On and off the mats More from Day 2 of the state wrestling tourney in Columbus

Size matters: West Branch’s Logan Sharp isn’t your typical 285-pound high school wrestler. In a bracket where some combatants are wider than they are tall, Sharp cuts a menacing figure in his green wrestling singlet. So much so, that he felt his opening opponent in Friday’s action at the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament was beaten before he got onto the mat.

Sharp pinned Warsaw River View’s Joshua Kempf in 38 seconds, and felt that the time they spent walking out of the tunnel and into the arena gave him an edge.

“He got a look at my size in the tunnel and I think that he got a little nervous,” Sharp said. “He allowed me to take him down and then it was over. I don’t think he wanted to wrestle any more.”

Riding out the storm: Boardman sophomore 145-pounder Mario Graziani scored an impressive 9-4 win over district champion Dillon Leneave of Fairfield in his first match of the day advancing to face Madison’s Bo Ransom for a chance to continue fighting for a third-place medal.

Ransom led 1-0 after two periods, but Graziani started the period on the bottom, needing just to escape to tie the score. But despite multiple efforts, the young Spartan could never get to his feet to shake Ransom, and fell by the score of 1-0.

Author of your own fate: After Girard’s Nick Cardiero won a grueling opening match this morning in the rarely seen Ultimate Tie Breaker in his 170-pound match again Zach Sullivan, his coach Jim Cardiero shared some wisdom about handling unknown state tourney foes.

“You never know what to expect in these matches. It’s not like reading a book. You write the book after the match.”

End of the line: Wellsville’s Seth Bloor, Beaver Local’s Daniel Hasson and Jackson-Milton’s Mitch Tikkanen fell in their matches today as the trio of juniors ended their state tournament runs. Bloor and Hasson earned victories on Thursday before dropping both Friday bouts.

— Eric Mauk, The Vindicator