Second wind helps D-II grapplers

February 25, 2012 at 12:05a.m.

ALLIANCE

Howland’s Brian Puharic just stepped on the mat at Henry Fails Gymnasium in Alliance for the Division II district championships. He took one look at his opening round competitor, Dillon Headrick of Coventry, and knew he was going to be in for a long bout.

“That kid was a tank,” Puharic said.

The championship preliminary of the 182-pound weight class easily went to Headrick as he pinned Puharic in two minutes, 15 seconds. But what’s nice about a district wrestling tournament — you get another chance.

And Puharic took full advantage of that in his consolation round by downing Blake Perry of Jefferson 17-1 in a technical fall.

“Honestly, I like the consolation better because my back is against the wall,” Puharic said. “I just have to come out and fight, fight, fight. Keep fighting and I like that. In the championship round, you kind of go at it like you have something to lose. I embrace that underdog mentality.”

So does Canfield’s Curtis Burns.

He was pinned by Kenmore’s Steve Vinson in the 220-pound opener, but came back and pinned his consolation opponent — Bill Sowers of Lake Catholic.

“I had to go hard because I knew I could come back,” Burns said. “It puts a sense of urgency in you because you know it’s do or die.”

Burns’ Cardinal teammate, Korey Frost, didn’t have to deal with that notion. He was up in both of his 113-pound matches and won each by a total of 7-0. He will face Lake Catholic’s Anthony Tutolo in the championship semifinals which bgin at 11:30 a.m. in Alliance. The consolation rounds continue at 10 a.m.

“I did what I wanted to do,” Frost said. “I wanted to get up early and be safe.”

Anthony Spencer, also from Canfield, remains in the 120-pound consolation bracket after losing his first-round match, but winning the second. Frankly, he’s just happy to be participating in the first place because he was thrown in as an alternate.

“I treated it like any other day,” he said. “You have to prepare for it like any match, whether you’re going or not, you have to keep working hard through the week and whatever happens, happens. It came my way, so I had to give it my all.”

West Branch’s Mikey Estock was sad to see the first day come to an end. If it was up to him, he’d still be going at it on the mat all through the night.

“I’m antsy to get back out there,” he said breathlessly after beating his second round opponent, Woodridge’s Pat Dickinson. “I guess the break is okay, but I want to get going again.”

He was down by two points entering the third stage, but that didn’t matter. He picked up four points by corralling Dickinson and forced overtime. Within 10 seconds of the extra period, he earned the necessary points to end it.

“Right away, going out in overtime, I was going to push the tempo and take control,” Estock said. “I wanted to shoot right out of the gate.”