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Falcon, 2 Spartan wrestlers advance
SEE ALSO: • Howland wrestlers continue to dominate Div II
Austintown
Taking a wait-and-see approach on the wrestling mat, Fitch’s Lennie McGeachy lets the match come to him.
He’s not overly aggressive right away and doesn’t put himself in bad positions.
McGeachy’s goal is to do that to his opponent and he’s got the skill set to do it.
“I don’t think the kid was used to seeing a guy like that pounce like he does,” Fitch head coach Brett Powell said on Saturday at the Division I sectional tournament.
The kid was Twinsburg’s Willie Williams and the guy was McGeachy. Defending his home gym, McGeachy beat Williams by a 6-4 decision in the final heavyweight bout. He now moves on to the Division I district meet at Mentor, next week.
“I just like to wrestle defensively,” McGeachy said, “but if I see an advantage — I’ll take it.”
He did to earn four straight points after falling behind by a point. Neither wrestler struck an initial move until nearly 1:15 into the match.
“Len had a mission here,” Powell said. “He tailors his match to who he’s wrestling. He had a bear hug on him and used his power and his hips to get on him.
“He used his weight and finished strong.”
A lot of those skills transferred over from the football field to the mat. McGeachy is also a Falcons defensive lineman.
“Football has helped me stay lower and get stronger,” he said. “A lot of the footwork has gotten me quicker for wrestling.”
Rick Ague finished fourth in the 106 pound weight class and Donny Ferree came in fifth for 182 pounds. They also advanced to the district meet.
Boardman had two champions that advanced — Nick Mancini (106) and Nico Graziani (160). Joining the strong tandem in Mentor will be Alex Rich, who finished fourth in the 120-pound weight class and Joe Cordova at 170 pounds.
“We expected them to both win it,” said Boardman head coach Dom Mancini of his son, Nick and Graziani. “The other two did a great job to punch through. Rich wrestled a heck of a tournament and Cordova came back and beat the kid that beat him yesterday. Everybody showed perseverance.”
The overall victory was Graziani’s third at the sectional and he is making his fourth straight trip to districts. He’s not fighting for the status quo, though. He wants more.
“My expectation is to win a state title,” Graziani said. “I’m taking it one step at a time and I’m happy where I’m standing.”
He beat Stow’s Connor McMahon by a 6-4 decision. Graziani trailed early, but picked up two points and held off McMahon’s strong comeback attempt.
“It rung my head a bit,” he said. “I was seeing stars. I just couldn’t let him get to me. I like to add to my lead. I’m not going to give up when someone is fighting to keep up.”
Nick Mancini won by a valiant 10-3 decision, but still admitted he was a little frustrated with his performance. Nonetheless, he did something no Mancini has in 31 years.
Dom, his father, won the 105-pound division at the sectional meet as a junior in 1981. Two years prior, Dom’s brother, Frank, also won the weight class as a junior also.
“It’s nice to keep the family tradition going,” Dom said.
Having his dad coaching him in the gym and at home, with the added instruction of his uncle who sits in his corner, Nick feels the weight of past generations on his shoulders.
“It’s a little bit of pressure,” he said. “I get pushed a lot to work as hard as I can. I always do my best, because they taught me to be.”
In the team standings, Boardman finished seventh overall with 84.5 points. Fitch was ninth out of 11 with 73. Solon won the team championship with 216 total points.