Fitch falls to ranked Perry

The Falcons' Joe Murray faced a familiar opponent in Steve Luke.
By ERIC DIEFENDERFER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
AUSTINTOWN -- Nationally-ranked Massillon Perry visited Austintown Fitch High on Wednesday for the Falcons' second Federal League match, and dealt the home team a 48-12 defeat.
Perry, ranked 13th in the nation by Wrestling USA magazine, was led by returning state champions Jason Johnstone and Steve Luke. At 140 pounds, Johnstone won by technical fall over Fitch's Kyle Gabrick, while Luke decisioned Joe Murray at 171 pounds, 5-1, in one of the evening's most-anticipated matches.
Reunion
Luke said that facing Murray "felt weird because I've know him since youth [wrestling] and I have not wrestled him since Top Gun [tournament at Alliance] a few years ago."
Added Murray, "Luke is the top guy in the nation, and wrestling the best can teach you a lot."
Returning state placer Chris Hartley of Perry won by major decision over Matt Westhead at 119 pounds.
"This is great competition for the Federal League and for the state," said Perry coach Brian Dolph, in his first season. Dolph recalled he wrestled against Fitch when he was in high school.
The Falcons won three matches. Fred Weidenthal improved his record to 5-0 with a pin in 3 minutes, 7 seconds, of Perry's Greg Busby.
Also, returning state placer Eric Chine major decisioned Ernie Porco 12-0 at 189 pounds, and returning state qualifier Nick Bodnar decisioned Zach Mizer 2-1 at 130.
"He [Porco] was a tough competitor," said Chine of his opponent. "He didn't give up and kept wrestling hard."
Falling short
Fitch's R.J. Donadee and Brian Weidenthal wrestled impressively, as well, although they came out on the losing end of their matches.
Donadee lost to Thomas Straughn, 6-4 in overtime, at 135, and Weidenthal, a freshman, lost 2-1 to Brent Charton at 112. Weidenthal pushed Charton to the end of the match, pressuring him into two stalling calls.
"Perry made us understand in a hurry to know where we are at and where we need to be," said Fitch coach Brett Powell. "It is a privilege to wrestle guys like Hartley, Johnstone and Luke. They run a class-act program with a class-act group of wrestlers."
The Falcons will compete in the Brecksville Holiday Invitational Dec. 29-30.