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Three Valley wrestlers seeking crowns
Fitch’s Louis Greco and Chris Miller and Boardman’s Jerry Pasquale all advanced to the Top Gun semifinals.
ALLIANCE — Three Valley wrestlers still have the opportunity for individual championships at the Top Gun tournament when action resumes this morning.
Fitch’s Louis Greco (145 pounds) and Chris Miller (215) — both 2008 state qualifiers — and Boardman’s Jerry Pasquale (119) each rolled into the semifinals with two victories Friday at the 23rd annual tournament.
Greco and Miller will seek their second straight trip to the podium after finishing third at Top Gun last year. Pasquale, a 2007 state qualifier, did not place at Alliance his freshman or sophomore seasons.
“I usually don’t wrestle well here, so it felt good to finally wrestle up to my ability today,” said Pasquale, who will face Medina freshman Matt Hammer in the semis. “It’s tough to sit around so long between matches, but I just slept and goofed around for a while, then got focused when it was time to wrestle.
“In big tournaments like this, you get to see where you match up against some of the top kids in the state. You can kind of scale yourself against them and that comes in handy around state tournament time.”
Pasquale had little trouble in Day 1, winning his first match via pinfall in 53 seconds and his second by an 18-3 major decision. In the quarterfinals, he beat Elida’s Shawn Brunk 12-7 to ensure himself no worse than a 6th-place finish.
Led by Greco and Miller’s semifinal berths, Fitch stayed in the hunt for a top three team finish. The Falcons have 10 wrestlers still alive — including eight in the consolation bracket. After Day 1, Fitch (64.5) is eighth.
Defending Division II state champion — and two-time defending Top Gun champ — St.Paris Graham is well ahead of the pack with 166 points. Walsh Jesuit (79.5) is second and Mayfield (75.5) third.
“All in all, we had a good showing today,” said Fitch coach Brett Powell. “We had a couple guys that could have wrestled better and we didn’t get some pins in the early rounds that we thought we might. But we still have 10 guys in.
“We were hoping to be in fifth of sixth place at this point, but this is a tough tournament — basically like a strong district tournament. If our kids can place here, then we know they will be in the hunt when we get to districts.”
Still alive in the consolation bracket for the Falcons are Cody Haupt (112), Scott Satterlee (125), Dustin Welsh (135), RJ Balog (152), Dean Moffo (160) and Bobby Phillips (285).
Junior Shawn Ague (103) and senior Jake Peterson (140) each advanced to the championship quarterfinals, but lost their bid for a semifinal berth. But each need just one win the consolations to finish at least eighth.
For Boardman, Ricky Zupko (130), Nick Graziani (135) and Tim Taumoepeau (285) are still in the tournament, needing two wins to earn a spot on the podium.
Brookfield’s Dan Miller lost to Greco 3-1 in the 145-pound quarterfinals to drop into the consolation bracket. Miller (20-3), who placed sixth at Top Gun in 2008, can finish as high as third and no lower than eighth with one more win.
The Indians’ Tyler Thompson still has the opportunity to place, if he makes a run through the consolation bracket. He won two matches on Friday to stay alive.
Local semifinal pairings
119 pounds: No. 5 seed Jerry Pasquale (Boardman) vs. unseeded Matt Hammer (Medina)
145 pounds: No. 3 seed Louis Greco (Fitch) vs. No. 1 seed Brian Stephens (St. Paris Graham)
215 pounds: No. 2 seed Chris Miller (Fitch) vs. No. 3 seed Logan White (St. Paris Graham)