Nico Francis wins stunner in first round at wrestling

By Joe Scalzo

The Girard junior routed Michael Cawley of Norwalk St. Paul, the projected state champion.

COLUMBUS — Girard High wrestling coach Jim Cardiero walked into the interview room on Thursday, cracked a slight smile and said, “That’s why they wrestle the matches.”

His nephew, Indians junior Nico Francis, had been matched up in the first round with the projected 152-pound state champion in Division III, Norwalk St. Paul senior Michael Cawley, and many prognosticators figured it would be a one-sided match.

It was. In the wrong direction.

Francis, who had been projected to finish 17th, used his explosiveness to overwhelm Cawley 15-2, serving notice that he’s a wrestler to watch this weekend.

“I just had the mindset of, ‘You can do it,’ ” said Francis. “Just knowing I could beat the other guy. Knowing that I worked the whole year for this.

“I want to be a state champion.”

His teammate, senior Tony Cardiero, also won easily, scoring a technical fall over Archbold freshman Jordan Cowell, 15-0 at 130 pounds.

“I came into the tournament thinking we could win our first round matches and I got what I hoped for,” said Jim Cardiero. “Both my nephews won. I’m a happy uncle.”

The victories contributed to a terrific day for the Valley in Div. III, as area wrestlers went 8-2. Jackson-Milton had four of those wins, while South Range and Brookfield each added one.

Sophomore Vinnie Pizzuto (technical fall at 103 pounds), sophomore TimWiseman (majority decision at 112) and senior Santino Pizzuto (decision at 119) gave the Bluejays three victories in the opening minutes of the meet.

Sophomore Johnny Matacic then lost by technical fall to two-time state placer Riki Reynolds at 125 before senior Dan Clawson earned a 6-1 decision in a 215-pound match by scoring a five-point takedown with less than 30 seconds remaining.

When asked if he was happy, Jackson-Milton coach Dave Tomaino smiled and yelled, “[Heck] yeah!”

“They’re not nervous,” he said of his wrestlers, “and I don’t know why.

“I was probably more nervous than they were.”

Other than Matacic, Tomaino felt his team got a good first-round draw, avoiding the “state studs” that loom in the later rounds.

“I thought they would be good matches to kind of get them rolling,” he said. “They got a little momentum coming in.

“They were ready.”

And Matacic’s loss came against someone projected to finish second in the state according to the Brakeman Report, the leading authority on Ohio high school wrestling.

“He didn’t give up — he wrestled through the third period,” said Tomaino.

“Johnny’s tough. Pound for pound, he’s the toughest kid I’ve got.

“He just wrestles in a tough weight class.”

South Range senior Beau Bowden scored a majority decision at 171 pounds and Brookfield senior Dann Miller won by decision at 140.

Still, the biggest win went to Francis, who finished third in a tough district last week.

“I just think it’s attitude,” said Jim Cardiero, of Francis’ win. “Last weekend he got a bad draw, but he never cried about it, whined about it. You can’t change what they give you.

“You just wrestle as hard as you can, do the moves that you do well, counter the moves that you have to counter and you’ll come out on top.

That’s what he did last week and that’s what he did today.”

scalzo@vindy.com