stuckey (WI) 1:22; dec Smith (G) 9-6; dec Bandow (BL) 9-4; was dec by Kennedy (NR) 9-6. Finished fourth.

170: Elijah Groh was pinned by Conover (BL) 1:15; pinned Wilson (CN) 1:33; pinned Tracy (NR) 1:58; was pinned by Davis (WI) 0:29. Finished fourth.

182: Colton Doyle pinned Lanham (BL) 0:13; dec Kellerman (WBG) 16-2. Finished first.

220: Joe Baughman pinned Owens (G) 0:55; pinned Foster (NR) 3:03; dec Powell (WB) 13-12. Finished first.

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