Boardman wrestlers ready to hit the mats

Coming off a 7-11 season, Dom Mancini will begin his 14th campaign as Boardman High School wrestling coach with the season opener with a triangular meet at Delaware Hayes, with Ashland being the third team.

The Spartans will be led this season by junior 152-pounder Mario Graziani, who placed at state last year and went 42-10 as a sophomore and was ranked fourth; as well as seniors Vince and Anthony Mancini.

Both had successful off-seasons in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Vince Mancini will be cutting to 106 pounds for this season.

The other seniors on the team will be Brandon Rigelsky, Devon Washington, Jackson Rogers, Tony Chito and AJ Yaist. The juniors will be Tyler Dempsey, Connor Kochansky, Jimmy Sferra, Cannon Carlile and Nick Patoray.

Making up the sophomores will be Carlo DeNiro and Kyle Berardi, while the freshmen class will include Derek Slipkovich [a likely starter at 113 pounds], Jimmy Vaughn, Karl Nail, John Fleet and Neil Bevaqua.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how these guys are going to step up. I think we can be competitive in duals,” said Dom Mancini, who has coached 24 state qualifiers, 15 state placers and has had a state qualifier for 10 consecutive seasons.

To eliminate long bus rides to Canton and Massillon for Federal League duals, Boardman will only be competing in the Eastern Ohio Wrestling League this season. Canfield will provide the stiffest competition in the EOWL, with six state-ranked wrestlers.

Boardman opened up the season on Dec. 6 at the Poland Duals. Other big home dual meets

are on Wednesday against Beaver Local and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy and Thursday, Jan. 8 against the EOWL favorite, Canfield.

The Spartans will compete in the 50th Kenston Invitational Tournament on Dec. 27 and 28, the always tough 29th Alliance Top Gun Tournament on Jan. 16 and 17, the 22nd Josh Hephner Memorial Tournament on Jan. 23 and 24 and the 39th EOWL Tournament on Feb. 6 and 7 at Crestview, plus the Marlington Duals on Saturday, Feb. 14 with Akron Buchtel, Stow, North Canton and Southeast.

“I think we are going to have a good tournament team,” Mancini said. “Definitely starting off with Vince at 106 and being a senior, he’s going to be in the thick of high placing at most of the tournaments. Then with Dempsey, Graziani, Anthony Mancini, Carlo DeNiro, I think those guys are all going to be in the thick of every tournament.

“Jimmy Sferra will be in the thick of every tournament and then you have some upper weights like Cannon Carlile, hopefully Devon Washington and some other guys scattered in there. If they can come up and place we could have a very nice tournament team.”

The junior varsity wrestlers will compete in the Copley JV Tournament on Dec. 26, the Fitch JV Tournament on Jan. 10, the Waterloo JV Tournament on Jan. 24, and the EOWL JV Tournament on Feb. 21 at Pymatuning Valley.

As far as the postseason goes, the Boardman varsity will again be competing in the Mentor “Meatgrinder” District Tournament.

The Austintown Fitch, Massillon Perry, Brecksville-Broadview Heights and Willoughby South Sectionals each qualify four wrestlers in every weight class for the Mentor District tournament. The top four wrestlers in each weight class at Districts qualify for the State Tournament in Columbus on March 12, 13 and 14.