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West Branch heavyweight finishes second
By ERIC MAUK
COLUMBUS
When two skilled heavyweight wrestlers have just six minutes to prove that they are the best in the entire state of Ohio, sometimes one slip, one misstep, one momentary loss of balance can make the difference between a title and a silver medal.
For West Branch senior Logan Sharp, it was one brief loss of balance that put him in a hole he could not get out of as the 285-pounder fell 4-2 to Perry’s Billy Miller in Saturday’s Division II championship final in Columbus.
Sharp, who was making his first appearance in the championship round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Tournament, fell in an early 4-0 hole after a bobble led to a takedown that Miller followed with a second-period reversal. The senior gathered himself in the third period and attacked, but Miller spent the final two minutes playing defense and escaped with a 4-2 victory.
The green-clad Sharp tried to get an early underhook on Miller, but Miller caught Sharp’s arm and tugged it hard, knocking him off-balance. Sharp’s bobble sent him to the mat where the undefeated Miller pounced and scored to take the early lead.
“He got me off-balance, I tried to hook him and I couldn’t find a way back up fast enough,” Sharp said. “This was the third time we’ve wrestled this year and he’s not as comfortable with my underhook, so I went for that.”
Miller, who beat Sharp 7-5 and 2-1 in their two matches this year knew that Sharp’s strength was in his underhook move, and figured that he had to counter it early.
“He did his regular move, which is to hook me and push me toward the boundary, but when he tripped and fell, I knew I had to take advantage. That’s what good wrestlers do,” Miller said. “I respect his strength, he’s been wrestling his whole life and I knew he would keep coming.”
After falling down 4-0 at the end of the second period, Sharp elected to have both grapplers start the final two minutes on their feet. The choice allowed Sharp to try and work his plan for a takedown that could lead to a near fall, but Miller went into a defensive shell to preserve the lead.
Miller got hit with two stalling calls in the third period, each awarding a point to Sharp. The West Branch senior tried to make a final shot and hooked Miller’s right leg with 13 seconds to go, but the defending state champion would not be moved any further as the clock expired.
“I haven’t had a match all year where a guy had two stalling points against him, but he knew what he had to do,” Sharp said. “I’m disappointed that I couldn’t win the championship, but overall, I am happy with the way I wrestled this weekend.”
Miller admitted that once he got up with two minutes to go, he had his mind on the clock.
“I was hoping that I wouldn’t get that third stalling call, because that would have been two points and would have tied it up,” Miller said. “But then I wanted to get an outside single leg, just to show what kind of wrestler I am. But I got stuck underneath him and he’s a big boy to get out from under.”
Six other area wrestlers earned state medals for placing in the top eight in the weekend’s action. Nick Cardiero of Girard (D-III, 170) and Korey Frost of Canfield (D-II, 120) placed fifth while Frost’s Canfield teammate Georgio Poullas (D-II, 126) finished sixth.
Cardiero beat Covington’s Ben Miller to win the fifth-place match, jumping out to a 5-0 lead en route to a 9-2 victory. Frost did the same in his fifth-place match, taking a 5-0 lead over Hillsboro’s Ryan Kelley on his way to a 7-5 win.
“I kind of lost it a little after I got up 5-0 and then he took me down,” Frost admitted. “But I told myself that this was the last match of my life and I wasn’t going to lose. I got back into it and finished strong.”
Mike Audi of Poland (D-II, 170) and David-Brian Whisler of Howland (D-II, 152) won their final matches of the year to finish seventh while Boardman’s Mario Graziani (D-I, 145) finished eighth.
Whisler dominated Alliance’s Kristian Jackson 11-1 in the seventh-place match, while Audi rebounded from a tough Friday to beat Ravenna’s Brendon Winning 4-3. Audi dropped a 10-0 decision to Zech Lehman of Richfield Revere Friday, but rebounded in what was his last high-school match.
“It was tough to get back up for the match after losing yesterday,” Audi said. “But I knew it was the last match I would wrestle for Poland and I wanted to go out and put forth a good effort.”