Four Canfield wrestlers place at Grade School state

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Neighbors | Submitted.David Crawford (left), Alec Herman, Georgio Poullas, Nathan Whitehead (right) all placed at last wekend's OAC Grade School state wrestling tournament at the Covelli Centre.

Four of Canfield’s nine wrestlers in the OAC (Ohio Athletic Committee) Grade School State Championships earned All-Ohio honors by placing in the top eight of their 32-man brackets last weekend at the Covelli Centre.

Georgio Poullas (100 pounds), David Crawford (95) and Alec Herman (45) each placed sixth in their respective weight classes. Nathan Whitehead (90) finished seventh.

“This was our first time hosting both events in the Mahoning Valley and everything went extremely well. Everyone went out of their way to ensure the tourney’s success but in the end, it was the wrestlers who stole the show,” Jared Opfer, OAC business development director said.

Approximately 2,400 wrestlers competed in the district finals for 1,200 state positions. Those wrestlers then battled for the final 328 spots and the right to be named All-Ohio. On Sunday, 41 champions were crowned.

Canfield’s Poullas, a sixth-grader, won three matches Saturday to earn a spot in the championship semifinals. In the semis, he lost a close match 2-0 to OYWA state champion Zac Steiner of Wadsworth.

In the consolation semis, Poullas lost 3-2 in double overtime to Claymont’s Chandler Golic. He finished the day in the fifth-place match with 12-4 loss, to take sixth.

Crawford, in fifth grade, won his first match on Saturday then lost his next match, 1-0. On Sunday, he had to battle back through the consolation bracket to earn a spot in the top eight in the state. He won four consecutive matches before falling in the consolation semis 7-0 to Lancaster’s Colt Yinger. Crawford lost another close match 1-0 to earn sixth place.

Herman also wrestled to the semifinals before losing by technical fall, 15-0, to eventual runner-up Aiden Agin of Lancaster. Herman wrestled two more matches before earning sixth place.

Whitehead, a fourth-grader, lost his first match of the tournament 5-4. He rallied to win four straight in the consolation bracket, before losing to Cody Neece of New Lexington, 4-0. In the match for seventh place, Whitehead beat fifth-grader Devin West, 7-1.

Also competing for at the state tournament, but no placing were Brody Herman, Andy Garr, Nick Crawford, Terry Adkins, and Sean Whitehead.