Howland seeking repeat as champ

The Tigers will host their 47th wrestling tournament Saturday.

HOWLAND — With five champions and 32 place winners returning, Ohio’s second oldest wrestling tournament, the 47th Howland Invitational, will be held Saturday at Howland High School.

Conneaut, Eastlake North, Geneva, Howland, Liberty, Salem and Pennsylvania’s Hickory and Franklin High Schools will get the event started at 11 a.m. Championships and consolation finals are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Howland, last year’s champ, will feature 130-pound state qualifier Greg Ryan, along with seven place winners.

The Tigers won the 2007 Howland title with 208 points. Kyle Leek was champ at 119.

Ryan, who has wrestled in four weight classes this season (130, 135, 140 and 145), is unbeaten and won the 145 title at Brooke (W. Va.), and the 135-pound titles at Hudson and the Tool City Tournament.

Another state qualifier, Valley Bencivenni of Eastlake North, is the athlete to beat at 119 pounds. Brad Battison (119) of Howland will be one of the top challengers in the weight class with a victory at Brooke, three EOWL wins and fourth-place finishes at Hudson and Tool City.

Tony Pozzuto of Liberty makes the 119 class more interesting coming in with a 4-1 record.

He was consolation champ at the Riverside Rumble and third at the Jackson-Milton High Leonard Invitational.

His dual-match loss this season was to Hickory’s Zack Covert, who finished fourth last year at the Howland Invitational.

Liberty’s Josh Hideg (160-171) is unbeaten (5-0) in dual matches. He was second at Leonard and seventh at Riverside.

Hickory, which was second a year ago at Howland, has nine place winners returning.

Liberty was third last year and returns five place-winners. Salem was fifth a year ago and returns champions Patrick Simpson (103) and Greg Lambert (285), along with four place-winners.

The Quakers’ Joe Hamilton (160) has a dual-match record of 4-1 and took first place at the Leonard and second at the Wayne Invitational, while Josh Pittman (145) is 3-2 and was third at Leonard and fourth at Wayne.