Middle school wrestlers place at league tourney

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Poland Middle School wrestling team includes, from left, (front) Anthony Audi, David Paul Esarco, Dante Peretti (alternate), coach Lee Keck, coach Adam Keck; (back) Matt Duran, Dante Ginnetti, Dylan Garver and Trey Ellis. Not pictured is Darren Goodin.

The Poland Middle School wrestling team battled injuries and lack of depth to place seven wrestlers in the top four en route to a second-place team finish at the Junior High EOWL tournament last weekend.

The team was led by Darren Goodin (92 pounds), Dante Ginnetti (98), Matt Duran (134) and Trey Ellis (160), who all won individual championships. Anthony Audi (142) and Dylan Garver (128) both took second. David Paul Esarco, a first-year wrestler, battled through the consolation bracket to take fourth in a hard-fought finals match.

“Despite the adversity, the kids entered the tournament with confidence,” said co-coach Lee Keck. “We describe our seven guys as a ‘small, tactical strike force.’ It’s in these tournaments that we can really shine, since we don’t have to go head-to-head with teams that have wrestlers at all 16 weight classes.”

In early January, the Bulldogs took third at the Green Middle School Bulldog Invitational. That success carried the squad through the rest of the season.

“With our experience at Green, we were thinking that we might be able to pull off a team title despite having less than half of the weight classes filled,” said Keck.

“We knew that our wrestlers would excel individually,” said coach Adam Keck, in his second year with the Bulldogs, “We’ve improved steadily all year as the guys bought into the program. To place all of our wrestlers is a testament to the kids’ dedication. They’re where they need to be to compete at districts and state.”

The team will wrestle at the district tournament tomorrow in Steubenville for the chance to wrestle at the state tournament March 10-11 at the Covelli Center in Youngstown.