Poland wrestlers still undefeated at home

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Poland's Tad Duran (left) completes a single leg takesdown of his Fitch opponent. Duran later won by pin at the 2:24 mark.

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Neighbors | Submitted.Poland 160-pounder Michael Audi (standing) takes down his opponent from Fitch during a recent match. Audi won by pin in 1:04.

The Poland wrestling team improved its record to 4-0 at home and remained undefeated in All-American Conference competition by defeating Austintown Fitch and Ravenna.

The Bulldogs defeated Fitch (38-30) and Ravenna (39-36)

Winning matches against Austintown were freshman Bob Murcko, junior Tad Duran, freshman Bruno Spotleson, senior A.J. Shields, freshman John Berndt, freshman Anthony Mancini, sophomore Mike Audi and junior Jordan Ziegler.

This marks the first time in the history of Poland wrestling that it defeated local powerhouse Austintown Fitch. “It was a team effort and the boys are now understanding the team aspect of it. They were not selfish and focused on themselves. They fought hard to score bonus points and those that lost did a great job in preventing Fitch from getting the bonus points. Because of that we came out on top,” said Poland coach Tony Stellato.

Poland avenged an earlier loss to Ravenna by beating the Ravens 39-36.

“There were a lot of pins in that match and it could have gone either way. Ravenna is a good team and they have a lot of experience and we saw them once already, so we knew what they had. Our goal is to improve each week in practice and obviously, that has happened since we wrestled them last time.”

Poland’s next home match will be Jan. 11 against Columbiana, Brookfield and Liberty at 6 p.m.