Fitch qualifies 3 to state; Boardman, Canfield get 1 each

By Pete Mollica

MASSILLON — There were no individual champions from Mahoning County Saturday at the Division I district wrestling championships, but five wrestlers will advance to next weekend’s state championships in Columbus.

There were three area performers in championship matches at Perry High School, but all three were defeated in the finals.

Austintown Fitch High will send three wrestlers to Columbus, while Boardman and Canfield will have one each.

For the Falcons it will be 112-pound junior Shawn Ague, 140-pound senior Jake Peterson and 145-pound senior Louis Greco making the trip to Columbus, while for Boardman it will be 103-pound freshman John Dillon and for Canfield 152-pound senior Aron Brenner.

Dillon, Greco and Brenner all advanced to the championship matches in their divisions and will take No. 2 seeds into the state tournament. Ague and Peterson will be No. 4 seeds in next weekends action.

Dillon was defeated by junior Kory Mines of Maple Heights in the finals 4-2. The young Spartan had a 2-1 lead in the match before Mines recorded a near fall to take the lead in the second period and then had an escape in the final two minutes to post the win.

“I wrestled just the way I wanted to tonight, but got myself into trouble in the second and couldn’t recover,” Dillon said. “I’m excited about going to state and I hope I can do well down there.”

“He [Mines] was a good wrestler, but I felt that I was equal to him in the match,” Dillon said.

Greco, who was a sectional champion at 145, ran into No. 2 seed Seth Horner of Perry in the finals, the defending state champion. Horner built a 6-0 lead before winning 12-5.

“I wasn’t really expecting to get to the finals here,” said Greco. “A plus would have been a win, but the important thing is that I’m going back to state.

“I really didn’t wrestle the match that I felt I should have, he added. “I really didn’t feel comfortable tonight and he [Horner] is a good wrestler, he won the state last year and I knew I’d have my hands full.”

Brenner really never got a chance to get going against No. 2 seed Andrew Gasber of Madison. The match was scoreless before Gasber managed to get control and then pinned Brenner in 1:52 of the first period.

Gasber has been projected as a potential state champion.

Ague, in his 112-pound battle for third place with Brandon Birr of Mayfield, appeared to have the match won, leading 1-0 going into the final seconds, but Birr got credit for a reversal with five seconds remaining and won the match.

Fitch coach Brett Powell argued with the officials but to no avail.

“It’s disappointing because I thought I had won the match,” said Ague. “Now I’ll have to go to state and face a No. 1 seed in the first round, but that shouldn’t be a problem and if you want to win you have to beat the best.”

Peterson, who wasn’t seeded, was one of the big surprises of the tournament. Actually both of his losses in the tournament came against No. 1 seed Jerrell Hodge of Bedford. Hodge beat him 6-5 in the second round and then 4-2 in the finals. Peterson beat No. 5 seed Devin Orr of Solon 1-0 and No. 7 seed Garland McCormick of Kenmore 4-1 to get to the third seed match.

“For me it will be the first trip to state and it’s exciting,” said Peterson. “It was a tough road getting here, but hopefully I can get a place at state next week.