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Fitch, Boardman expect top challenge at Top Gun
ALLIANCE
Austintown Fitch wrestling coach Brett Powell is already thinking two months down the road.
He scheduled the Falcons for a dual match on Thursday night at Massillon Jackson, then has the team going back to Stark County for the prestigious Top Gun tournament today and Saturday.
“This way, the guys get used to wrestling three days like the state tournament,” said Powell.
“Other than the competition level, they’re spoon-fed at state,” Powell said. “State is 1-2 and you’re done. But this weekend, a kid could wrestle one on Thursday, then two or three on Friday and up to four or five on Saturday. It’s more brutal than state as far as endurance goes.”
Not only will the potential frequency of bouts be brutal, but the competition is stiff, too. Joining the Falcons will be Boardman.
“There are St. Paris Graham and Massillon Perry and every team there is a sledgehammer team in its area,” Powell said.
Fitch heavyweight Lenny McGeechy has been impressive this season.
“The way he’s wrestled and who he’s wrestled might mean that he might be hanging around for districts and possibly state,” Powell said of the junior who is 13-3.
“He’s a bull,” Powell said of McGeechy, who played noseman on the Falcons’ football team.
“He’s as good on the wrestling mat as he is on the football field.”
Freshman Cameron Rezaporian has been a nice addition to the squad with an 11-4 record at 160.
The biggest surprise is Ken Jameson, a junior who is 18-0 at 171.
“He’s beaten several opponents who had beaten him pretty soundly last year,” Powell said. “He’s turned the tables on them.”
Ken is the brother of four-time state champion Tony Jameson.
“His improvement curve has been dramatic,” Powell said of Ken Jameson. “He’s done well at changing his fortunes.”
Junior Corey Balog is 11-4 at 189.
“His losses were to high, state-ranked types, so we think he may have a big upside at the end of the season,” said Powell.
“He’s a soldier. He goes out and wrestles as hard as he can for the team and that’s helped us. He’s unselfish enough and versatile to do that.”
The Falcons lost two wrestlers when Donnie Feree and Antoine Davis broke ankles about a week apart.
Feree, a junior at 215, was 9-1, while Davis, a sophomore at 152, was 13-2.
“It all happened within a two-week span,” Powell said. “They’re out for the season.”
After losing Shawn Ague to graduation, Fitch has no returning state placer this year, said Powell, in his 25th as coach.
Boardman’s top performers this season have been sophomore Nick Mancini (12-0) at 103 and juniors John Dillon (9-1) at 125, and Nico Graziani (11-3) at 152.