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Hubbard’s Anthony Nadeja realizes dream
AKRON — For Hubbard’s Anthony Nadeja, his second trip this season to Firestone High School was much more fulfilling than the first.
In mid-January, Nadeja was competing at the Bill Dies Memorial Tournament — at the same venue as this weekend’s Division II district meet. During the event, he suffered a hyperextended shoulder injury and wasn’t clear what the rest of the season would hold for him.
He missed four weeks of competition, returning for the EOWL tournament Feb. 6-7. He was limited on what moves he could execute and had some doubts, but managed to finish second in his weight class.
Three weeks later, with a berth in the Div. II state tournament, Nadeja again overcame adversity by bouncing back from a second-round loss on Friday to win three consolation bouts and earn a spot in next week’s state meet in Columbus.
Nadeja’s road to state did not lack dramatics, as he was forced to come from behind twice on Saturday.
On his way back through the consolations, the junior claimed three wins to get to the third-place match.
A 7-6 victory over Harvey’s Devonte Rouse was the turning point, as Nadeja trailed 5-0 in the first period.
“I knew after that, he was going to state,” said Hubbard coach Scott Thompson. “I could tell by the look on his face when he was down 5-0 that he wasn’t concerned.
“Before he got hurt, he was having trouble focusing on wrestling and we weren’t sure how he’d come back from that. But he came into sectionals mentally prepared and it turned out that getting hurt was one of the best things that happened to him.”
In his match for third against West Branch’s Adam Lamancusa, Nadeja was behind 4-2 with less than five seconds left in regulation, but managed a takedown at the buzzer to tie the match.
In overtime, he quickly scored another takedown to earn the 6-4 victory.
“It’s been a dream of mine to go to state,” said Nadeja. “People kept telling me that I’m good enough to get to state and once I started believing it, I knew that if I put enough time in, I could do it. Hopefully, next week I can be one of the kids standing up on the podium.”